Chapter-

Chapter-II

Review of Related Literature

Post-colonialism (also Post-colonial Studies, Post-colonial Theory, and Post
colonialism) is an academic discipline featuring methods intellectual discourse that
analyze, explain, and respond to the cultural legacies of colonialism and
of imperialism, to the human consequences of controlling a country and establishing
settlers for the economic exploitation of the native people and their land. Drawing
from post-modern schools of thought, Post-colonial Studies analyze the politics of
knowledge (creation, control, and distribution) by analyzing the functional relations of
social and political power that sustain colonialism and neo-colonialism — the how
and the why of an imperial régime’s representations (social, political, cultural) of the
imperial colonizer and of the colonized people.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcolonialism 8/12/13 2:46pm)

Dattani concentrates on modern society and reality in the fast changing world. He is a
dramatist on modern town India and his dramas are visual plays. The question he
addresses in his plays are those of gender, sex ,religion ,communal tension, feminine
identity ,same-sex marriage ,and above all, gay and lesbian relationship .Hence ,his
plays appear to be revolting ,sometimes ,outrageous. In his plays social issues of
Indian middle class people are presented. It is a comparison of postcolonial era and
present world scenario of Indian people. How they lives in society with the use of
mask as a prestigious man. But behind, they are not behaving properly with his own
family members. Cultural aspects are also showed by Dattani in his plays. Mahesh’s
plays often feature characters who are questioning their identity, and who feel isolated
in some way. Mahesh Dattani frequently takes his subject the complicated dynamics
of the modern urban family. His characters struggle for some kind of freedom and
happiness under the weight of tradition, cultural constructions of gender and
repressed desire. Their dramas are played out on multi level sets where interior and
exterior become one, and geographical location are collapsed-in short, his settings are
as fragmented as the families who dwell in them. In his plays, Dattani takes on what
he called the ‘invisible issues ‘of Indian society. (Erin Mee, ‘Note on the Play’,
Collected Plays 320) From the observations of the directors and theatre personalities
and from Dattani’s acknowledgements, certain important points about him and his
plays emerge. The most important aspect of Dattani’s plays is that they address the
“invisible issues” of contemporary Indian society. The second important aspect of
Dattani’s plays is that they dive deep into human heart and create characters true to

39
life situations. The third important characteristic of his plays is the family bond that
binds its members together or the breaking of that bond through mutual distrust and
suspion. Extra-marital relationship is a favourite subject with Dattani as it is with
Girish Karnad. Religious fundamentalism, communal tension, natural calamity like
drought which makes people homeless, is some of Dattani’s favourite themes.

The PhD Thesis with title: A Critical Study of Dramatic Works of Mahesh
Dattani done by Bipin Parmar from Saurashtra University.

He as a Researcher tried to cover all the plays and movies of Mahesh

Dattani. He represents different themes and social aspects in Indian Drama in
English. He tried to show condition of Indian middle class family with their living
style with full of struggle and situation of women in India. How people of India are
struggling throughout the life is shown by the researcher. He divided darma of
Mahesh Dattani into three parts like Screen Play, Stage Play and Radio Play. After
this division of Drama, he started a critical analysis of all the Drama. Indian Drama
in English is the central part of his Drama and especially with the concept of Mahesh
Dattani’s work as a Dramatist. Dattani is not only a Dramatist but an actor, producer
and director too. His movie like “Ek Alag Mausam” is a message to the society and
in this movie he himself as a director. The movie is about AIDS disease and
awareness of this for the society. Society does not allow those people who are victim
of an AIDS because of wrong assumption regarding this disease. He has done
yeoman service to Indian English Drama through his wonderful dramatic
creations with innovative theatrical approach and original thematic device
which ensures thumping success to his plays. His plays are characterized by
innovative stage mechanism and burning issues of contemporary society. The
researcher does not focus on one theme like Feminism and Socio-Cultural aspects
in the plays but discussed about whole play with its single theme. He discussed
Mahesh Dattani as a Dramatist and his works in Indian English Drama. Dattani has
covered life of Indian middle class society through his Drama in an artistic way
with reality.

40
But in this PhD thesis, A Researcher is tried to focus on Post-Colonial Approach
with the Drama of Mahesh Dattani. Indian English Drama and its Past are artistically
and social aspects will be there in this work. Culture, Society and Living Style will
be shown in this thesis. Differences between past and present situation of Indian
English Drama and growth of the Indian Modern Drama with different types of
techniques shall be presented. Modernity in Indian English Drama and effect of
Modern concept will be discussed. The theme will be based on post-colonial
approach and related to social aspects.
In this research, The Researcher tries to cover social aspects as well as post and
modern era in Indian English Drama. In above Research, different plays with
different themes shown like child abuse, sexual harassment, victim of AIDS people
and their lives, problems of hijra community, problems of women in Indian society
and so on. But in Post-Colonial research, Researcher will show historical aspects
since the beginning in Indian English Drama. How Indian English Drama came into
the real sense and as a form of reading as well as performance on the stage. India has
a glorious past and Drama was one of the parts of Indian people. People enjoyed
Drama since the time of God’s and Goddess. But in those days Drama was known
with the local name state wise and sometime locality wise. But before 30 years it
came as a real form with named Drama. Drama is a product of Indian mythology and
culture and after that other people started writing Drama in their own country with
their history and political themes. Indians are known for their cultural heritage and
religious fervor. Their devotion towards their religion and Vedas is exemplary. They
considered Drama as ‘the fifth Veda’. Being godlike in spirit it could not die even
after the Muslim invasion; rather it was absorbed into folk forms in several languages
and effortlessly came closer to the common man and his life. During 1980s and
1990s through the translations, Indian-English drama has registered a remarkable
growth and maturity. In the world of literature drama is of course the most appealing
and the most delightful of all types of literary pursuits. It is so deeply associated with
the inner consciousness of human race that it has rightly been regarded as the best
means for the exploration of human nature in all its varieties and manifestations.
Since the publication of first Indian English Drama The Persecuted by Krishna
Mohan Banerjee in 1831. (Bipin Parmar)

41
The M.Phil Dissertation with title: A Critical Analysis of Mahesh Dattani’s
Two Plays-Tara and Seven Steps Around the Fire in the light of Gender
Discrimination by Jayvirsinh M.Rajput from Sardar Patel University.

In this Research, The Researcher tried to indicate gender related issues and
problems of women in this two plays. His main focus was on Gender
Discrimination and problems of the eunuch in Indian society. They are not getting
justice because of their gender. They are degenerated castrated people in the
society. In this Research work, Researcher tried to present modern scenario in
Indian English Drama. Tara is a play about Siamese twins who conjoined by three
legs. But because of male dominant society, father was interested in male-child to
give two legs. Doctor informed to the parents that third leg would be more suitable
to the girl child but Mr. Patel refused to do this and he gave bribe to the Doctor to
do wrong thing. After this operation, Tara becomes handicapped because of her
own parents. But Tara was more intelligent and clever than his brother Chandan.
Even if, Mr. Patel was not interested in the growth of Tara. Tara wanted to go with
her father in the business but he never interested in her curiosity. As per the
philosophy of Mr. Patel that place of woman should be in the kitchen not in the
outside world. He was rigid and believed in old mentality. The Researcher shows
plight of Indian woman in this male dominant society. In this play, Bharati was the
loving mother but she could not do anything for her own daughter Tara. She had a
quarrel with her husband for their children.

