The Siddhus of Upper Juhu is a witty and well-paced portrayal of urban life, but a bit slow in the second half

The Siddhus of Upper Juhu could easily be titled The Joneses of Manhattan, The Nassars of Dubai or The Edwardses of Notting Hill.

That’s how easily the themes and frustrations of urban life portrayed in this comedy play translate across boundaries.

The play made its international debut at Ductac, Mall of the Emirates, this weekend as part of the inaugural Dubai Comedy Festival. It follows the life of Balvinder, or Bubbles (Rajit Kapur), and Behroze (Shernaz Patel) Siddhu, a middle-aged, middle-class couple who have used all their savings to buy a flat in Upper Juhu, an upscale seaside suburb of Mumbai.

Set in the Siddhus’ living room, the play opens with Bubbles unable to find a comfortable place to sleep. Enter Behroze, wanting to know what’s troubling her husband.

So begins the volley of complaints: an air conditioner that’s always at 12 degrees; walls like papads (thin wafers) that mean they are disturbed by construction noise, dogs barking and their neighbours; a toilet that only works when the handle is jiggled; a city with so much rubbish it won’t be long before the Siddhus will go from living on the 14th floor to the 2nd floor because everything below will be buried in rubbish; and Bubbles’s fear of loosing a job that he has had for 22 years – it’s not the two weeks leave he’s afraid of: “I’m afraid they’ll ask me to take the other 50 weeks off, too”.

When the couple’s house is robbed, Bubbles is finally forced to admit that he has already lost his job and they won’t be able to replace the stolen items.

Witty, well-paced and with terrific performances, the first half of the play nicely sets up Bubbles’s exasperation at how life has turned out.

The second half, while not as punchy, focuses on family dynamics. Behroze is working as a secretary. Bubbles has a nervous breakdown and his siblings – well-off brother Goldie (Shishir Sharma), and sisters Pammi (Kajli Sharma) and Shammi (Meera Khurana) – want to help but can’t agree on a how much financial support to offer. Bubbles does recover and the Siddhus seem to be making ends meet despite his continued joblessness.

There are a few chuckles, but they don’t come in rapid succession like they do in the first half, and distress, with life throwing more at the couple than we think they can handle, before the Siddhus get the last laugh.

kramgopal@thenational.ae

THE BIO

Ms Davison came to Dubai from Kerala after her marriage in 1996 when she was 21-years-old

Since 2001, Ms Davison has worked at many affordable schools such as Our Own English High School in Sharjah, and The Apple International School and Amled School in Dubai

Favourite Book: The Alchemist

Favourite quote: Failing to prepare is preparing to fail

Favourite place to Travel to: Vienna

Favourite cuisine: Italian food

Favourite Movie : Scent of a Woman

UAE - India ties

The UAE is India’s third-largest trade partner after the US and China

Annual bilateral trade between India and the UAE has crossed US$ 60 billion

The UAE is the fourth-largest exporter of crude oil for India

Indians comprise the largest community with 3.3 million residents in the UAE

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi first visited the UAE in August 2015

His visit on August 23-24 will be the third in four years

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, visited India in February 2016

Sheikh Mohamed was the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations in January 2017

Modi will visit Bahrain on August 24-25

On Women's Day

Dr Nawal Al-Hosany: Why more women should be on the frontlines of climate action

Shelina Janmohamed: Why shouldn't a spouse be compensated fairly for housework?

Justin Thomas: Challenge the notion that 'men are from Mars, women are from Venus'

The National Editorial: Is there much to celebrate on International Women's Day 2021?

Score

Third Test, Day 1

New Zealand 229-7 (90 ov)
Pakistan

New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”