Cultural Programme

The episode's title card.

**"Cultural Programme"** is the 13th episode of *Simple Samosa*.

## Plot summary

Samosa, Dhokla, and Jalebi try to keep Vada from playing his awful violin music at the Cultural Programme.

## Characters present

* Samosa
* Dhokla
* Jalebi
* Vada
* Mayor Royal Falooda

## Synopsis

Samosa, Dhokla, and Jalebi are all walking down the sidewalk. Jalebi comments on how peaceful today is before a strange sound makes all three friends cover their ears in agony. The sound is coming from Vada playing a violin; when asked by Jalebi, Vada says he's playing the instrument so that he can become a major musical artist for the upcoming annual Cultural Programme, which his relatives will attend. Vada says he must practice for the big event and keeps going to work on his music. Samosa and the others are worried that Vada's terrible violin music will not sit well with the audience at the Cultural Programme and try to come up with and idea; Dhokla gets an idea and goes to tell Vada that to solve his problem, he he should break his arms and legs. Vada, who doesn't understand what "problem" Dhokla is talking about, gets angry at his friends for interrupting him and gets back to playing his music, which is so bad that it causes an off-screen car on the street to crash.

Jalebi tells Dhokla that artists are soft-hearted, so he should look into Vada's heart since he thinks he's an artist. Jalebi asks that he and Samosa let her take care of the situation, and Samosa gives her earplugs. Vada thinks that Jalebi is disrupting his practice because she thinks his music is terrible, but Jalebi denies this and tries to convince him he's an amazing musician, though the world "isn't ready for his talent" and that maybe once they're all grown up, he'll become a great musician. Vada claims he's famous already and keeps going with his violin practice. Jalebi tells Samosa to think of something quickly or Vada "will be eating humble pie"; Samosa quickly comes up with an idea.

Samosa, Dhokla, and Jalebi go to Samosa's house to work on an invention, with Samosa using a hammer, Dhokla carrying wood, and Jalebi drawing out a guitar for a building plan. After Samosa finishes the job by putting a jukebox in the contraption, the three pull it to the Stadium Dome where the Cultural Programme will be taking place. In the building, Mayor Royal Falooda introduces the event to the audience - which, true to Vada's word, has his mother, father, and grandpa in it - and is glad to start things off with their tiniest artist, Venkata Narasihma Raji Vadu. Backstage, Samosa sees Vada dressed in a purple outfit for the show and tells him to go pee first, since he might want to if he gets nervous during his performance. Vada, who says he doesn't really need to use the bathroom, does so anyway; the moment he's in the restroom, Samosa calls for Jalebi and Dhokla, the latter of which is in a costume of Vada, to go on-stage. Vada tells Samosa he's not feeling anything, and Samosa emulates the sound of liquid to try to convince him otherwise. Vada says he can feel "a little bit", and Samosa brings out a hose and a bucket to further emulate the sound of liquid.

Jalebi pulls the contraption from earlier - a giant violin - onto the stage and has Dhokla "play" it. Dhokla is reluctant at first, but everyone is fully convinced it's Vada, and Dhokla turns on the jukebox in the giant violin to get classical music playing from it and pretends to play it using the big instrument. Backstage, Vada hears the music and comes out of the bathroom to investigate; meanwhile, the audience all think the classical music is terrible and throw tomatoes, apple cores, and banana peels at "Vada", who quickly runs off-stage and into Jalebi. The real Vada, who is with Samosa, notices the costumed doppelganger, who reveals himself to be Dhokla. Samosa, Dhokla, and Jalebi all say that they did what they did for Vada's own benefit, so that his reputation wouldn't be ruined by his music. Vada tells them he already said he didn't need their help and goes out to play his music. The audience are still mad about the previous performance, with one spectator threatening to pelt Vada with more tomatoes. Vada plays his off-key violin music, which, to the surprise of the rest of Samosa's gang, everyone actually likes.

Later, the three are checking out a video of Vada's performance, which has gone viral and has over 20,000 likes. Suddenly, a low-pitched sound blows them away; it's Vada again, this time playing a tuba. The rest of the gang tries to stop him, but Vada plays a long note with the tuba again and accidentally blows them into garbage. Vada says he's practicing for his next big concert, and the episode ends with Vada walking away while causing another car crash with his music.

## Trivia

* This episode is erroneously listed as the 15th episode on Disney+ Hotstar.
* In the first English dub, an angry audience member at the Cultural Programme asks Vada if they should throw more tomatoes at him or if he would prefer being pelted with eggs. The second English dub removes the reference to throwing eggs.
* The episode is given the alternate name "Cultural Program" on official television listings, using the American spelling of "program"/"programme" instead of the British spelling.

### Cultural references

* The song Vada plays on his violin is an off-key version of the children's rhyme "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".

### Errors/Goofs

* When Dhokla tells Vada he should break his arms and legs, a surprised Vada's eyebrows disappear for a second or so.