Mrs.Bharti was not happy with her husband because of his nature and rigid
mentality. She wanted her daughter to be a highly educated woman in the society
but Mr. Patel was interested in Chandan for the growth but he was not interested in
education as well as in the business too. At the end Chandan became Dan as a
criminal and ran away from the home and known as a wanted. At this moment Mrs.
Bharti realized that if both the legs would have given to Tara so it could be better
for the future of Tara. But now it is too late. Chandan became handicapped and
failed in his life and did wrong thing. When he knew that the third leg was the
better for her sister then he was so nervous and said sorry to the Tara for this
tragedy. Tragedy took place only because of rigid belief of Indian middle class

42
people that baby boy is the light of the family.

In Seven Steps Around the Fire, Researcher tried to highlight the problems of third
gender Eunuchs in the Indian society. They are not getting justice from the society as
well as from the police too. In the modern world, people of India till believe in old
rituals and belief. They hate castrated people. The whole play is about hijra
community and murder case of one hijra because of the hijra was in love with the
Son of Minister. Minister made a plot to kill the hijra to save his prestige. Uma was a
research scholar and she was doing PhD in Sociology. She took the topic of this
murder case for her research as a case study because her guide was highly impressed
by this case study. The case was mystery and it was closed without any solution that
who is a murderer. Uma started work on it with the help of her husband, who was in
police as a supretendent. But Mr.Suresh Rao was not interested to reopen this case
because he himself involved in this murder.
The researcher presents that marriage between the hijra and common man is
not accepted in the society and the same problem is created by Subbu (Son of
Minister), he married to Kamla (Eunuch). So the play shows two marriages of Subbu.
First marriage with Kamla – A hijra so it is unaccepted in the society and father of
Subbu. So the minister’s prestige is at stake and the bride is burnt down and died.
While, the second marriage is accepted to the society. But it is not accepted to the
bridegroom and Subbu kills himself. The entire incidence took place because of class
distinction and discrimination against gender. The attitude of the society about the
eunuchs is ambiguous. They perceive them as a marginalized.

Champa: ‘If I had the money I would throw it on that superintendent’s face
and get her back. Sons of whores, all of them. (P: 24).

Above lines show that how Indians especially the Eunuchs are victimized by the
corruption. They are helpless because of the system. In the research problems of
Eunuchs, Feminism and Political Satire highlighted by the researcher. Gender related
issues are the center of the study and discrimination is indicated by the dramatist.
Dattani has technique to present everything in one play with different ideas and
themes. His all the plays are based on reality and described life of common people of
India.(Jayvirsinh M.Rajput)

43
The M.Phil Dissertation with the title: Prioritizing the Invisible: A study of the
selected plays of Mahesh Dattani by Ms Farha Deeba Shafiq from: Department of
English, University of Kashmir, Hazartbal, Srinagar (2013)

In the beginning the researcher has given history of Indian English Drama since 1947.
Indian drama has had a rich and ancient tradition: the natyashastra being the oldest of
the texts on the theory of drama. The dramatic form in India has worked through
different traditions-the epic, the folk, the mythical, the realistic etc. The experience of
colonization, however, may be responsible for the discontinuation of an indigenous
native Indian dramatic form. Dattani (b.1958), a Bangalore-based playwright belongs
to the tribe of literary entrepreneurs to whom English is a first language, devoid of
any self-conscious postcolonial unease. This study accordingly has tried to explore
Mahesh Dattani as a playwright with a strong social conscience, a painter of the
modern Indian metropolis that pulsates with strong undercurrents of the alternative,
bitter realities that often coexist, cheek by jowl with the façade of urban middle-class
living in India. His unearthing of some of the taboo-ridden aspects of modern Indian
living and his ingenious dramatization of the same makes him an avant-garde Indian
dramatist. This study has accordingly analyzed Dattani’s use of unconventional
themes as well as theatrical techniques.

The present study focus on the social aims that Dattani takes up in his stage plays.
The first Chapter titled, “Indian English Drama Post-1947: An Overview” introduces
the major pre-independence dramatists and their major works. The second chapter
titled, “Rejecting the Normative Order: Tara and Where There’s a Will” begins with
an introduction of Mahesh Dattani as a dramatist and why his plays should be studied
as a cultural expression on some contemporary urban realities rather than a dramatic
literature to be enjoyed for some aesthetic pleasure. Chapter Three, “Centering the
Taboo: Bravely Fought the Queen and On a Muggy Night in Mumbai” continues the
discussion that how family in Indian middle-class is a limited parochial group: where
Dattani exposes the hypocrisies through his dramatic art. Chapter Four, “Revitalizing
a Tradition: Dattani’s contribution to Indian English Drama” refers to the general
position of Dattani’s dramatic art as an evidenced in his plays, signaling a new phase
in the naturalization of English as a theatre medium in India. In the “Conclusion”, an

44
attempt has been made to sum up themain arguments of the dissertation and further
undertakes a discussion of Mahesh Dattani’s latest plays. It means in all the chapters,
the researcher has tried to highlight different issues from different plays and
techniques are shown. The researcher is very keen interested of Mahesh Dattani’s
plays.

A Researcher tried to show a history of the darma with the past dramatists like
Krishna Mohan Banerjee and Asif Currimbhoy. In the past, Rabindranath Tagore
(1861-1941) Nobel laureate and epitome of the Indian spiritual heritage wrote
primarily in Bengali and translated almost all his plays into English. Tagore was the
first playwright who invested Indian English drama with symbolic overtones and
allegorical significance. With regard to the dramatist s use of language, he uses in
language of imagery that creates a situation where plain speech gets transformed into
heightened speech, and when expressed in song and dance, it becomes all the more
symbolic. Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) is a prominent dramatist and anaccomplished
craftsman in verse. His dramatic genius is revealed through his five complete verse
plays and six incomplete dramas. Harindranath Chattopadhyaya (1898-1990) with his
leftish leaning and revolutionary zeal added a new dimension to Indian English
drama. The next significant dramatist is A S P Ayyar (1899-1963) who wrote a total
of six English plays. His first play was In the Clutch of the Devil (1926). He used
drama as a mode of apprehending reality pertaining to contemporary life.

Girish Karnad (b.1938) belongs to the first generation of post-independence Indian

dramatist group. His plays are not typical „realistic representations, but writer like
Karnad often thrives on a pre-colonial past. Even if the contribution of different
dramatists for Indian English Drama, it remained very weak in comparison to Indian
English fiction and poetry. The reason for this obvious scarcity is obvious enough.
First of all, writing plays happens to be generally more difficult than writing fiction.
Then, the writing play in English is more difficult than writing plays in regional
languages. In the hands of Dattani, Indian English drama transformed itself beyond
the limitations of imitation, amateur, translation and proper patronage. Mahesh
Dattani has been making continuous efforts to showcase the issues and problems of
contemporary Indian society, making them an integral part of his dramatic credo. His
dramatic world projects challenges which differentiate him from other Indian
45
dramatists such as Girish Karnad, Badal Sircar, Mohan Rakesh and Vijay Tendulkar
etc who have also dealt with issues that have been confronting human being for ages.
Mahesh Dattani is a man of multiple roles, managing his audience to sit up and listen,
and listen with such an involvement that they are able to link themselves to his
stagecraft to an extent that they even begin to forget that they are in fact, watching a
play in an „alien tongue. It is against this backdrop that this dissertation has
evaluated the work and achievement of Mahesh Dattani. To him goes the credit of
carrying forward the tradition of Indian theatre through a necessary and dynamic
change as well as innovation required for artistic reform. (Ms. Farha Deeba Shafiq)
A Book named: Post-Colonial Drama Theory, Practice, Politics by Helen Gilbert
and Joanne Tompkins. Published in 1996 by Routledge Publishers.

