''Rafta, Rafta...'' is a comedy by

British Pakistani British Pakistanis (; also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are Britons or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes people born in the UK who are of Pakistani descent, Pakis ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

Ayub Khan-Din Ayub Khan Din (; born 11 July 1961) is a British writer and actor. He wrote the BAFTA, BIFA and London Film Critics Circle award-winning film '' East Is East'' (1999), adapted from his 1996 Olivier-nominated play of the same name. His 2008 co ...

adapted from the 1963

Bill Naughton William John Francis Naughton (12 June 1910 – 9 January 1992) was an Irish-born British playwright and author, best known for his play '' Alfie''. Early life Born into relative poverty in Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, Ireland, he moved to ...

play, ''All in Good Time''. The play is set in the working class English town of

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

, and examines a story of marital difficulties within an

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

Indian family. Ishwar Dutt is a first-generation immigrant and patriarch of the family. He has a troubled relationship with his newlywed son Atul, whose married life with Vina Patel has got off to a rocky start. The play deals with setting out and resolving these various conflicts.

Productions

London and New York City

''Rafta, Rafta...'' opened at the National Theatre, Lyttelton in April 2007.

Nicholas Hytner Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner ( ; born 7 May 1956) is an English theatre director, film director, and film producer. He was previously the Artistic Director of London's National Theatre. His major successes as director include ''Miss Saigon'', '' ...

directed the inaugural production.

Harish Patel Harish Patel (; born 5 July 1953) is an Indian character actor. He has appeared in a variety of Hindi films, but in recent years has begun to appear in American projects like reimagination of ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' on Hulu and the MCU ...

played the central role of Eeshwar Dutt, with

Meera Syal Meera Syal FRSL (born Feroza Syal; 27 June 1961) is an English comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created '' Goodness Gracious Me'' and by portraying Sanjeev's grandmoth ...

in the role of his sharp-tongued wife Lopa. The play had a successful run, receiving acclaim from both critics and theatre-goers. An

Off Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

production of ''Rafta, Rafta...'' opened in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

on 8 May 2008 at the Acorn Theatre to positive reviews. The cast included

Ranjit Chowdhury Ranjit Chowdhry (19 September 1955 – 15 April 2020) was an Indian character actor, known for his roles in television, movies, and theatre. He appeared in two episodes of ''The Office'', as Vikram, a telemarketer who worked with Michael, and w ...

(Eeshwar Dutt),

Manish Dayal Manish Dayal (born Manish Sudhir Patel; June 17, 1983) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the CW teen drama series '' 90210'' (2011–2012) as well as in the films '' The Hundred Foot Journey'' (2014) and '' Viceroy's House'' ...

(Atul Dutt),

Sakina Jaffrey Sakina Jaffrey (born February 14, 1962) is an American actress. Early life Jaffrey was born in New York City, the youngest daughter of Indian-born parents, actress and food and travel writer Madhur Jaffrey, and actor Saeed Jaffrey. Her parent ...

(Lopa Dutt) and

Reshma Shetty Reshma Shetty (born 2 November 1977) is a British-born American actress who is best known for her role as Divya Katdare on the USA Network TV series ''Royal Pains''. Early life Shetty was born on 2 November 1977 to Hindu Indian parents in Manches ...

(Vina Patel). Opening Night 19 March in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

at the

Old Globe Theatre The Old Globe is a professional theatre company in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It produces about 15 plays and musicals annually in summer and winter seasons. Plays are performed in three separate theatres in the complex, which is collec ...

. Reetu Patel of MAD Bollywood is the young Movement Consultant for Rafta, Rafta. Jonathan Silverstein directs. Cast led by Geeta Citygirl Chopra and Kamal Marayati. The San Diego Theatre Critics' Circle nominated Geeta Citygirl Chopra in the category of Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, Female for her performances as Lopa Dutt in the Old Globe's production of Ayub Khan-Din's hit comedy play, "RAFTA, RAFTA..." Awards were presented Monday, 6 February 2012 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California.

Singapore

The Singapore production of Rafta, Rafta was staged by HuM Theatre in April–May 2010 at the DBS Arts Centre. The production was directed by Dinkar Jani and starred Subin Subaiah in the lead role as Eeshwar Dutt. Veteran stage and TV actress Daisy Irani played the role of his wife, Lopa. The Singapore production received rave reviews from media critics and theatre-goers.

Mumbai

The

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

production of Rafta, Rafta was staged by Akvarious Productions and held its premiere on 14 January 2011 at the

Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT- Bombay or IIT-B) is a public research university and technical institute in Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. IIT Bombay is mainly known for the highly competitive four-year Bachelor of Techno ...

as part of the institute's annual theatre festival. The production was directed by Tahira Nath and Akarsh Khurana.

Film adaptation

Khan-Din has adapted the play as a film titled ''All in Good Time'', produced by

Left Bank Pictures Left Bank Pictures Ltd. (stylised as LEFT BANK Pictures) is a British film and television production company owned by Sony Pictures Television through its International Production division. It was formed in 2007 and was the first British media c ...

and distributed by Optimum Releasing.

Amara Karan Amara Karunakaran (born 1 January 1984) is an English stage and film actress. Biography Karan was born to Sri Lankan Tamil parents who had emigrated from Zambia to Britain two years before she was born. She was brought up in Wimbledon and atten ...

and

Reece Ritchie Reece Ritchie (born 23 July 1986) is an English actor. He is known for his film roles, such as Moha in ''10,000 BC'' (2008), Bis in '' Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time'' (2010), and Iolaus in ''Hercules'' (2014). He starred as Jay in the Bri ...

star alongside

and

References

External links

* {{OlivierAward Comedy 2001–2025 British plays Comedy plays Plays by Ayub Khan-Din Off-Broadway plays Plays based on books West End plays Laurence Olivier Award–winning plays Fiction about Indian diaspora