Recently, Gujjubhai Banya Dabangg, a Gujarati play starring Siddharth Randeria and Tejal Vyas in lead roles, completed 10 years. Siddharth Randeria, also the director of the play, shares, “I am grateful to the audience for loving this play. We have done close to 600 shows and every time, the response has been amazing.
We adapted this from a Marathi one-act play by Sachin Mote. Long back, Sachin had narrated this story to me, and a lot of credit should go to our writer Pravin Solanki for the play’s success. At a time when the audience is dwindling for Gujarati plays, I feel proud that a lot of plays in the Gujjubhai series have completed more than 500 shows.
These days, plays find it tough to complete more than 200 shows. Some clips from Gujjubhai Banya Dabangg have more than 10 million views online and they are also quite popular for making Instagram reels.” Expressing his happiness as “Gujjubhai Banya Dabangg has become an iconic play”, Randeria shares, “Nobody can predict while rehearsing about how the audience will react to a play.
However, unlike films, the advantage you have here is that you can tweak things even after the premiere and there is always scope for improvement. The character of Gujjubhai is such that it allows me to improvise with each show, as I can interact with the audience and incorporate current topics, which adds an element of freshness. I am lucky to have the same set of co-actors for so long, as they understand the need for improvisations.
Since it’s a comedy, we thoroughly enjoy it while performing.” Talking about his preparation before a new play, Randeria, who started the Gujjubhai series of plays in 2007, says, “We prepare extensively and rehearse for months before presenting a new play to the audience. Until we are absolutely sure, we don’t go ahead with it.
For instance, for Gujjubhai Ni Golmaal, we decided to push back the premiere at the last moment, as we weren’t 100 per cent convinced about the content. I took it up again after several years and it completed more than 550 shows. I feel happy when I see a lot of youngsters in the age-group of 7 to 14 attending my plays.
It happens not just here, but even in countries like Australia and the US. While touring abroad, goof-ups happen at times due to technical glitches and it can be tiring to perform after long flights. But once I am on the stage, it’s like therapy for me.
Also, you need to respect the audience. It may be the 500 show for us, but it’s something new for the audience.” Expressing his gratitude towards the audience, he says, “There’s a person in Ahmedabad who has seen every play of mine more than 40 times! One day, I asked him, ‘Why are you paying money to watch the same play so many times?’ He replied, ‘Sir, wohi toh maza hai live theatre ka.
Aap toh kabhi stage se dekh nahi paaoge, ki aap kya kar rahe ho to engage the audience.’ That was such a beautiful answer! I love to meet the audience after every show. In today’s world, nobody has the time to wait for anything.
But I make sure to meet people who wait for me even after a show. That’s my way of expressing gratitude.” Buoyed by the success of the Gujjubhai plays, they were adapted into D-Town films too-Gujjubhai The Great (2015) and Gujjubhai-Most Wanted (2018).
Both the films, directed by Siddharth’s son Ishaan Randeria, featured Siddharth Randeria and Jimit Trivedi in lead roles. As per reports, the third film in the series is also on the cards..