In this book, Writers tried to indicate Drama with three forms in which Gilbert and
Tompkins’ discussion ranges across a variety of plays from Australia, Africa, Canada,
New Zealand, the Caribbean, and other former colonial regions. Critiquing
anthropological approaches to drama, they call for a culturally specific approach to
the analysis of plays from both Western and non-Western societies. Post-colonial
Drama combines a rich cluster of post-colonial and performance theories with close
attention to the play texts themselves. It will be invaluable reading for all students,
teachers, and theorists of drama.

This study considers plays from Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand,
various countries in Africa, parts of South-East Asia, and the Caribbean. Ireland,
Britain’s oldest colony, is often considered inappropriate to the post-colonial
grouping, partly because it lies just off Europe. The same as in India, different themes
and approaches are written by the dramatists. Drama is a representation of life so in
every drama one message is there for human being. Some Dramas based on satire on
politics and others are based on reality and about some social activities. Social themes
are related to feminism and gender related issues like Inequality between male and
female and gender discrimination. The researcher mainly focuses on post-colonial
approach in his research work. He does not highlight political satire and religious
aspects. Only the things which are related to facts are the main interest of the
researcher. The book highlights drama and performance with different techniques in
different region and some historical aspects and so on. One of the most significant

46
manipulators of historical narrative in colonized societies is the story-teller. Telling
stories on stage is an economical way in which to initiate theatre since it relies on
imagination, recitation, improvisation, and not necessarily on many stage properties.
Its place as a strategy for revisioning history in postcolonial theatre is, however, not
based merely on economics. One of the most enduring—and most appropriated and
misunderstood—markers of cultural difference and stability in both Africa and India
is ritual. Frequently associated with theatre, ritual remains the event/practice which
attracts the most attention in the west because of its ‘difference’. Yet the difference
between African or Indian rituals and western forms of worship and/or entertainment
and/or representation are too often overlooked in critical analysis which attempts to
mark only similarities.

The Researcher makes differences form of drama in his research. Drama is an

imitation of an action said by Aristotle in his work The Poetics. Artistically it is true
that the action has taken from any imitation and based on the theme the drama is
performed. Each and every drama has some unique plot and it should be impressive to
perform on the stage. Stage performance of any drama is depending on the role of
characters and dramatic unity. Unity of characters plays a vital role in the
performance of drama. Some critics see all theatrical events as ritualistic: Ola Rotimi,
for instance, says, ‘I don’t call [theatre] a recreational pastime. I see theatre as a
serious, almost religious, undertaking and I try to impress upon [actors and students]
the sobriety which participation in theatre demands’ (1985:17). Not all drama is ritual,
however, and not all ritual is drama even though ritual usually employs elements of
dramatic performance. A consideration of ritual in post-colonial contexts requires a
reconsideration of drama itself. Many of the requirements for ritual are similar to
those of drama: actor(s), audience, costume, space, language(s), and a specified
amount of time. In post-modern era, the theme of Drama was related to religious
aspects and rituals. Rituals are different from culture to culture and country to
country. It has been seen in Indian drama in English that most of the plays was written
in the form of a story and got ideas from rituals as well as cultural effects of the time
and tradition. Post-colonial approach in Dattani’s drama is newly one and live drama
effect is there in his stage performance. The researcher tries to show post-colonial and
modern Indian English Drama effect on the stage and how both the plays are
different. Ritual in post-colonial plays can be generally associated with at least one of
47
two categories (aside from the references to a ritual at the end of a play to purify the
community or repair the damage following the performance event). The first type of
drama centres on a ritual (or sometimes a number of related rituals), which determines
and structures the action, and often impacts upon the style of the performance.

The book is on post-colonial drama with the comparison of different countries culture,
rituals and religion. Miracle and morality plays was based on culture and religion. In
those days it was famous but nowadays people are interested in present theme and live
incidents. Dattani is powerful to perform his plays with the global effect and new
themes. His characters are selected one for the best performance on the stage.
Different themes in one play presented by Dattani. This can be called his intelligence
and techniques. His post-colonial effect in the drama in this modern world is unique.
In short, Dattani is success to write his plays with the new concept and in new
horizon. (Post-Colonial Drama Theory, Practice, Politics by Helen Gilbert and Joanne
Tompkins)

A book named: Acts of Authority/Acts of Resistance-Theatre and Politics in

Colonial and Postcolonial India by Nandi Bhatia

Despite its importance to literary and cultural texts of resistance, theatre has been
largely overlooked as a field of analysis in colonial and postcolonial studies. Acts of
Authority/Acts of Resistance seeks to address that absence, as it uniquely views drama
and performance as central to the practices of nationalism and anticolonial resistance.
Nandi Bhatia argues that Indian theatre was a significant force in the struggle against
oppressive colonial and postcolonial structures, as it sought to undo various schemes
of political and cultural power through its engagement with subjects derived from
mythology, history, and available colonial models such as Shakespeare. Bhatia’s
attention to local histories within a postcolonial framework places performance in a
global and transcultural context. Drawing connections between art and politics,
between performance and everyday experience, Bhatia shows how performance often
intervened in political debates and even changed the course of politics. One of the few
studies of Indian theatre to link the aesthetics and the politics of that theatre, Acts of
Authority/Acts of Resistance combines in-depth archival research with close readings
of dramatic texts performed at critical moments in history. Each chapter amplifies its
48
themes against the backdrop of specific social conditions as it examines particular
dramatic productions, from The Indigo Mirror to adaptations of Shakespeare plays by
Indian theatre companies, illustrating the role of theatre in bringing nationalist,
anticolonial, and gendered struggles into the public sphere.
The book uncovers forgotten stories of powerful theatrical resistance. Since theatre
constituted an important part of cultural life in India from precolonial times-whether
performed in enclosed theatre houses or on the street, in the form of puppet theatre,
folk drama, or mythological drama examininig theatre as a locus of sociopolitical
struggles takes on special significance. The first people’s theatre was set up in
Bangalore in April 1941 but stalled because of severe police repression. Most theatre
activists agree on the relevance and popularity of the medium for giving public
expression to issues faced by women. Because of its mobility, theatre, they argue, can
be taken to the people, instead of people coming to theatre. For those with little time
or the opportunity to make special arrangements to watch a play, or even participate
in demonstrations, the performance outside their homes makes women’s struggles
immediately visible.

