100 and not out

All set to stage it’s 100th performance, we get actors of the play, Two Adorable Losers, Darsheel Safary and Abhishek Pattnaik to share their experience and the journey behind making the tale about friendship a hit.

Two Adorable Losers, an English comedy produced by Out of the Box Production house. As a young theatre company, it has been performing for audiences across India and abroad for over eight years, since they were established in 2011. Founded by writer and actor, Abhishek Pattnaik, and director, Suketu Shah, the team has produced seven productions including Two Adorable Losers, Can I Help You? and Last Over. This play also stars Darsheel Safary, who plays a Psychology student, weak in Statistics along with Abhishek, who portrays the role of his professor from Orissa, who is weak in his English pronunciation. They both suffer from the same problem -- an inferiority complex and in an attempt to regain their lost confidence, they approach each other, and this leads to an unusual alliance between the two.

Talking about the play, Darsheel says, “This play has changed my life. It has a lot of genuine comedy in it. I have seen the play four times before I was a part of it and I’d come along with my friends to watch it. When I saw it, I would wonder ‘What a play!’ and I could watch it again and again. But, back then, I wasn’t even aware that I will get a chance to be a part of this production one day,” Darsheel says.

As the play is gearing up for its 100th show on August 17 (Saturday), Darsheel hopes to keep on entertaining and reach out to more people. “I think, I became part of this play, when it completed its 40th show. Now, it’s reaching its 100th show. Everything has happened so fast but the plan is to keep performing and make it reach out to more people, especially to the youth,” says actor Darsheel, 22, who has been part of Two Adorable Losers, since 2017.

Abhishek, who was 23 when he wrote this play, never really had a vision when he started writing. But when a lot of younger people started coming to him with the intention of being a part of the production, it gave him hope that the play could indeed travel to other parts of the country and the world. He says, “Some young people told me it changed their perspective towards life and that’s when I thought that this is what my vision is going to be -- to make this play, and theatre in general, more accessible, to people in our country.”

Two Adorable Loser, according to Darsheel, is so hilarious that he had to get over all the jokes that he was part of when he watched the play as an audience. “I had to forget all of that because I was going to be a part of the play. We travelled to so many places and the response has been amazing. We saw people get attached to the play and it would make us so emotional. The whole experience has made me grow as an actor,” he adds.

Talking about theatre in India, 28-year-old Abhishek says, through his productions, he wishes to change the face of theatre in India. “In this play, the concept of teacher-student relationship connects with people. We never thought we would be reaching its 100th show and yet here we are. It’s a big deal for us,” he adds.

What: Two Adorable Losers

Where: Experimental Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point

When: On August 17, at 7pm.