'Rafta Rafta…,' award-winning British play holds up merry mirror to U.S. Desis

Crossing the Atlantic to wide critical acclaim, Ayub Khan-Din's hit play, 'Rafta Rafta …', winner of the 2008 Olivier Award for the Best New Comedy, which officially opened Off Broadway on May 8 will do us Desis on this side of the waters a world of good.

Seeing it will make us laugh at ourselves, and let other Americans have a look-in without the least embarrassment. "Rafta Rafta…' is just as sparklingly a mirror for Indian Americans in Jackson Heights and Edison, - as it was for British Indians in Oldham or Salford, to have a merry look at themselves and allow other fellow Americans also to have a view of the inner tamasha of Desi family life.

No race issue or religious tension or economic crisis casts its shadow on this purely human comedy which had a most successful run at the National Theatre in Britain.

The New Group presented the U.S. premiere of Khan-Din's 'Rafta, Rafta…' in a limited Off- Broadway run at the Acorn from April 18 - June 21. Directed by Scott Elliott, the production had its Official Opening on May 8 at The New Group at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street). 'Rafta, Rafta…' is a humorous tale of close-knit Indian family life in Britain.

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