RECURRENT THEMES IN MAHESH DATTANI'S PLAYS

Rightly has Shakespeare remarked in his play “As You Like It”,-

“All the world is a stage

And all the men and women merely player

They have their exits and entrances

And one man in his time plays many parts.”

In the true sense Mahesh Dattani, the most unorthodox and contemporary playwright of Indian English drama,

has used the medium of stage to present the invisible issues to the audience as the theatre is the mirror of real

life. Alyque Padamsee calls him, “ One of the most serious contemporary playwrights. The plays of Mahesh

Dattani emerged as “Fresh Arrival” in the domain of Indian English drama in the final decade of twentieth

century. His plays deal with pressing but “Invisible” issues of Indian society thereby challenging the

stereotypical constructions of “India” and “Indianness”. They're plays of today sometimes as actual

concerning cause controversy, but at the same time they are plays which embody many from the classical

drama. Dattani's plays have a universal appeal. They could be staged any where on earth , they would draw

full attention of the crowd. Dattani moulds his subject in such a way that it is both topical as well as appealing.

His plays speak across linguistic and cultural barriers. Dattani makes an abundant use of Indian Mythology,

rituals and traditions and contemporary problems, India is beset with but he elevates these themes to a higher

level, touching the human chords that emanate love, happiness, sexual fulfilment and problem of identity. This

project focuses on some of Dattani's best written plays like –Tara ,Bravely Fought The Queen, On A

Muggy Night In Mumbai, Dance Like A Man and Final Solutions to examine the contemporary values in

these plays.

 ISSUE OF HOMOSEXUALITY

The problems of 'Homosexually' inclined persons charter through the dramas of Mahesh Dattani with

intricacies of emotional, financial and sexual complexities of Indian families. The play “Bravely Fought
The Queen” embodies the patriarchal and authoritative mentality exists among the practitioners of

Homosexuality.

The play “ Bravely Fought The Queen” is centred around an Indian family in which two brothers , Jiten

and Nitin marries two sisters, Dolly and Alka. The two brothers are owners of an Advertising agency and

their wives stays at home most of the time and they take care of their aged and invalid mother-in-law, Baa.

Baa used to brutally beaten up by her husband and now her anger and frustration is misdirected towards

her daughters-in-law. Jiten is like his father, violent and drunkard, and hits his wife Dolly badly. As a

result their daughter was born invalid due to the violence inflicted upon Dolly when she was pregnant.

The play also depicts the issue of homosexuality in a very bold manner, as well as suffering of the wife

due to her husband turning out to be a gay. Alka’s anguish and agony is aggravated when she comes to

know that Nitin, her husband, has homosexual relationship with her brother. She has become the victim

of her own brother and husband’s gay relationship. On account of dry marital life, Alka has become a

boozer.

There was Kanhaiya, who represents the realm of sexuality whether 'Heterosexuality' or 'Homosexuality'.

He might be the alluring cook who might be or might not be the 'Krishna' of Dolly or even the dark auto

driver who embodies Nitin's sexual guilt. By the end of the play Nitin exposes his homosexuality to Alka

who is asleep after getting drunk. Thus the audience observe that the women have not been presented as

sinners but they suffer as a result of men who are part of their lives.

In a Muggy Night in Mumbai can be a tragicomedy which handles homosexuals. In the play, Sharad and

Deepali, though confident with each other, have different means of being gay. More stress is laid about

the characters of Kamlesh and Prakash. Initially Kamlesh and Prakash were ardent lovers when Prakash

suddenly turns coats and changes into Ed, weaning the garb of a hand some guy, heels over head in love

with Kiran, who unfortunately is Kamlesh sister. Kamlesh playing the role of humble lover resides to the

changed situation without complaining. Nevertheless, his sexual needs are fulfilled by Sharad, his friend.

He shocks us a bit by stooping down to mating having a guard for which he is ashamed of himself. Prakash

who had now changed to Ed suddenly emerges into the area and the scene to meet Kamlesh sister and

bumping into Kamlesh is revived of his earlier crush on Kamlesh, Nonetheless Prakash/Ed is ashamed to
be a homosexual and tries to go away the place with Kiran as quickly as possible to escape the cynical

eyes of the mediocre ones who knew about his relationship with Kamlesh. Karan is shown to having all

compassion for your gay people and she knew her brother was a homosexual. The irony of the entire story

is the poor girl did not know that the man to whom she would get married was homosexual and ex-lover

of her brother. The revelation ultimately comes as a surprise to her. The entire story throws light on the

growing homosexuality and its non-acceptance by the Indian Society.

