With Bade Miyan Deewane and Phir Se Shaadi, playful weekends are back for theatre lovers in Lucknow!

It's playtime once again with Repertwahr Weekends making a comeback after six months. Two plays — Bade Miyan Deewane and Phir Se Shaadi — will be staged at the Sant Gadge Auditorium of Uttar Sangeet Natak Academy on April 12 and 13.

Directed by Imran Rasheed, a UPite from Bulandshahr, the plays are in the comedy genre.

“I am an Aligarh Muslim University alumnus. I have lived in Lucknow a lot, and professionally too, I have worked here with theatre personalities Nadira Babbar and Purva Naresh. I launched Rangbaaz Production in 2010 with Bade Miyan Deewane, which has done over 150 shows, but I never got a chance to bring any of my 15 productions to Lucknow,” said Rasheed, who will be taking up the leading roles in both plays.

“Actor Danish Hussain usually plays the main role, or Muzammil Qureshi takes it up; however, both are unavailable. So, it’s always handy for the director to take it up and do justice to the role as and when needed, otherwise the shows get derailed. Phir Se Shaadi started eight years ago, and I have even directed it into a film with actors Sharib Hashmi, Danish Hussain, and Sheeba Chadha. We shot it in Aligarh four years ago, but we are struggling for its release,” he added.

The actors that will be seen in both plays include Yudhvir Dahiya, Barkha Swaroop, Jyoti Kapoor, Rukhsar Kabir, Manoj Cherian, and Dakshita Gupta.

Bhoopesh Rai of Repertwahr Foundation says, “It’s our endeavour to present good plays to the theatre-loving audience in Lucknow. This time, we have comedy plays for the audience.”

Bade Miyan Deewane is about a rich octogenarian who falls in love with a young girl in his neighbourhood, who is also the love interest of his son. The other play revolves around a Muslim divorced couple who find out that they still love each other, realise their mistake, and struggle to get married again.