A writer of the book has presented colonial aspects with history related to drama in
postcolonial India. It has been seen that during 1900 in India, role of woman was
performed by male in the drama because of cultural effect and orthodox rules for
woman that her place is only in home not in the outside world. So something was
missing during before independence in Indian drama. As Aristotle said that success of
any drama is depend on characters performance. So Nandi Bhatia commented on that
part of drama in her book. It would be incomplete to analyze the contribution of
theatre to the anti colonial process without taking into account its connections with
the rising tide of imperialism after the transfer of power from the East India Company
to the Crown, and the empire’s constitutive role in such formations of resistance. For
even though drama had always been a site for social critique, the publication of Nil
Darpan in 1860 became a turning point in the history of anticolonial theatre in India.
Even in contemporary discussions of political drama, Nil Darpan is invoked as the
seminal text that initiated a powerful tradition of political drama.

In post independence India, the role of theatre in attacking social problems such as
dowry, female infanticide, and sati and in demanding the rights of workers, students,
and other subordinated groups further attests to its function as a central cultural force

49
where political, social, and ideological struggles engage one another. Despite
censorship, social activists, doctors, university students, teachers, workers, and
women’s groups have sought the critical attention of the state and the public, through
dramatization of prevailing injustices and processes of disempowerment. Colonial and
postcolonial texts often face the charge of being derivative of colonial originals. In her
article “Resistance Theory: Theorizing Resistance,” Benita Parry criticizes those who
suggest that nationalist organizations, movements, and moments of resistance in
colonized countries are mimetic, borrowing from the very structures they seek to
dismantle. Therefore, while recognizing the imitative or derivative nature of Indian
drama, which appeared to serve the colonial structures it sought to repudiate, it is also
necessary to establish the differences and look at points of departure in the dramas
that were conceived and constituted according to the local conditions and ethos. Acts
of Authority/Acts of Resistance brings to attention a corpus of dramatic writing and
practice that theorized strategies of resistance through the complex processes of
mixing indigenous popular traditions and Anglo-European forms in hybrid theatre
performance in which new global and transcultural links were made out of the
historical processes of colonial intervention and the specificities of local, regional,
and national struggles.

As a writer Nandi Bhatia said that Indian theatre was a significant force in the
struggle against oppressive colonial and postcolonial structures. It means old theatre
was a remarkable one for the amusement for audience. Drama performed always with
the demand of mass and people are always interested in new ideas and best
performance. Colonial and postcolonial is two side of a coin. Colonial rules for the
drama was totally differ from postcolonial aspects. Nandi Bhatia wrote about some
acts for the drama. Clearly, the government’s need to manage and control institutions
such as the theatre marked its rhetoric of “obscenity,” “morality,” and “public
interest.” The act was passed in the wake of the production of a number of plays in the
1870s that attacked discriminatory colonial policy. Since the first translation and
circulation of Nil Darpan, political plays that attempted to represent colonial power
structures had begun to draw the attention of British officials. Nil Darpan not only
exhibited faith in the government but in the Christian religion. This compounded the
problem for the planters, because among all classes of Europeans in India, the play
made the planters look bad. The planters viewed long are publication of Nil Darpan

50
under the official sanction of the government as a complicitous enterprise of the
missionaries and the government, against them. Circulating the play reinforced the
planters’ atrocious behavior, which won the government and the missionaries the
goodwill of the natives.

In short, the book is about different acts and theatre movement during colonial rule
and British power. Postcolonial India and its history are shown by the writer. But the
researcher is doing his work about postcolonial approach in the drama of Mahesh
Dattani. Dattani is an intelligent to show different themes in one play. Modern
concept and postcolonial aspects will be the central part of the research and the
research work will be completely new and true. Researcher will focus on history of
Indian English Drama and advancement in modern drama with the effect of
Modernization. Indian classical theatre and modern theatre and its importance and
effect in the mind of the audience will be shown in the thesis. Postmodern era and
postcolonial period will be inventively present by the researcher. Certain things like
characters, theme, modern period and audience will be there in the research. Newly
concept of modern drama will be there and postcolonial period with its characteristics
and development with new effects and characters are the most important part of the
research. This shall be the in-depth archival research with close readings of dramatic
texts performed at critical moments in history. Modern concept and modern ideas will
be the central part of the research work. (Acts of Authority/Acts of Resistance-Theatre
and Politics in Colonial and Postcolonial India by Nandi Bhatia)

A Research Paper named: Thematic Concerns and Technical Features in Mahesh

Dattani’s Plays by Mr. Siddhartha Sawant (International Referred Research
Journal, April, 2011. ISSN-0974-2832 RNI-RAJBIL 2009/29954. Vol. III
*ISSUE-27)

A writer of the Research Paper discussed about four themes. Theme of Gender
Discrimination (Tara), Theme of Communalism (Final Solution), Status of Eunuch
(Seven Steps around the Fire) and Theme of Homosexuality (On a muggy night in
Mumbai). In the beginning he gave introduction of Mahesh Dattani as a playwright
and his achievement. He wrote history of Indian Drama in English with the example
of the first Indian English drama ‘Is This Civilization?’ written by Michael

51
Madhusudan in 1871. “Modern Indian dramatic writing in English neither rich in
quantity, nor on the whole of quality enterprising Indians have for nearly a century
occassionaly attempted drama in English but seldom for actual production”.(K.R.S.
Iyenger: 226). But in recent years, the century has produced some talented
playwrights who have chosen English as their medium of writing plays. And Mahesh
Dattani is one of them who used to write only in English and elevated the Indian
drama tradition in the world theatre.

Theme of Gender Discrimination is chiefly a play about the tendency of Indian

society where Indian parent’s preference is for a male child over a female one. Gender
discrimination can be seen everywhere in India practiced by Indian people in the
name of social customs. ‘Tara’ play by Mahesh Dattani is a fine example of neat
thematic presentation with social relevance and well technically balanced one. Theme
of Communalism in ‘Final Solution’ is a very serious and delicate drama on the well-
worn subject of communalism. Dattani’s purpose in depicting the post partition
communal violence in India is not to convey the actual events that taken place but to
present the psychological fear that inculcated on our mind. Flash back is another
important technique adopted by playwright in his play which shows how the past
moulds the present and how the present re-interprets the past. Status of Eunuch in
Seven Steps around the Fire is a completely new theme. Dattani depicted the
appropriate reflection of society regarding hijra community as in the beginning of the
plays we see how hijra are treated like non-living things, they are given the pronoun
its’ by characters like Munaswamy who has a strong grudge against them. The play
expresses the identity crisis of hijras being treated as a social being in this multi
faceted society.

The theme of Homosexuality in On a Muggy night in Mumbai is the first Indian play
boldly dealing with the subject of homosexuality. It deals with the gay themes of love,
homosexual vulgarity among the youths in a materialistic world, partnership, trust and
betrayal. Through the play Mahesh Dattani has tried to soften the society towards the
gay and subtly tried to stir up compassion for these people. There is no topic which
has not handled by Mahesh Dattani in his plays. Therefore Dattani is like William
Shakespeare in thematic presentation having universal application. Both used to write
plays for performing on the stage. But Dattani’s plays represent the contemporary
society and its problem in the fashion of Ibsen’s realism. Dattani has an array of

52
themes to offer in his plays and the issues he chooses to project are the most topical as
well as most controversial one. On the whole, Mahesh Dattani has created vibrant,
new theatrical techniques and all kinds of socially touched themes which regards him
as-‘a playwright of world stature in the contemporary Indian English Drama’.

