After the lockdowns and closure of auditoriums due to COVID-19 pandemic and amid emergence of Omicron variant infections, Nagpurians were witness to laugh riot Marathi drama ‘Punha Sahi Re Sahi’. The rib-tickling comedy with addition of witty dialogues won laughter, and the lead actor Bharat Jadhav won the hearts of Nagpurians with the way he tackled mid-show interruptions due to sound issues. On Maharashtra tour, Bharat Jadhav’s drama is a renewed version of the original record-breaking ‘Sahi Re Sahi’ that had taken the theatre circuit by storm some 20 years ago. Jadhav plays quadruple roles in the drama -- of old businessman Madan Sukhatme, and his look-alikes Ranga, Hari, and Galgale with different behavioural traits. Sukhatme’s young second wife Meera and his personal assistant Aniket Raje have a love affair. Sukhatme catches them, and Meera hits him on the head with a liquor bottle. Taking him for dead, they try to dispose of his ‘body’. Later on, presuming him to be dead, Raje and Meera call Sukhatme’s lawyer Lele. However, then comes a twist. Sukhatme has three wills, but all are unsigned. One will is in the name of Meera, another in the name of his long lost uncle Anna, and the third in the name of his first wife Manorama and her daughter Rupa.

 

The lawyer presents two options -- either to distribute Sukhatme’s wealth equally among all three heirs, or if by any chance Sukhatme comes to sign one of the wills. Meera and Raje plant Sukhatme’s look-alike truck driver Ranga, Anna and his side-kick Dattu plant another look-alike Hari, and Manorama and Rupa plant one more look-alike insurance agent Galgale in Sukhatme bungalow with an intention to get ‘their Sukhatme’ to sign the will in their favour. Meanwhile, as the three look-alikes are in the bungalow with respective will-heirs, the original Madan Sukhatme also enters the bungalow. What follows is a laugh-riot. Though ‘Punha Sahi Re Sahi’ produced by Bharat Jadhav Entertainment is a curtailed version of the original ‘Sahi Re Sahi’ (both written and directed by Kedar Shinde), Bharat Jadhav packs the same punch with the same energetic movements and switching over the mannerisms of Sukhatme and three other look-alikes.

 

He clearly dominates the scene. The members of the audience, who had seen ‘Sahi Re Sahi’ years ago, however, lament the curtailment in the scenes displaying mannerisms of particularly Hari. Especially, Hari’s dialogues -- ‘Tumchyasarkha Devmanus Mi Ayushyat Pahila Nahi’, ‘Tuzya Baapacha Khato Kay Re’ and the unforgettable dance moves on the song ‘God Gojiri Laaj Laajri...’. Of course, Nagpurians liked ‘Punha Sahi Re Sahi’. Their love and respect for Bharat Jadhav increased when the actor stopped mid-scene at least twice as there was a problem with microphone. Getting out of the character, he became Bharat Jadhav, the head of cast and crew, and sought to know from audio-technicians what was the problem.

 

He asked two women co-actors to go to the wings and rest a while till the issue was resolved. All through this period, Jadhav and the audience waited patiently. Jadhav wore smile on his face, for which the members of the audience complimented him with, “Bharat sir, we love you!”. To this, he replied with a wider and humble smile. During this interruption, as a man sitting in the front rows in the audience got up with mobile phone to his ear, Jadhav mistook him for audio-technician. When Jadhav asked him what had happened, with a curious gesture, the man replied, “Sorry sir, Boss cha phone aahe...”. Obviously, the audience was in splits. Jadhav also could not resist a hearty laughter. When the issue with the audio was resolved, Jadhav and his co-actors slipped into their respective characters and started with dialogues exactly from the point when interruption disturbed the flow of the drama. Nagpurians appreciated the ease of the actors with loud applause. Jadhav won the hearts with not just professional handling of the unexpected interruptions, but also with witty additions. For instance, in one scene when Meera rubs her face gently on the left arm of Galgale, he utters, “Someone must tell her that I have got both the doses of (COVID-19) vaccine on that arm.”

 

In another scene, Manorama and Meera both try to hug Madan Sukhatme, he quips, “This is Maha Vikas Aghadi.” Further, when Anna asks Madan Sukhatme to listen to him, Jadhav dressed as Sukhatme says wittily, “In Maharashtra, one has to listen to Kaka.” Of course, there were other additions, which the audience suspected might not be in the script. But, with all these additions with political tones, Jadhav left Nagpurians with something to remember. Sadly, due to COVID-19 restrictions, Nagpurians could not meet Bharat Jadhav after the show for post-drama appreciation. But, amid pandemic times, Jadhav injected positivity and administered the jab of laughter to Nagpurians. He struck a ‘Sahi’ chord with audience, again!