Adrak Ke Panje

Adrak ke panje literally translates into The Ginger Paw/Palm. This was the title of a super-successful comedy act by one Mr. Babban Khan of Hyderabad. It was a quintessential comic routine with hardly any sets, revolving around a lower middle class Muslim Hyderabadi family. Some classic jokes (many were topical, and changed with the times)-

The hero is surrounded by a clattering bunch of around a dozen children as he enters his home one evening. He says " Itne khush kyon horeain? Main office se aarun koi jail se chhutke nahi aarun" (I am coming from office, not from jail). He carries on in this vein for an hour and half of Rollicking take-offs on everything from the population to landlords, to the police force to almost anything that you can poke fun at.

One classic exchange is between a son of a friend who asks our hero to get him a job. The hero wants to find his skill set, so he does a preliminary interview.

Asks the candidate, Tumko driving aata kya? (Can you drive?)
THe answer is no. Disappointed, the hero says, if only you knew driving , I could have got you a driver's job. And so on, about 2-3 other professions. Each time, the boy says he he can't do this or that.

Finally, exasperated, the hero asks him, "Tumko dimag hai?" (Do you have brains?)
This time, he says, Yes.
The hero puts his hand on his forehead and says, "Shit, if you didn't have brains, I could have got you a job in the police".

All this and more in Hyderabadi is hilarious and a laugh-riot. Wonder if any of this is on VCD/DVD.