 ISSUES OF GENDER DISCRIMINATION

The male dominated society has a deep rooted bias towards the female child. This bias is the result of

socio-economic sources in the society as dowry as large amount of money and gold to be given to the

family of the bridegroom frightened the parents so much that they preferred killing female child in some

pretext rather than allow her to live. Tara presents the story of a Siamese twins (siblings) connected with

each other down the chest and require an efficient surgical operation. The problem is psychological one in

which the mother and her father’s decision plays a vital role. The twins take birth with three legs and the

biological condition makes it clear that third leg should be allowed to be a part of the female child. But

the mother and her father favour the male child Chandan and decide to donate two legs to the boy. This

decision forms the focal point of the play. The play explores besides exposing the normal Indian mind set

which has from time immemorial preferred a boy child to some girl child. It looks on the triumphs and the

failures of the Indian family. Tara, a feisty girl, who is not given enough opportunities as got to her brother

eventually wastes away and dies. Chandan escapes to London, changes his name to Dan and tries to repress

the guilt he feels over his sister death. His sense of trauma and anguish is so intense that at the end of the

play, we see Chandan apologizing to Tara in the most moving of all lines “Forgive me, Tara. forgive me,

for making it my tragedy”.

 ISSUE OF STEROTYPICAL ATTITUDE

“Dance Like a Man” the title itself suggests that a man is supposed to do the work which suits the man and

not pursue their career in anything else which makes them less of a man. Here, literally the title means to
say that the protagonist’s father doesn’t want his son to become or behave like a woman and that he should

not pursue his career in dance.

The story revolves around three generations. Jairaj and Ratna want to develop their career as a dancer.

Dance for them is not only their passion but also their life and soul. They want to develop their careers in

this field. The stereotypes of gender roles are set in the society and in spite of that Jairaj goes on to pursue

his career as a dancer. This is the twist that the playwright gives to the stereotypes associated with ‘gender’

issues that view solely a woman at the receiving end of the oppressive power structures of the society. The

play flips open in the opposite gender’s point of view and shows that even men can be a part or a victim to

such circumstances by being oppressed, and suppressed by the opposite gender and society.

 THEME OF COMMUNALISM

The marginalization of the religious minorities within Indian society is one of the major themes of Dattani's

plays. The play “Final solutions” foregrounds the Hindu Muslim problems prevailed in the country in

different contexts and situations. It talks of the problems of cultural hegemony, how Hindus had to suffer

in the hand of Muslim majority through the characters like Hardika/ Daksa in Hussinabad and how Muslim

like Javed had to suffer in Hindu community. In addition, it tackles the theme of transferred resentments

poor family relations. The characters in the play motivate the audience to realize that fuming out bursts

often lead to certain chain reactions.

 CONCLUSION

The problems Dattani chooses to portray are the most topical of contemporary events and issues. These are

not only blended with sensual and sensuous realism but also the most controversial one. Most of the plays

by Dattani have purely performance oriented script- drawn out from the mass and emotional along with

strongly intellectual responses. His plays address the middle class and marginalized classes. His message

could reach to the audience to seek their active involvement because of the fact: it is the class that constitutes

his audience base. Dattani has made a vibrant, new theatrical form and marked a fresh development in the

hither to stagnant domain of Indian drama in English.

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 REFERENCE

 Dattani, Mahesh, “Bravely Fought The Queen”, Penguin Books

 http://literarism.blogspot.com/2011/11/tara-mahesh-dattani.html?m=1

 https://englishsummary.com/final-solutions-dattani/

 https://www.academia.edu/11698530/Magesh_dattanis_dance_Like_a_man-

_Human_Relationship_and_Weakness

 https://www.academia.edu/3479207/Mahesh_Dattanis_A_Muggy_Night_in_Mumbai_

 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273521409_Post-

Colonial_Approach_in_Mahesh_Dattani's_Plays

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