It has seen through the research paper that different kinds of themes are explained
with importance of the play. The entire theme is new and an idea which is used by the
writer is also profound and clear to give justice of the play. There are number of plays
on account of Mahesh Dattani with few screen plays. The present paper aims at
studying few notable plays of Mahesh Dattani. Dattani handled different kinds of
themes and subject matters in his plays which are both topical as well as appealing.
“Dattani likes his predecessors Sircar and Tendulkar, wants to highlight the issue of
the contemporary society, widely varied in thematic and stylistic content, Dattani’s
plays transformed the face of urban theatre in India”.(R.K.Dhawan:30). But the
Researcher is interested in all his plays with post-colonial approach, and that is
completely new research side for Dattani. Indian English Drama has a glorious past
and present is innovative. In this modernization, drama of Dattani has started to write
his drama with a new direction. He highlights new themes and his movies are the
message for the victim of an AIDS people. He is famous for his acting as an actor and
successful director. Post-Colonial approach will present condition of drama in the
beginning and present scenario and modern concept. The Post-Colonial writing itself
has set against the imperial idea of linear time, in other words it is believed to be
progress and perfection. However, the concept makes the various stages in the socio
political ambit. The very power of “Post-Colonial” writing is a contestation of
colonialism discourses and power structures. As a matter of historical relevance,
postcolonial theory has existed for a long time before that particular name was used to
describe it. (Thematic Concerns and Technical Features in Mahesh Dattani’s Plays
by Mr. Siddhartha Sawant)

A Research Paper named: Mahesh Dattani: Theatre and Techniques by Rashmi

Jain, Department of English & MEL, University of Allahabad, India (European
Academic Research- Vol.1.Issue 12/March 2014-ISSN 2286-4822)

Rashmi Jain has written about the techniques which are used by Mahesh Dattani like
multilevel sets, split scenes, flashback technique, and voice over, Interior-Exterior

53
technique and thought technique. Dattani’s plays probes tangled attitudes in
contemporary India towards communal differences, consumerism and gender
discrimination. Dattani considers theatre as the most dynamic art form which connects
the author and the audience, it’s appreciated by anyone either educated or uneducated,
both can feel the pulse or soul of the enacted story on the stage. The humour and
sarcasm another important element in Dattani’s plays can be witnessed in the
speeches of ghost of Hasmukh as he says “have you ever swung on a tamrind tree?
upside down? You should try something. You can see the world the way it really is”.
(CP, p.496). In Seven Steps around the Fire, Dattani used techniques like voice over,
interior-exterior, thought technique and so on. The thought device reveals characters
reactions and responses as well as their motives and movements. Through voiceover
technique which has a binding effect on audience’s mind, Uma comments about the
origin of eunuch community and senses the touch of isolation and desolation in the
lives of transgender.

Other important techniques used in this play are the interior exterior technique and the
use of music. In a radio play directions of interior exterior helps the listener to
understand the situation and position of characters and places. Final Solutions bears
similarity with the tradition of regional theatre widely known as Yatra plays in
Bengal. Dattani has used a chorus which is as old as Greek drama. Padamsee says that
mob symbolizes our own hatred and paranoia. Members of the mob are individual but
they become one seething whole as soon as politicians play on their fears and
anxieties. The chorus communicates the present scenario of communal disharmony. It
mingles the public and private affairs. The play highlights a riot and the two young
men sought by the mob were considered as the members of other community. The
aggression of the mob increases the intensity of tension. Dattani through this theme
satirizes the whole concept of religion where people in the name of religion goes
frenzy and are driven like young cattle by shrewd politicians to fulfill their selfish
motives.

The dramatist has made extensive use of images and symbols. Animal imagery like
mouse and rat are used suggesting fear or strength. In a society the dominant group
who has the power behaves like cat and the subordinate one acts as mice preferring to
hide. Other images like swine and dead pig signifies hatred and contempt. Gandhi the
name related with the family becomes the mock representation of justice and non

54
violence. The play also had sacred symbols like the bell and idol of Krishna. The bell
symbolizes religious fanaticism. The idol of Krishna signifies uniformity of religion.

Thus, to sum up it can be said that Dattani is essentially a theatre person apart from
being a writer which is clearly evident through the effective structure of stage
mechanism and the way he allows the text to speak for them and to look at their own
workings and methodology. He through his narrative technique brings out the inner
quality in human existence. He enriched the Indian English language by using words
like Sankar, gallies, mohalla, dupatta, jalebies, chokra and so on. His language is
often pungent, clear and sharp. Dattani has perfect control over stage, dialogue,
setting, verbal and non verbal signs which forms a perfect synthesis of mental spaces
of audience, dramatist and actors. He is truly a playwright who gave sixty million
English speaking Indians an identity. But the researcher focuses on modern concept of
drama and different style on stage performance. Post-Colonial aspects and multi
dimensions culture is represented by the researcher. Culture is an important part in
Dattani’s play. Culture and social values and moral are the base in the plays. Post-
Modern effect and globalization both the things are clearly mentioned by the
playwright Dattani. Dattani is success as a playwright because he himself performs
his role on the stage as an actor and he is director too. He has wide experience in all
the sides if drama. He knows the interest of people and trend in present time. He
artistically presents his drama with different techniques because when he writes any
play, he sees play on the stage with the characters and its effect. His imagination is
powerful regarding the play. He uses native language in the play, so people get
interest in the play. Indian English Drama with Dattani is great combination because
he has make drama live in India. Karnad is also famous dramatist like Dattani but
both are writing drama in a different mode. Karnad uses village and belief in his
drama with old mythology and culture of any people. Dattani highlights modern touch
in his drama with the new themes like problems of eunuchs and domestic problems in
Indian middle class society. His play ‘Tara’ is a message to the society that both male-
child and female child are equal. (Mahesh Dattani: Theatre and Techniques by
Rashmi Jain, Department of English & MEL, University of Allahabad, India)

A Research Paper named: Dattani’s Where There’s A Will-A Critique of

Patriarchy by Handibag Y.S, S.R.T.College, Ambajogai (Proceedings of National

55
Seminar on Postmodern Literary Theory and Literature, Jan. 27-28, 2012,
Nanded-ISBN 978-81-920120-0-1)

The present paper intends to probe into the various issues related to patriarchy in
general and autocratic rule of patriarchy which results in stunted growth of other
members personalities in the family in particular in context with Mahesh Dattani’s
play, Where There’s a Will. Dattani mostly talks on patriarchal society and feminism
in Indian English Drama. The concept of patriarchy has evolved from the struggle of
women all over the world. It encompasses the totality of structures of domination and
exploitation that affect women’s position in society. The term patriarchy essentially
means the rule of the father or the patriarch (a male member of the household or
society).

