Rakesh Bedi Brings Cricket Comedy ‘Last Over’ On US Tour

NEW YORK, NY-Veteran actor Rakesh Bedi has reunited with actor-director Anantha Mahadevan nearly a decade later for their upcoming play ‘Last Over’, which is now going to play in the US in New York, New Jersey and Boston.

Bedi, known for his work across Hindi cinema, television and theatre, said the urban Hindi situational comedy uses cricket as a backdrop to explore family, relationships and the madness that can unfold when people become too emotionally invested in a match.

“‘Last Over’ has cricket at its center, but it is really about family, relationships and the kind of madness that happens when people get too emotionally invested in a cricket match,” Bedi said.

The US tour begins at the Jeanne Rimsky Theater in Port Washington, New York, on September 25. The play brings together cricket, family relationships and the frenzy surrounding an India-Pakistan match.

“I’m really looking forward to taking the play to audiences across the USA and, of course, to seeing their reaction to the laughter and emotions we bring to the stage,” Bedi said.

Mahadevan said reuniting with Bedi for the play nearly a decade after their first collaboration has been particularly meaningful.

“Rakesh and I go back a long way, and ‘Last Over’ is particularly special to me because it brought us together on stage for the first time. To reunite for the same play almost a decade later and now take it on a USA tour is a wonderful feeling,” Mahadevan said.

He added that the play features strong characters, unexpected turns and human humor, with the spontaneity of live theatre adding to the experience for audiences.

Presented and produced by Coconut Theatre, ‘Last Over’ also stars Abhishek Pattnaik, Zachary Coffin, Ahan Nirban and Yashaswee Gandhi alongside Bedi and Mahadevan. It is written by Pattnaik and co-directed by Pattnaik and Suketu Shah.

Set against the backdrop of an India-Pakistan Cricket World Cup final at Lord’s in London, the play follows newlyweds Sunny Arora from India and Zubaina Kazmi from Pakistan, whose lives are thrown into chaos when their cricket-obsessed fathers arrive unannounced, determined to get tickets to the sold-out match. (IANS)