IT'S NOT WAHT YOU TIHNK! Play Review

What do you say to a Commedia dell' Arte performance that begins with a Laavni? You've got gumption! It takes some guts to pull off a play set in the Italian tradition, yet married to local idiosyncrasies. IT'S NOT WAHT YOU TIHNK! has several characters and sketches strung together. The show is split between four actors and it manages to inspire laughs all through. The characters go on a whirlwind with their rounds of storytelling. There is way too much happening on stage to talk about any plot. Not that the incoherent plot line even matters because you are laughing so hard.

Essentially, the story revolves around Chulbul Keswani and his family, which is organising a charity concert. The Sindhi family offers enough fodder for jokes to begin with. Chulbul does not even hesitate to take pot-shots at audiences walking in late much to the delight of those seated. Then there are the peripheral characters -- a Maharashtrain housemaid (who performs the Laavni), a South Indian coconut vendor, Mrs Keswani's male friend -- who populate the stage from time to time. The sub-plot has a Guy Ritchie-inspired heist situation planned by three bumbling thieves. The last sequence belongs to Grandmom Keswani, who is supposedly an accomplished Indian classical singer. As she performs, there isn't a word spoken for nearly ten minutes and the only sound heard is that of the audience laughing, uncontrollably. Even Grandma K's pop-music inspired medley of a soliloquy is absolutely hoot-worthy, and brilliant. She is clearly the star of the show.

There are times when the sequences stretch for too long and with that the continuity goes for a toss. For instance, Laxmi, the danseuse who begins the show, is called by name only 11 minutes later; the robbery sequence is so long that by the time the story comes back to the charity concert you might forget that it was happening at all. Also, most audience members would know the name of the show they've bought tickets to. So, repeating the phrase "It's Not What You Think" so many times does not quite make sense. After about an hour the play begins to feel a bit repetitive and the laughter peters out. Lame and clichèd jokes such as "I'm saree, you are blouse" don't help at all. These are, however, mere hiccups in the grand scheme of things.

What matters, and makes this play worth at least one watch, are the high energy performances by Yuki Ellias, Siddhanth Karnick and the husband-wife duo Kathryn and Deepal Doshi. The play occupies 90 full minutes of stage time and there is (almost) not a minute where the characters let you down. Wonder what energy drink the actors consumed before the show! With so much happening through the play, watching the backstage frenzy for this production would be a theatrewalllah's delight and, of course a stage manager's fright. For managing the various costumes and props, the production team of IT'S NOT WAHT YOU TIHNK! deserves a special applause.

PS: Don't even think about taking your parents or kids along for the show.

*Aditi Sharma enjoys watching theatre and writing about it.