Venue: Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts
Date: 14 January 2017

Zee Entertainment has recently ventured in the field of theatre under the banner Zee Theatre . They have curated a tour of 50 shows. These plays are being held in Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal and Rajasthan.

The series started on 14 January, 2017 with the play “Internal Affairs” at Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts.

This is a romantic comedy where two colleagues find themselves in a relationship that they are confused about. How do they get in it or out of it is the rest of the plot. There are many high points in this piece. While boy meets girl story is the most common theme, perhaps slow romance belongs to a bygone era. The instant script therefore has various situations that the impatient urban audience can relate to. The result is an almost instant connect with the viewers.  Although this is a comedy, the play raises tricky relationship issues that many of us face in our lives.

All the actors are pros and assay their roles skillfully. In fact the veterans Hussain Dalal (loved him in “Margarita with a Straw” and Shikha Talsania (Lakshmi in “Wake up Sid”) play multiple characters with ease. They change their hats so dexterously that one simply forgets that it is the same actor in different roles. In one scene Talsania, who plays the hero’s crush as well as his colleague, just takes half a turn and switches characters. This is done so effortlessly that it is not difficult for the audience to be convinced.

Another attribute of the play that we wish to mention is the short and sweet duration of one hour fifteen minutes. This ensured that the script was crisp and that there was not a single dull moment. We saw this play on a Saturday evening and this was an apt weekend watch – light but not shallow.

A great start to Zee Theater and we say “encore”.