NAMASTE Play Review

The genre of 'social comedies', so favoured by many of our commercial theatre companies, finds its worthiness in Surnai's production NAMASTE, directed by KK Raina. This astute adaptation by Ila Arun of Tom Dudzick's popular play GREETINGS! (1990) offers an Indian twist on the original play. Traditional values (read religious) are in conflict with modern living (read Americanisation). The clichés notwithstanding, the play lives up to its model of entertainment.



A son brings his American-Indian girlfriend home to meet his parents in India. Worried that his parents will be upset by the girl's lack of religious values and her modern upbringing, he gives his girlfriend a fake name and asks her to pretend and not reveal things about herself. But the charade does not last long. Soon enough there's the predictable clash of values; the old generation v/s the young, and faith in the divine v/s atheism. Lines are drawn and the battle is set, especially between the boy's father and the girl but resolution comes in the form of the second son who is presumably 'mad'. In the second half, this younger son's transformation (could be magic, intervention of the divine, or sci-fi) brings the family together. If the father thinks this is witchcraft, the girl is sceptical.

This 'born-again' son assumes a rational stance and says he could be anybody. He is carved in the imagination of God and the scientist and he summons scripture and particle physics in equal breath with references to the Gita and to the famed but controversial Higgs boson/The God Particle. Not that any kind of a deeper inquiry matters for the plot at hand. The main intention of the play is to garner laughs in succession and Mrs Arun who plays the mother is right up to the task. She is pretty good actually. Her quick humour is infectious and her comic timing is on spot. The play has been adapted by her in the Braj and Awadhi dialects. Locating the play in a specific Indian cultural context with all its accompanying peculiarities adds to the drama.

Mrs Arun is ably accompanied by KK Raina (father), who offers the more serious and strict counterpoint to his elder son and his girlfriend's shenanigans. He convincingly plays the curmudgeon that is expected of his character. The colourful set design indicates the celebrations of Krishna Janmashtami (celebration of the birth of the Hindu God Krishna), the day on which the elder son arrives with his girlfriend. There's too much meandering in the first act and a crisper show will certainly benefit this light-hearted comedy that hinges on the unique appeal of Mrs Arun's performance.

Deepa Punjani is the Editor of this website.