An antidote to bawdy humour and crass aesthetics prevailing on screens of different sizes that are threatening to make us tone-deaf to comedy, Gulzar’s 2 by 2 provides two hours of clean entertainment that teases, tantalises, and tingles with its situational humour. Staged at the Shriram Centre For Performing Arts in Delhi, the adaptation of William Shakespeare’s classic play, The Comedy of Errors, reaffirms faith in the power of theatre to make the audience suspend disbelief.
The Jnanpeeth awardee has a long association with the iconic story of two sets of identical twins, Way back in the 1960s, he adapted it for a feature film with Dev Anand and Johnny Walker. The casting didn’t work out and eventually Do Dooni Chaar (1968) was made with Kishore Kumar and Asit Sen. Many summers later the ace writer-director turned it into Angoor (1982) with Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma reprising the roles. Over the years, the film has acquired cult status with cinephiles.
A few years back, Gulzar turned it into a play that noted theatre director Salim Arif mounted with Zeeshan Ayub, Lubna Salim, and Swanand Kirkire. On popular demand, this past week, Arif returned with a new set of actors and a few fresh punches to revive the magic of Gulzar’s writing.
Director Salim Arif with Gulzar | Photo Credit: Vivek Bendre
Introducing the story in his gravelly voice-over, Gulzar takes us to the tale of two sets of identical twins who are separated at birth by fate, only to be reunited later by destiny. Both sets of twins share the same names, Ashok and Bahadur. A wealthy merchant had identical twin sons whom he named Ashok on a whim. As luck would have it, he and his wife came across another pair of twins and they named them Bahadur. After an accident tears the family apart, one Ashok grows up to be a married man with a wife named Sudha. His help, Bahadur, is married to Prema. Meanwhile, the other Ashok remains a bachelor, while Bahadur, also single, develops a fondness for cannabis.
One day, the bachelor twins, Ashok (Ashutosh Singh Rathore) and Bahadur (Deepak Bhatt), arrive in the city where the married Ashok and Bahadur live. Their encounter sparks a hilarious chain of mistaken identities that leaves everyone baffled. The families, along with a jeweller, his assistant, a cycle rickshaw driver, and an inspector, all become entangled in this gentle laugh riot.
The 1982 film Angoor, directed by Gulzar, was also based on The Comedy of Errors | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
We may have moved on to the digital world but the story plays out as smoothly as ever before. The premise remains layered without getting convoluted. The execution remains lively without turning sappy. Most importantly, the central conceit of twin double roles is a challenge to execute on stage but Arif takes us on a fun ride without a blip.
An eminent art director, Arif brings his expertise in stage design to create a double-story house on stage and a hotel room that takes the shape of a jewellery shop. In between, there is a road where a cycle takes the form of an autorickshaw. Light designer Sarthak Narula ably assists him in creating a credible milieu. As the action shifts from one floor to another, the neck cranes to follow the movement and the mind works overtime to get hold of the narrative arc. The laughs are built into the narrative and seldom feel superficial. It is a classic case of a director taking the audience into confidence leaving the actors to grapple with unique situations to generate humour.
Salim Arif is back with 2 by 2 with a new set of actors and a few fresh punches to revive the magic of Gulzar’s writing | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
The performances are adequate though not excellent. Prerna Gupta and Chhavi Panchal lend good support as Sudha and Tanuja. The problem is the lead actors, particularly Ashutosh. In a bid to get the timing of comedy right, they take the easy way out of copying Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma to the T. For those who have watched the film, it might reduce their performance to a decent mimicry. For the rest, this Angoor tastes sweet.
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