There is an unintentional gag in Natsamrat (King of Theatre), the Marathi film starring Nana Patekar, that is currently all the rage amid Marathi-speaking audiences. Patekar plays retired Shakespearean theatre actor Ganpatrao Belvalkar who, having given away all his property to his children, winds up on the street after his children humiliate him. Director Mahesh Manjrekar chooses to stage Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy at a party, where Belvalkar arrives late and drunk — “phool tight.” When his daughter dissuades him from drinking more, he declares, “To pee or not to pee, that is the question.” He means to drink or not to drink in Marathi, but his Minglish (Marathi+English) rather implies “to piss or not to piss, that is the question”. Thus Hamlet’s existential dilemma seems reduced to the search for a loo. You yourself might your quietus make with a bare bodkin.

Nana Patekar plays a retired Shakespearean theatre actor in Natsamrat