In feminist theory and practice, patriarchy has been looked at differently from the
liberal to socialist feminism. Defined simply however, it implies a system in which
the father or a male member who is considered as the head of the family, controls all
economic and property resources, makes all the major decisions of the family and
thereby maintains ongoing control over all members of the family and those related to
it. Very clearly, this system establishes male dominance and control over women in
society, in general, and particularly so within the family. The “unequal power
relationship” between men and women, accrue power to men in an important
institution of society. Thus, it is important to see patriarchy as both an ideology of
women’s subordination and control and a concept of struggle against the same. Thus
Where There’s a Will makes a bold statement in favour of the individual’s right to
live his or her life according to his or her own right. One may fail or come to grief but
at least one would be daring to face life on one’s own. But the researcher of PhD
thesis will clarify the concept of patriarchal society as well as Indian Drama in
English. Especially, the focus on post-colonial themes and comparison of all the plays
with Indian middle class society. Dattani is well-known in his writing of drama.
Drama is a representation of life; it means it is related to historical aspects and
religious aspects. In old days, Drama was performed with the theme of religious
aspects like Ram-Lila and the story based on the theme of The Ramayana and the
Mahabharata. During those days drama was performed in streets and mahollas. People
were enjoying the drama during evening and night times. It was based on religious
aspects and known as Nautanki in some region in India. So it was famous in all the

56
time in Indian English Drama. (Dattani’s Where There’s A Will-A Critique of
Patriarchy by Handibag Y.S, S.R.T.College, Ambajogai)

A Research Paper named: Discrimination of Class and Gender: Mahesh Dattani’s

Tara by Vivekanand Jha (Galaxy: International Multidisciplinary Research
Journal-ISSN 2278-9529-Vol. I. Issue. I- January 2012)

Writer of the paper think that this has been really the kind of endorsement that Indian
English Theatre in the country has been looking for because up till now it seems as if
it belonged to a fringe section of society and that it was seen as not quite theatre, not
quite art that it was more of a kind of theatre club kind of things. Mahesh Dattani is a
name that guided weakling and sickling Indian English Drama on the path of
reliability, steadfastness and distinct identity. Besides creative and prominent Indian
playwright writing in English, Mahesh Dattani is also well known as a stage director,
screen writer and film maker with numerous scripts and productions to his credit. His
plays have been anthologized in single volume called Collected Plays by Penguine.
The peculiarity of Dattani lies in the fact that despite not being the student or scholar
of art and literature his performance is par excellence in the arena of stage and screen
craft.

The theme of his plays bears the testimonial of varying tone, temperament and
treatment. Dattani expanded his range and canvass of creativity from stage plays to
radio and screen plays. He has an ability to amalgamate the traditional beliefs with
ultramodern disposition and conviction. His plays are heavily charged with socio-
political, emotional, physiological and psychological issues. The theme of family
covers the large chunk of plays where in its members are found to be struggling and
wrestling with one another. The best example of such play is Tara which circles
around the grave and traditional issues of gender biasing. To look son and daughter
with biased and discriminating eyes has been traditional and age old custom in India
and it has been tagged with rites and rituals of life. Dattani has non-conformist and
avant-garde advance towards theatre. He based his script on the contemporary and
appealing reality of the world. He fought relentless war for the distressed,
marginalized and underprivileged sections of society like HIV positive, eunuchs, and
physically challenged. Besides these facts he remains bold and brave enough to
incorporate taboo themes in the cultured, ethnic and traditional country like India.

57
Such nature of Dattani is bolstered by the inclusion of volatile and radical themes of
gay, lesbian and sexual abuse of the child in his dramas. The theme of gender
discrimination is all dominant in the drama, Tara. The issue of cultural discrimination
with women has been highly and comprehensively dealt by Dattani in the play
wherein female is subjugated and underestimated by patriarchal society and she
remains only a care taker for household utensils, children husband, other domestic
requirements and tasks of fatigue. (Discrimination of Class and Gender: Mahesh
Dattani’s Tara by Vivekanand Jha)

A Research Paper named: Tradition versus Modernity in the Indian Marriage

Custom in Mahesh Dattani’s Do the Needful by Deepak Kumar Rai-Department
of English, Banaras Hindu University, India(International Journal of
Humanities and Social Science Invention, ISSN(Online): 2319-7722, ISSN(Print):
2319-7714, www.ijhssi.org Volume 3 Issue 3 March. 2014 PP. 11-17)

The paper intends to interpret the play in terms of plot that has two levels: one is the
anxiety of the parents to settle marriage as a method to get rid of their social debt;
other is the conflict of both the leading characters, specific to their own choices. An
analysis of the postcolonial Indian English drama is incomplete without considering
the creative and immensely penetrating genius of Mahesh Dattani, who is certainly a
new and unconventional voice in the modern Indian theatre. Following the tradition
established by the prominent dramatists of the 20th century like Ibsen and George
Bernard Shaw, Dattani dares to expose the naked and agonizing reality of the
marginalized class, like gays, eunuch, homosexuality, child sexual abuse, gender
inequalities, religious intolerance, and hypocrisy about HIV victims, etc. Dattani has
developed a unique capacity to read the rumblings of contemporary urban Indian
society and smell the perennial clash between tradition and modernity.

Usually Indian literature has ignored the theme of homosexuality. Often Indian
writers have shown courage to suggest male homosexuality indirectly. Mahesh
Dattani chooses this untouched issue and gives the Indian marginalized class a voice
to articulate, probably for the very first time in the Indian theatre through his plays.
The existence of extra marital relationship and the premarital sex in Indian culture is
also presented in this play. Today, Indian culture and society don’t allow a human
being’s basic right to live of his/her choice. The society made its own values and

58
customs and it asked others to follow it or at least to live up to its expectations at least
in day light. The play of Dattani offer fine post colonial analysis. He focuses on the
tension and turbulence of the characters resulting from demolition of human hopes
and aspirations under the name of healthy socio-cultural practices. His contribution to
social factors, economic advancement, political agenda, cultural consequences,
religious needs and subaltern’s reluctant voice is marvelous. He longs to focus on an
ultimate change in the society; change is the main motto that he tries to follow. He has
adopted the genre as a more practical means to present serious familial, social,
cultural and political issues, and the issues pertaining to oppressed ones, marginalized
class to bring Indian theatre nearer the real life conditions. Thus the play Do the
Needful focuses on the shared spaces between women and the gay in the society
which predominantly promotes the patriarchal family set up and discourages any
change that challenges the established and existing structure of it.

(Tradition versus Modernity in the Indian Marriage Custom in Mahesh Dattani’s Do

the Needful by Deepak Kumar Rai-Department of English, Banaras Hindu University,
India)

A Research Paper named: Domestic Discard in Mahesh Dattani’s Plays Tara and
Where There’s a Will by M.Anitha (Language in India, Volume 14:1 January
2014- ISSN 1930-2940)

Tara (1990) is the play, mainly about gender discrimination and regarding the
mentality of Indian parents who prefer a male child over a female child. It is the story
of a pair of Siamese twins, who love each other immensely, but are separated from
each other by design. Tara, whose life is spoiled by a wrong decision of her mother,
ultimately dies. Through her death, Dattani throws light on the unfortunate
consequences of different standards of treatment for children on grounds of gender.
Such incidents do much to hamper the mission of female uplift in a male dominated
society. The writer has succeeded in stirring up the spirit of the reader to stand strong
against such biased behavior in life. Where There’s a Will (1988) is based on
Dattani’s motif of patriarchal dominance. In fact, this is a play which shows fairly
optimistically, that there is a way by which men and women can find happiness on
their own terms.

