With my granpa around, inviting friends home was truly a nightmare & a very gutsy step indeed! After even minute he would wander into the room asking ’’Rekhaaaa, did you offer your friends something to eat/drink?’’ all my ’’Yes Daadu, I did.’’ were bouncing back from the wall as he would yet again show up asking the same question. To irritate me further he would keep talking to my friends interrogating athem bout their family. Though I was red n blue that time, today I sorely miss my granpa & wish I had been more patient with him during those days. The reason I think of his antics as passable today is the recent comedy show I am hooked to on telly: The Kumars at No. 42. It might as well be my family only difference being that they are concoction of east n west, resulting in hilarious events in their life & a good tv show in our living rooms.
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The Kumars
A fictional immigrant family; The Kumars live at No 42 in Wembley & are just like any other family with the elders literally bossing over their bachas [as is the case of our hero Sanjeev]. I start with introducing my favourite character [pehle bujurgo se milati hoon :o)]
Granny Sushila: a wobbly old granny [dadi] whose heart has forgotten to get old! She is every grandchild’s nightmare [ye, much much worse than my granpa, lolz] as she never misses a chance to poke fun at poor Sanjeev & shamelessly lusts after the male guests at home. However, she is not just all drool, as she can easily discuss anything under the sun [soundz like one Gyaani baba I know!], Granny is a smarty who can dish out one liners faster than Sanjeev can utter his own name!. Like when they have a phoren guest at home Granny calls Sanjeev a ’’bevkoof’’ and then she sweetly informs ’’Bevkoof is a nice word for a mentally defective idiot.’’!! They sure don’t make grannies like her anymore!
Dad Ashwin: a typical Indian guy! A good husband and patient son but a nagging father, Ashwin is literally obsessed with money, lots of money and he loves to bore people with his silly anecdotes.
Mom Madhuri: is a sweet loving mumma type lady. She has dreams much similar to any Bharatiya mother; her son getting married to a decent homely Indian girl. She is highly protective of her ’naive’ son & everytime he utters a girl’s name she goes ’’Oh! so you have a girlfriend now?’’. Madhuri is also a obsessive host as she can kill her guests by feeding them endlessly & also bore them to death by seeking their advice on her son’s marriage.
Sanjeev a 30 something bachelor who still lives with his parents [though I don’t see anything wrong with that]. Even though he isn’t too comfortable living with his family, there isn’t much choice for him given his present professional situation. Sanjeev is very very patient with his folks, esp. his granny!
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Why are the Kumars so interesting?
Well, to help their only son Sanjeev achieve his life long dream of being a television host, mom dad and granny Kumar have bulldozed their back garden so they can build a studio on the back of their house from where Sanjeev can now host his celebrity chat show.
Now before one goes ’’Oh, such a sweet & supportive family!’’ one should also know that Sanjeev’s talk show is a big family affair! For every guest who is invited to this ’chat show’, not only has to walk through the house to get to the studio but also has to face a pre-programme systematic interrogation held by Sanjeev’s mum, dad & his cheeky granny Sushila with questions like ’’Have you got a girlfriend?’’ ’’What do her parents do?’’ or ’’Are you going to take my son to Hollywood?’’. This doesn’t end soon as even during the show the elderly Kumars hardly give Sanjeev a chance to interview his guest, they keep chipping in with silly questions of their own. It is upto poor Sanjeev to keep all this chaos in order & grab a chance to ask some good question of his own.
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The Show/Performances
Except Indira Joshi who plays Mom Madhuri, the rest of the cast is same as in the other popular British Asian comedy show Good Gracious Me. The Kumars at No. 42 is the solo venture of Sanjeev Bhaskar who also plays the role of Sanjeev, a chat show host often embarrassed by his interfering family. In this show, once again the trio - Sanjeev, Meera Syal, Vincent- have come up with rolling-on-the-floor-laughing performances & special cheers to Syal for her excellent portrayal of Granny Sushila.
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My Word
I like this show coz humorous n sensitive at the same time and of course, there is so much one can relate to; be it the nagging mom or the always criticizing but sometime supportive dad. My granpa was just like Sushila, only he was less lady-mad n cheeky! lolz.
Meet the Kumars every Sunday on Star World at 8 pm, there isn’t a better way of ending a relaxing sunday!