Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet are the stars of Blake Edwards’ 1968 American comedy The Party. The movie has a very flimsy plot and basically functions as a series of set pieces for Sellers’ improv comedic skills. The story of the movie, which musicians has a fish-out-of-water theme, centers on the inept Indian actor Hrundi V. Bakshi (played by Sellers), who unintentionally receives an invitation to a posh Hollywood dinner party and “makes awful blunders based upon ignorance of Western ways.”
Two of Sellers’ earlier characters, Inspector Clouseau from The Pink Panther series and the Indian doctor Ahmed el Kabir from The Millionairess, had an impact on the protagonist Hrundi Bakshi. Characters like Arjun Singh, played by Amitabh Bachchan in the 1982 Bollywood blockbuster Namak Halaal, Mr. Bean, portrayed by Rowan Atkinson in the 1990s British sitcom of the same name, and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, played by Hank Azaria in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons were all influenced by the character Hrundi Bakshi.
A costume epic a la Gunga Din is being produced by a film team. Hrundi V. Bakshi, an unknown Indian actor playing a bugler, keeps playing despite getting shot many times and the director (Herb Ellis) shouting “cut!” Hrundi unintentionally detonates a sizable explosive-rigged fort set. Hrundi is fired by the director right away, and General Fred R. Clutterbuck is called to the studio (J. Edward McKinley). Clutterbuck accidentally adds Hrundi’s name on the guest list for his next dinner party while writing down his name to blacklist him.
Also Read: What do musicians performing on TV only perform cover songs?
