Tourism minister Bratya Basu's latest play is a political protest masquerading as a spicy entertainer, inspired by Shakespeare's Twelfth Night that spins around mistaken identities and disguises

Mumbai Nights, directed and edited by Basu and produced by the Minerva Repertory Theatre, is packed with bawdy jokes, live music, dance and spoofs of Bollywood blockbusters. It also challenges the BJP-VHP-RSS agenda.

"It's primarily a feel-good play and the treatment is tuned to that. We chose Mumbai as the location because in all my visits I have been impressed by the city's crazy enthusiasm and warmth, which to me is perfect for Shakespeare's romantic comedy," the former education minister told Metro during a recent preview of the play, which opens at Minerva Theatre on November 12.

The director said he was haunted by books like Narcopolis, I Hate Bollywood, Dongri to Dubai, Byculla to Bangkok, Maximum City and Mafia Queens of Mumbai. "So, there are a lot of elements (in the play) from local legends, films and politics. Underneath all that is pathos - urban melancholy."

Woven into the play is the director's protest against "the threats and restrictions imposed by fundamentalists and the bans of the BJP", expressed through a "deliberate portrayal of the Hindu-Muslim, Indo-Pak relationships in a positive light".

Shakespeare's identical twins Viola and Sebastian are in Basu's rendition Pakistanis in Mumbai on student visas. When they are separated during serial blasts, both believe the other is dead.

Viola is Huma Naziri who disguises herself as a young man called Billu Tewari, while Sebastian is Asgar Naziri. Orsino the Duke of Illyria is famous film producer Alishaan Kulkarni.

Countess Olivia in Twelfth Night is filmstar Ushnota Kul in Mumbai Nights. The lady with mafia links makes a filmi entry alighting from a capsule lowered on the stage to the accompaniment of the song Jab chhaye mera jadoo from the movie Lootmaar. The play ends with Ushnota announcing a party, where Hindus and Muslims, Indians and Pakistanis become one.

On the recent disruption of a Pakistani play in Delhi, Basu said: "This is a very dangerous trend, I protest all such attacks on the creative and intellectual community."