Those Indian Guys, last seen at Downstage during the comedy Festival this year with From India With Love, are back with their original show D’Arranged Marriage.  Where their previous show had both performers, Tarun Mohanbhai and Rajeev Varma on stage together, this current one is a solo performance with each taking night about. 

As is well known, arranged marriages are a major part of Indian culture, both back in India and here in NZ, and it is the concept of how this works and the pressures enforced on those that don’t comply with family tradition that Those Indian Guys use to great comic effect in their show. 

D’Arranged Marriage tells the story of Sanjay Gupta, at 25 still living at home, still helping to run the family corner dairy and still single.  He spends most of his time either in the shop or playing with his X Box continually avoiding the question of an arranged marriage. However, his nagging parents finally get to him and he succumbs to meeting Neenu, who, to his surprise, he takes a liking to. 

This is a slick, well written and put together show that has a whole range of characters with whom Sanjay interacts. And in the opening night performance Mohanbhai’s is able to make each character real and funny yet never over done. He expertly portrays their interactions and idiosyncrasies with perfect timing, one minute playing the mother, the next the father then back to Sanjay.  His use of facial expression is particularly telling, with his continual use of various guises to enhance his body posture and voice. 

He is also a very good dancer and can carry a song well.  Mention should also be made of the excellent lighting used throughout the show and the clever and innovative way slides are integrated into the dialogue to make this a most entertaining piece of theatre.

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Fresh from playing their most recent show, From India With Love, in Hamilton, Those Indian Guys are back at Downstage with the sequel, D’Arranged Marriage, which in fact came first (at BATS, in the Comedy Festival of 2004).

A solo show, it is being performed on alternate nights by one of its co-creators, Rajeev Varma or Tarun Mohanbhai, while the other sees to the impressive lighting, sound and slides. And the team work that made From India With Love such a hit remains very apparent.

On opening night Tarun Mohanbhai played out the 80 minute multi-character marathon to a house I know was laughing lots on the inside, if not outwardly very often. An almost subliminal sense that he was refreshing his memory banks as he reclaimed the roles may have contributed to our sitting more in admiration at his prowess than subjectively engaged in the tale itself.

Introducing himself as Sanjay Gupta, 25 and still living at home, assistant in the family shop by day and would-be stand-up comedian by night, he unfolds the tale of how – as a modern day Kiwi guy – he attempts to dodge the traditional concept of arranged marriage.

A quick whip through his 10th, 15th and 25th birthdays brings us into his current life, in the bosom of his ever-loving family but with no bosom for a pillow, as one of the many songs would have it. Having resisted his destiny with Neenu Patel for 15 years, it’s a shock to discover she has blossomed – and even more of one to discover she has a secret boyfriend: Rundeep, “the pseudo Indian from Fiji who wears more bling-bling than Mr T”.

Meanwhile Sanjay’s father Manhur and mother Pushpa – whose journey from a small Indian village in the 1950s to true love amid the fruit and vegies in Pukekohe is the essence of From India With Love – and assorted uncles and cousins, hassle him in various ways at various times in various places.

As the richly woven comic tale is told, the seamless staging is as easy to take for granted as Mohanbhai’s fluid physical moves and versatile singing voice(s). Each character is clearly delineated and amid the archetypes Sanjay and Neenu ring especially true. I predict another sequel to complete a trilogy.

D’Arranged Marriage completes this week at Downstage then plays Auckland’s Maidment and Orwea’s Centre Stage: click on the production title at the top for further details.

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