CHICAGO: The Hyderabadi Angrez team pulled a massive crowd at Chicago’s Devon Ave for the first free live Indian comedy show, “Hungama”.
The fans of Mast Ali, popularly known as Salim Pheku, and Aziz Naser crammed every available space on North Shore Banquet Hall on Tuesday 29th evening. It was a working day night, yet the crowd was unprecedented. Many watched the show from the open doors and hallways leading to the stairs. Many families returned as they could not find space.
Iftekhar Shareef, the main host and a senior leader, was the man behind the show. He briefly introduced the team of famous movie Angrez. Shareef thanked Mukkaram Khan and Data Darbar Restaurant and others for their cooperation in hosting the event.
Mast Ali and Aziz Naser won applause from the spectators for their live comedy performances.
In a lighter vein, Mast Ali praised the working culture of Indian community in America. He admitted that what he witnessed in Chicago was far from what he heard for Indians in America. As he cut a comedy item for “making money”, he ended saying, “you value time and work hard here in a disciplined manner that is far from what we assume back home”.
Aziz Naser’s entry itself was shrouded in a comedy item as he entered speaking on his cell phone to someone in India and asking him in a typical Hyderabadi style to disconnect the line as he was on stage in a live show. His item on Hindi dialect spoken in different parts of India was hilarious.
The comedy duo won the hearts of Chicago Indian community. Many Pakistani American families were also seen among the audience. The show also had singers, Bollywood numbers, music, fun and dance items usually added in a live entertainment show. Many in audience wondered why the well known stars’ show was for free. An entrance fee could have helped the visiting stars.
The movie, “Angrez”, the first full length feature film in a Deccan Urdu-Hindi dialect, was released in 2005 and it was hit for its simple charm of Hyderabadi language. The movie ran in theatres for 250 days.
The team has since created a Deccani film industry in Hyderabad. They produced many other comedy hit movies, released in theatres and on video. They were visiting Chicago for promotion of their new film Dawat e Shaadi to be released soon in theaters under RajShree Production banner.
A.Q. Siddiqui
India Post News Service
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