59
A patriarchal society is completely presented in Tara where the important family
decisions are taken by its male members. In a patriarchal society, a woman’s identity
is defined by others in terms of her relationship with men. It is suggested that unlike
the radical feminists, who are seriously concerned with the tortures inflicted on the
female in the patriarchal society. Use of flashbacks, Inner world of human
consciousness is presented by Dattani in his pay Tara; he makes extensive use of
flashbacks. In Dattani’s dramatic world, the inner world of human consciousness is a
focal point of tragic action. The play Tara is a tragedy of the confrontation of
individual choices and social conventions. In Where There’s a Will, Dattani takes up
the issue of the patriarchal code. The dominant note of the play, however, is the
father-son relationship in Indian society. Dattani has often referred to the subversion
of patriarchy in the play as one of the major concerns. He has in a sense chronicled
the follies and prejudices of Indian society as reflected within the microcosm of the
family unit. Dattani is a tireless innovator who makes experiments with new theatrical
devices to sustain nobility and dynamism. In short, it can be said that Dattani give
more attention on social issues and real incidents. He does not believe in imaginative
story for his play.

Most of his plays are related to live topics and upcoming issues in Indian middle class
society. The paper highlights social issue especially patriarchal society and its norms.
But the researcher focus on postcolonial side of his plays and that is wide and new
area of the research. The area of a research is newly one and creative because not only
social issues are there but differences between colonial and post-colonial is there in
the work. Domestic discard is related to social issue specially patriarchy and
feminism. (Domestic Discard in Mahesh Dattani’s Plays Tara and Where There’s a
Will by M.Anitha)

A Research Paper named: Mahesh Dattani’s Final Solutions: A Play about the
Contemporary Communal Horror by Neeta Kumari, (Research Scholar, Dept. of
English, G.N.D.U., Amritsar, Punjab-Contemporary Research in India-ISSN
2231-2137-Vol. 2: Issue: 4)

Drama, in any milieu, arises from the social consciousness and the prevalent attitudes
at a particular juncture of time. Mahesh Dattani, a contemporary Indian dramatists
writing in English, deals with the present day Indian social reality blending his

60
insightful understanding of human psychology with his keen observation of the
occurrences around him. This article based on his Final Solutions, attempts to
evaluate how individual ignorance and frustrations lead to the formation of wrong
attitudes about other communities which with the passage of time and with a little
provocation assume awful proportions.

In The Theory of Drama Allardyce Nicoll comments: Drama lies so near to the
consciousness of a nation in which it takes its rise; it is capable of addressing itself so
widely and so diversely to the people of far distant ages and of varying climes; it is so
social in its aims and in its appreciation…(9)

In the light of above quoted characteristic of drama, this article attempts to discuss
how Mahesh Dattani deals with the contemporary reality of Indian society in his
dramas, focusing the discussion on his Final Solutions, a play constructed on one of
the tormenting legacies of our colonial past: the suspect between the Hindus and the
Muslims. To rule, the colonizers divided by arousing the sense of competition and
enmity and brought the communities in opposition to each other. But the tragedy is
that even after we continued to feel about our neighbors in the same way which our
imperial masters had taught us. The rulers of independent India, too, stirred the same
feeling of antagonism and to rule, continued to divide. Dattani shows that “communal
attitudes have evolved over a period of time and are often based on ignorance”
(Mehrotra 349). The language Dattani uses is Indigenized English or simply Indian
English as we know it usually, quite different from the standard British English. This
makes Dattani one of those post-colonial playwrights who believe that they are
grateful to “stress such a language, stretch it, impact, and compact, fragment, and
reassemble it with no apology as required to bear the burden of their experiences,
even if such experiences are not formulated within the conceptual idiom of that
language”(Soyinka, Wole qtd. In Peyma 51). Dattani, in fact, writes for the middle
class urban audiences who are his characters and critics as well. These are the people
for whom English is an Indian language, a language which changes its colour in sync
with the region where it is being used. (Mahesh Dattani’s Final Solutions: A Play
about the Contemporary Communal Horror by Neeta Kumari)

A Research Paper named: The Self in Drama: “Creating/ Constructing Spaces” In

Mahesh Dattani’s Bravely Fought The Queen by Namrata Pathak, Dept. of

61
English Literature, EFLU, (www.galaxyimrj.com, Galaxy: International
Multidisciplinary Research Journal, ISSN 2278-9529)

Theatre, according to Mahesh Dattani, ceases to be an art form once it becomes

didactic. It is a potent tool to observe and then translate what is around us. Refusing to
state in a matter of fact manner by using a bland language, Dattani prefers expressions
that are indirect, but potent. Lots of meaningful phrases that hit hard on us exhibit his
trademark style of weaving realistic narratives around contemporary issues. Replete
with the details of homosexuality and gender divide, his plays expose the stark
problems and predicaments of an India which is constantly evolving as a spatio-
temporal entity, and is clearly quite different and unique from its traditional image.
Going by the words of Michael Walling, we can say that in Dattani we discern a
subtle mix of both the Eastern and the Western elements, a common ingredient in the
multicultural and cosmopolitan cauldron of a postcolonial nation like India (Walling,
2000: 229). Says Mahesh Dattani in his preface to Collected Plays (2000):

I am certain that my plays are a true reflection of my time; place and socio-economic
background. I am hugely excited and curious to know what the future holds for me
and my art in the new millennium in a country that has a myriad challenges to face
politically, socially, artistically and culturally (2000:xv).

When most playwrights play safe by sticking to an insular India with strict gender
confines and cultural norms, Dattani is bold enough to break the straitjacket of
representation. Succinctly enough, instead of portraying traditional avatars in his
plays, he choose to give birth to characters that are dynamic, very much living,
animating, breathing, making choices in every juncture of their life, and accepting
myriad influences on their inner and outer worlds. Such characters are not ashamed
of being a homosexual, transgender, eunuch, whodunit, or being a part of the third
gender. They make their choices blatantly, as they are not afraid of the society
dictating terms to them. Some, on the other hand, conceal their true identity under a
veneer of a “stereotype” so as to act “normal” in front of all. Sooner or later, this
façade falls off, showing the grim “truth” to us. Dattani himself has contended that
out of both the masculine and feminine selves in him, the former is active,
assertive, and at peace with himself, but the latter is complacent and needs to
be expressed or pushed to the centre stage. The feminine self is in need of a voice to

62
declare aloud her thoughts, to speak out, to protest or simply, and if not anything,
then to express (Kuthari Chaudhuri, 2005:49).
Each play of Dattani acts as a mode of disciplinary exchange. He believes in a
form of knowledge production, an enquiry that seems to bear all the signs of
multiculturalism. Such a play transforms itself into a site, a shared domain of
conversation and debate, of polyphonic voices, and of plural subjectivities. This site
is burgeoning all over with epistemological crisis engendered by globalization,
changing world orders, sudden civilization clashes, erasure of context-specific
cultural motifs, destabilization of rigid historical modules and so on. Acting as
polyvalent sites, these plays operate from the margins. We cannot deny the fact that
his materials shock and disturb us, and keep us teetering at the edges of what is
acceptable and what is not, what is labeled as cultural taboo and what is not, what is
ethically suitable in terms of the indigenous context and what is not. After all, the
judges of “normalcy” make it a bit difficult to herald an unremarkable shift
in disciplinary centres of gravity, same is the scenario in India when Dattani started
writing---there were fingers pointing toward him, there were controversies
generating around him. Writing/ Reading from the very margins of colonial
archives, (as Foucault would say) and producing new centres for the analysis of
marginal people, is not free from the constitutive power of colonial/ postcolonial
anxieties. These anxieties signify not just the perceived threat of the opposition or
incommensurable temporalities within the nation, but also the act of recognizing the
tenuousness of the concept of national identity and its fluidity. Dattani gives
importance to the place and context in his plays. According to him, they are
significant in conjuring the fragmented subjectivity of the social actors on stage as
well as for the emergence of a plural, diffuse, and variegated identity. In this
regard, his plays threaten to reveal the fragile systems of representation and
they, in a way, account for the deviant social and cultural formations in the past
and present. Relying on the connections or disjuncture of futures and pasts
in heterogeneous presents, his plays “show up the ways that the supposed margins
and metropolis, or peripheries and centers, fold into, constitute, or disrupt one
another” (Comaroff & Comaroff, 1999:17).

