Our Bureau
Washington, DC
After nearly 3 years of hiatus precipitated by a raging Covid Pandemic, ‘Natya Gurjari’, a well-established Gujrati Theater organization in Washington DC metro area, presented first two shows of its new hilarious Play ‘Cash Karo Aish Karo’ on Saturday April 30 and Sunday May 1 at the Kreeger Auditorium in Rockville, MD. Natya Gurjari was founded in 2016 under the leadership of veteran local theater personality, Jay Joshi. Primary objective of the Natya Gurjari is to provide a platform to showcase talents of local artists who have keen passion for theater. After producing two hugely popular Plays ‘Parnu to Ene J Parnu’ and ‘Khel Khel Ma Agan Khel’, the ‘Cash Karo Aish Karo’ is this vibrant and reputed theater group’s third full-fledged production. The two-act Play is written by a prolific Gujarati Playwright Vilopan Desai who has written over hundred Plays. ‘Cash Karo Aish Karo’ is a rib-tickling comedy highlighting plight of a newly married man who gets entangled into numerous tricky social and legal problems while trying to make quick money. His haphazard efforts to solve self-created mess are fraught with many funny blunders, comic fiascos and roaring fun!!
The Play is a highly entertaining comedy drama with an underlying meaningful social message. Nearly houseful audience on both days thoroughly enjoyed the presentation and theater goers enthusiastically appreciated and applauded this hilarious Play! The knowledgeable audience roared with laughter throughout the Play, bringing house down with tremendous fun and expression of joy at every punch line and at numerous comic twists and turns in the captivating story! The appreciative audience gave a standing ovation to the Team ‘Cash Karo Aish Karo’ on Sunday, providing proverbial ‘icing on the cake’ for the Natya Gurjari theater group. The audience showered praises on top notch acting of the cast. Some of the gushing comments heard from overjoyed audience were:
“What a treat it was!! By far one of the best comedies, I have seen!! Totally brilliant!! Not enough words to describe the feeling of soul satisfaction!! Kudos to amazing team!!!
“Awesome play, congratulations to entire team, all the actors were great, amazing Direction and execution! I think in so many years this is the first play I have seen with this much laughter during the entire play!!
“Everyone Rocked it! Play was awesome!!! Non-stop punches from the actors and non-stop laughter from the audience! Never a dull moment! Loved it, loved it, loved it!”
“Excellent performance. Great teamwork and amazing script! Loved Sound effects! The Play is enjoyable for all age groups!”
“Such an outstanding caliber presentation by our own community theater group is a matter of great joy and pride for us. This Play is at par with top-quality Plays that are performed by visiting professional groups from India”.
An accomplished Actor, Director and Producer Jay Joshi directed the Play. A prominent community leader Kirit Udeshi and Bharati Joshi were producers. The talented cast included Kinnari Koradia, Vishal Parikh, Nilay Bhatt, Aj Parikh, Mihir Shah, Chaitali Mirani, Nidhi Shah, Kunjan Butala, Bhavin Parekh and Jay Joshi. The overall presentation was also enhanced by the expert contribution of the production crew. Daxa Patel and Romil Kinariwala were Stage Managers, Mrugesh Patel was a Sound Manager, Paresh Parekh managed Lights, Goldie Manocha did Make-Up, and Ketul Patel, Raj Shivjiani and Bala Chandran also extended their assistance. ‘Cash Karo Aish Karo’ title song is written by RJ Harsh and Sunil Revar, music is composed by Sunil Revar, and singers are Keyur Vaghela and Rahul Patel.
The Shrinathdham Haveli sponsored first two shows of the Play. All net proceeds were donated for the charitable cause of the Shrinathdham Haveli. Amit Bhai Shah, Rakesh (Arsy) Shah, Kirit Udeshi, Vijay Bhai Shah and all Trustees as well as volunteers of Shrinathdham Haveli worked tirelessly to make the staging of the Play a great success. At the conclusion, Amit Bhai Shah, Vijay bhai Shah, Kirit Udeshi and Jay Joshi deeply appreciated exemplary cooperation and support of all involved with this program and expressed desire to continue extending assistance to do more such programs in coming years not only to celebrate Gujarati literature via Plays but also to augment cultural awareness to performing arts and further foster unity in the community.
