Paritosh Painter’s magical play

This looks set to break away from the puritan’s version of theatre. Now, the audience will watch tricks unravel on stage, in real time.

Theatre-person Paritosh Painter will now present magic on stage in the comedy, I am the Best. Claiming to be the first-ever magical comedy on stage, the play also puts together a unique concept — a reality show. Large illusions have been brought to India for the first time by Tim Harkleroad (USA) and his Indian associate Mangesh Desai. The cast includes Paritosh, Jayesh Thakkar and Pooja Ghai. Interestingly, actor Eesha Koppikhar was considered for Pooja’s role, but she had to step out due to date problems. Apparently, several other celebs turned it down due to stage fear before Pooja gave her nod.

The plot revolves around a reality show involving two magicians, Jayesh and Paritosh, pitted against each other. Pooja is introduced in the show as a celebrity partner to help one of the two magicians in their final act. The magical comedy also features actor Shreyas Talpade who plays ‘big boss’ as a reality show anchor who gives the magicians deadly tasks that brings in hilarious twists. “I’ve been working on this play for about two-and-a-half years now and even had a preview show for a select audience. We wanted to get a feedback because this is a very experimental sort of play,” explains Paritosh, adding, “I wanted to do something different from the regular, run-of-the-mill plays. And then we got this idea. Magic and illusion is something we’re doing for the first time.”

Paritosh admits that building the equipments took a lot of time. “There are a lot of technicalities involved. We need to carry them when we’re travelling with the show abroad.” He confesses that he’s pretty nervous. “As an actor when we’re on stage, if we forget a dialogue, we can improvise. But in this play, if there’s a technical fault, there’s nothing we can do!” he laughs.

So did he have fun learning the tricks? “Oh yeah, it was great fun! When you see magic on stage, you are awestruck, but when you learn it, you realise that it actually seems simple. It’s amazing how people have worked hard to make them look simple.” The play will have its fair share of some great acts including illusion, levitation and guillotine among others. “But at the end of the day, it’s a play — a comedy — that has put together the concepts of magic and reality show. It will be a lot of fun!” concludes Paritosh.