There was visible excitement in the air at the Lexington Heritage Museum on the afternoon of Saturday, March 17. The first episode of the “Comedy Bindaas Preetesh ke Andaaz” show titled ”Fully Filmy Funny” began shortly after 4pm with a Bollywood dance medley starring Jharna Madan and several other dancers trained by Boston area based teachers Jasmine Shah and Sneha Shetty. Jharna welcomed the audience by introducing the architect of the Bollywood/Broadway style show, Preetesh Shrivastava who was born and brought up in Bhopal, India and who successfully sowed the seeds of Indian culture along River Charles when he moved to the USA and settled down in Boston. “Those seeds that he sowed are blossoming today” said Jharna.

The versatile Preetesh Shrivastava made a dramatic entry by cycling around the stage on a little bicycle with the film song “Saala mai tho saahab ban gaya” playing in the background. For the next three hours, viewers were treated to an engaging multi-media show consisting of a skit featuring a love story saga of a young couple Rahul and Shivani, stand-up comedy act by Preetesh, audio clips from Bollywood movies, Bollywood dance medleys, live song presentation and video clips featuring brilliant acting by Preetesh’s wife, Pratibha Krishnamurthy, projected on a large backdrop screen.

Rahul and Shivani’s fictional love story led the audience through a movie-like-journey where a major complication was resolved in an idealistic ending where Rahul decides to marry Shivani who is suffering from a terrible illness. The sets were minimally simple and served their purpose well. The characters in the play were developed by the playwright with great attention to detail, effectively bringing out the essence of the personalities. Each role in the skit was portrayed superbly by a team of talented actors.  Along with funny situations that made the audience laugh, moments of sadness were introduced on purpose so that the audience was led through a variety of emotions. Dance medleys executed with enthusiasm and finesse added color and movement on the stage and were a great hit with the audience.  Preetesh sang, danced, acted and did stand-up-comedy with aplomb and flair.

Preetesh’s keen sense of observation, remarkable ability for storytelling in Hindi and English languages, self-awareness and charming presence on the stage, commentary addressing several current issues such as the impact of social media applications such as Facebook, general differences between the personalities and makeup of men and women and specific differences in customs, traditions and cultural attitudes of communities from North India vs South India were remarkable. Transitioning effortlessly from one topic to another, Preetesh’s commendable oratory skills kept the audience engaged from start to finish. He adapted several commonly known jokes cleverly to the story of his marriage with his Engineering College’s dean’s daughter Pratibha and narrated interesting episodes related to his wedding with an emotionless, straight face, drawing great laughter from the audience. At times, Preetesh skillfully used a powerful interactive exercise with the audience. He painted imaginary social scenarios with words and used the technique of making allusions to the results of awkward cultural situations. By not spelling out the consequences of the imaginary situations that he created, he forced members of the audience to think and come to their own conclusions about the scenarios. Technology was used to full advantage with video-clips and pre-recorded audio clips executed without a glitch in the entire duration of the show.

The first episode of â€œComedy Bindaas Preetesh ke Andaaz” show was a resounding success that ended with the audience wanting more. Dedicated to the renowned director and playwright from Boston, the late Shri. Mohan Dali, more than 50 local artists assisted Preetesh Shrivastava in his presentation.  Sponsors of the show, actors and dancers and members of the audience were acknowledged with grace and style at the end of the show. Members of the audience enjoyed socializing with friends and were treated to complimentary vegetarian and non-vegetarian food and drinks from Gourmet India before the show began and also during a brief intermission between the two segments of the show. After the show ended, there was a champagne toast with the artists along with photo opportunities in the beautiful lobby of the Lexington Heritage museum. Every aspect of the show showed detailed vision and planning and excellent execution.

“It was complete entertainment with attractive costumes, catchy dance and music, mimicry and good food” said Dimple and Dhiren Parikh from Shrewsbury, MA. The words effectively echoed the sentiments of the audience who attended the “Fully Filmy Funny” comedy show.

The three pillars:
Jharna Madan
Pratibha Krishnamurthy
Anish Khanzode

Sponsors:
Indy Johar DK Mortgage, Rita Kakkar,Subhash Kakkar, Ra Mahadev Ameriprise Financial, Ramesh Parwani, Amit K Parwani KayPee Jewelers, Subu Kota The Boston Group, Satish Palyam Happy Kids Dental, Jyoti Justin RE/MAX LEADING EDGE, Neha Patel, Sal Patel Bedford Plaza Hotel, Yogi Sood, Vishal Sood Harshita Singh Sood Gourmet India, Neil Mukherjee CPA, CA IMFS , Pushpa Karna Aalok Fashion...

Performers:
Ajay Jain, Swati Sane, Sanjay Jain, Monisha Prakash, Sanaa Kazi, Anurag Jain, Harshal Joshi, Satish Palyum, Ajay Jaisingh, Shriniwas Sane, तरुण स्वर्णकार, Ilina Shah, Ashutosh-Tejal Patel,, Jhoomar dance group Vasudha Kudrimoti, Rakhee Wagal, Pallavi Gupta and Sowmya Dharmateja, Retro Rockers Krithi Nathan, Sneha Shetty, Shruthi Puranik, Samyuktha Devadoss, Shreya Ranganarayan, Prajusha Reddy Deeya Yadapadithaya, Mihir Acharya, Archana Deshmukh, Vedika Vinayak, Varun Verlencar, Shweta Shukla, Neha Chandra, Esha Shetty and Dance teacher Jasmine Shah..

The team:
Ajay Jaisingh, Harshal, Jawed Wahid, Madhu Nene, Shashank, Munendra Yadav, Shriniwas Sane, Sneh Jaisingh, Rekha Palriwala, Saroj Kalra, Vijay Ejenkar, Prateek Paul, Ruchika Yadav, Ruchi, Ritika, Shweta Rawat, Swati Vyas, Gogo, Gopika, Alok Bhaskar, Yogi Sood, Vishal Sood, Gourmet India team, Lata Rao ji, Manohar Rao, Smitha Bharadwaj, Mohan Subramaniam , Meera Subramaniam , Bini , Harish Dang Ranjani Saigal, Anil Saigal, Lokvani, Eshani Shah, Meyyappan Meyyappan, Shuchita Rao Prithvi Banerjee, Vishal Gupta, Poonam Ahluwalia, Sunayana Kachroo, Poppy Charnalia,Shobha Shastry Seshi, Gauri Chandna, Mahesh Goel, Anaya, Java and Hetal Joshi, Sanjay Kudrimoti, Pankaj Shah, Shamita Behl, Swati Vyas, Raksha Soni, Sumit Sharma, Twinkle Morbia, Ruchika & Munendra Yadav, Neelam & Anupam Wali, Pooja Shetty, Sapna Shetty, Anasuya Krishnamurthy

Photo credits, Rutvij Sharma @rutvijsharmaphotography, Sumit Sharma, Sanjay Kudrimoti

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