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For Parsis, Navroze (Parsi New Year) is not complete without a visit to the agiary (fire temple) in the morning, followed by a sumptuous festive lunch with the family and rounded off with the customary Parsi-Gujarati natak (play) in the evening. Not surprising, considering that theatre has been an integral part of Parsi community life from the mid-nineteenth century.
In her lavishly produced, hardbound coffee-table book, Laughter in the House!, Mumbai-based journalist Meher Marfatia has expertly documented the history of Parsi theatre from 1930-2000 in 285 eventful pages. Meher's crisp copy is backed by black-and-white pictures from the old era and filmmaker-photographer Sooni Taraporevala's colour photographs of senior Parsi actors. The book also has an audio cassette which features a Parsi qawwali and several songs making
the Rs2,250 book a treasure trove for the discerning.
Reading the book is like walking into the pages of history. In circa 1850, you are introduced to the Elphinstone collegians in Mumbai who performed Shakespeare for their college...