In a way, the concept of the self in Dattani’s Bravely Fought the Queen (1992) can
be a way of both negotiating a relationship to loss and through its very dangers
63
steering away from the melodrama or easy sentiment attendant upon it. Quite simply,
the concept of the self, when put “under erasure”, “shatters understanding… that
underlies the saliency of the incomprehensible, something we confess we do not
understand” (Caputo, 1997:74). Paradoxically, this is not a new way of seeing rather
a kind of “blindness”---a confession that we are up against something to which we
can only bear witness. Under the light of deconstructive reading, Dattani’s plays
unravel the neo-Nietzschean critique of the Cartesian cogito and its emphasis on
language and power instead of the earlier concerns for subjective or individual
freedom. In the field of drama and theatre, the central effect is to break down the
philosophical distinction between the theoretical and the practical. Moreover, the
concerned plays show how the self is tied to the idiom of expression: language games
express and enact the authority of those who are empowered to use it within a social
group. The short answer this play provides is that the “self” can still resist oppression
without invoking the ideal of a society in which there is no oppression at all. That is,
the ideal makes us believe that there are different kinds of oppression at all. That is,
the idea makes us believe that there are different kinds of oppression still around,
some of which may even have been caused by our very success in alleviating
previous oppression. A deconstructive reading of Dattani’s plays exposes the sites of
oppression and domination; blurs philosophical distinctions; and foils every
methodological strategy and every stratagem of delimitation. Dattani makes possible
for one to resist conformism and normalization imposed by others. In the terrain of
deconstruction, the bourgeois concept of a singular, stable subjectivity clearly
differentiated from the outer world is no longer tenable. The self has become a
contested terrain positing as an occupant of shifting subject positions.

Specifically, Dattani’s concept of space gives birth to a malleable responsibility to

create, to invent, to produce some fluctuating tendencies. Representation of space, in
the play, ropes in the issue of the contemporary characters’ area, location or setting.
This concrete space unleashes multiple signifying-systems that conjure up issues like
autobiographical frameworks, historical positioning, disciplinary homes, and
pragmatic motivations. The stiff and bare structures of the play signify the reflexive
rhetoric’s of authority and deploy numerous strategies of narrativizations of
authorizing claims. Dattani is powerful to present live scenario through his drama.
(The Self in Drama: “Creating/ Constructing Spaces” In Mahesh Dattani’s Bravely
64
Fought The Queen by Namrata Pathak)

A Research paper named: Gender Discrimination and Social Consciousness in

The Play of Mahesh Dattani: Tara by Khobragade Grishma Manikrao,
Asst.Prof., Birla College, Kalyan, Maharashtra.(Golden Research Thoughts,
ISSN: 2231-5063, Vol I, Issue IV, Oct 2011)

In the present paper, it is proposed to study mainly the dramas of Mahesh Dattani with
the reference to the Gender bias and Social consciousness in Indian social system.
Contemporary Indian English drama portrays images of protagonists confined to rigid
tradition and orthodoxy. The drama produced after independence show that the
western culture has been partly assimilated by Indians.

In this study, therefore an attempt will be made to examine Mahesh Dattani’s

drama to show how he is conscious of the social system and that have come up in the
contemporary India. The study is based on the hypothesis that Mahesh Dattani’s
drama successfully depicts the gender discrimination and social consciousness of
modern India. Today’s modern Indian drama highlights on the some current social
issues and the real life problems. The purpose of paper here is to discuss Mahesh
Dattani’s “Tara”(1990).and Dance Like Man His plays deal with the social and
contemporary issues Dattani’s plays are about the marginalized sections of our
society:, women, gays, and hijras (eunuch). His plays raise question of discrimination,
including, gender discrimination and homosexuality. His plays not only bring up
gender issues and the liberty fixed to women in a patriarchal society, but also they
deal with gender biases and prejudices which influence the lives of girl-children
even amongst middle class educated society. Mahesh Dattani revealed the issue of
gender discrimination in this play. The social norms, economic values and cultural
elements have been answerable for the discrimination against the girl child. Tara is a
victim of this social system, which controls the minds and actions of the people.

In Indian society, woman is variously presented as a mother, wife, daughter and sister
even goddess. Manusmruti and Dharma shastras have laid down specific rules for the
conduct of women. The women were treated to secondary position in all walks of life.
The literacy rate of women has improved. Now a day, they are given secondary status
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in household, offices, social and public places. Women are exploited and stressed in
Indian society. Woman is subject to violence and harassment everywhere. In short, it
can be said that the writer is more conscious about gender related problems in Indian
middle class society. He focuses on discrimination of woman in male dominant
society. The main aim of the paper is to highlight Indian middle class society and
problems of women even if she is educated. Virginia Woolf said in her book named
“A Room of One’s Own” that women’s place is in the kitchen and place of Men is in
the outside world. This rigidity is still present in the Indian society. Old tradition and
rituals was different because of some historical reasons like war and slavery of the
country. Social consciousness is the main aspect of a society. Consciousness is needed
in the society regarding women and her laws but in some remote area woman is still
illiterate and not aware of her rights. Because of this reason she becomes victim of
antisocial people for wrong things. In India, We have some states like Andhra
Pradesh, Bihar and Tamilnadu. In this state woman is still not aware of her rights
because of illiteracy and extreme poverty. Poverty is curse for them and because of
this situation she has to live like slave and working like machine all the time.

Gender discrimination means differences between male and female and rules are also
different for them. Male is free to do anything and can go anywhere any time but
women is not allow to go anywhere without permission of male. The same also shows
discrimination against women in Indian middle class society. But now India is
becoming a developing country and Government is giving reservation to the women
in the job. By doing this Indian Govt., wants to change situation of women and want
to give justice. Different NGO’s are also working for women and helps women to
develop herself by her knowledge and education. Government is always trying to do
the best thing for the development of women but sometime in some remote place, a
woman is not getting information because she has no facility of internet and
television. In short, it can be said that women should have education as a weapon. If
she is educated, she can save herself by injustice and can do something better for the
future. India is a democratic country so all are free to speak for injustice to the
government and can have her own voice against injustice. (Gender Discrimination
and Social Consciousness in The Play of Mahesh Dattani: Tara by Khobragade
Grishma Manikrao, Asst.Prof. Birla College, Kalyan, Maharashtra)

66
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