Ghalib’s city

It is India’s longest running comedy.  No guesses. It is Pierrot’s Troupe’s Ghalib In New Delhi – hugely popular, highly acclaimed and widely travelled.

This rip-roaring comedy has the great erstwhile Urdu poet, Mirza Ghalib, revisiting his beloved ‘Dehli’, now ironically ‘Delhi’, in 2015 to witness and relish his posthumous fame. 

The entire plot revolves around Ghalib striving against an omnipotent identity crisis, beginning with the occupants of his ‘Haveli’ mistaking him as Ghalib’s ‘Jinn’. This forces him to stay with a ‘Bihari’ boy, Jai Hind, a Delhi University student, in a servant quarter. His confidence is further shattered when Jai Hind and his landlady Mrs. Chaddha recognize his worth only through the voice of Jagjit Singh, and the screen portrayal of Naseeruddin Shah. Persuaded by the duo and in desperate need of recognition, Ghalib decides to ‘sell’ himself. The consequent press conference turns out to be a damp squib with the journalists being more interested in post-conference snacks and juicy headlines. Ghalib then opts for an advertising agency to perpetuate his presence in the minds of the people. What is the fate of Ghalib? Does his rebirth spell further disaster? Is Delhi a mere travesty of his hopes and aspirations? The answer lies in watching Ghalib in New Delhi, a laugh riot posing some serious questions about the stagnating codes.

The cast of the play is - M Sayeed Alam as Mirza Ghalib, Harish Chhabra as Jaihind, Vijay Gupta as Paanwala  and Sharabi, Anju Chhabra as Mrs Chadhdha and Alka Mathur,  Yashraaj Malik as Delhi Police officer and Tange Wala,  Vibhav Srivastav as Rickshaw Wala, Ahmad Omair as Bus Conductor, Manish Singh as Advt Man and Ratan Bhatia as Bus Conductor.