Lucky Gupta

Mahesh Dattani’s Plays: A New Horizon In Indian Theatre, Beena Agarwal,. Book Enclave Jaipur, pp 200, price 575

Mahesh Dattani with his exceptional sensitivity to represent the real life experience on the stage has created a new epoch in post modern Indian English Drama. Beyond the burden of regionalism and western models, he laid the foundation of tradition of Indian theatre. For his intense awareness of the predicament of human destiny countering the various forces and inherent realization of the chemistry of audiences and actors inside the theatre, he has been acknowledged as “one of India’s best and most serious contemporary playwrights writing in India”.
The present volume entitled as Mahesh Dattani’s Plays:A New Horizon In Indian Theater , is a critical and in depth analysis of the major plays of Mahesh Dattani, authored by Dr. Beena Agarwal, Reader Department of English, D.S.College, Aligarh.Classified in seventeen chapters, it affords an organized critical appraisal of Dattani’s profundity of vision and dexterity of theatrical art. The first chapter entitled ‘Introduction’ is a review of the tradition of dramatic writing in India presented in English. The analysis of the various dimensions of theatrical art of the eminent dramatists of India is uncontroversially helpful to locate the position of Dattani in Indian theatre. The chapter second Mahesh Dattani: New Horizon In Indian English Drama is a critical evaluation of writer’s profile. The chapter third ‘The Voice Of Subalterns In Seven Steps Around Fire’ is a post colonial analysis of the position of Eunuchs Community in India. Author has exposed how Datttani was conscious to explore the human aspect of the community of marginalized. The focus on the psychic drama of Eunuchs is certainly praise worthy. In the chapter fourth, ‘Taboo Relationship And Alternate Sexuality: On A Muggy Night In Mumbai And Do The Needful’, there is a critical analysis of the two major plays of Dattani - “On The Muggy Night In Mumbai” and “Do The Needful” and both of them are the dramatic representation of the idea of the suffering of gays and lesbians. There is a balanced analysis of the dramatic technique to explore a sensitive issue in Indian theatre. Author has tried to establish that the theatre mechanism has the potential to explore the inner recess of human consciousness.
          Dattani’s award winning play “Final Solutions” has been analyzed in chapter five, entitled ‘The Matrix Of Communal Violence In Final Solution’. The Post Colonial argument of the play “Bravely Fought The Queen” in chapter sixth Breaking The Margins And Making The Spaces: A Post Colonial Analysis Of Bravely Fought The Queen is a justification to assert the position of women in the patriarchal society of India. It reviews the perspective that Indian Women inspite of her traditional values can assert her identity to challenge the barriers of gender binary. Author has devoted two chapters seventh A Socio-Psychological Analysis Of Gender Identity In Tara and eighteenth Dynamics Of Human Relationship In Mahesh Dattani’s Tara to evaluate the play “Tara” presenting the most sensitive account of the gender discrimination in society. The socio-psychological dialectics of gender identity has been suggestively analyzed in this chapter. Besides the whole dynamics of human relationship possesses an additional tone in the play. The chapter ninth Gender Issues In Dance Like A Man: A Socio-Psychological Analysis again focuses on the gender binary in Indian society. The exposition of male as a victim and not a victimizer has been analyzed with all human concern. In chapter tenth Where There Is A Will- A Comic Caricature Of Patriarchal Authority, there is an analysis of comical family drama “Where There Is A Will”. In the chapter eleventh , entitled Thirty Days In September:An Argument In Defence Of Scarred Psyche , author marks   a psychological study of the victim of child sexual abuse while chapter twelfth  Music As A Motif In Morning Raga has been devised with a vision to establish that music can be a motif in entering the rhythms of life. It has been discussed with vision to assert that Dattani can successfully manipulate highly sensitive situations to capture the moments of emotional crisis. The chapter thirteenth Ek Alag Mausam: Silence, Suffering And Sunshine presents a suggestive analysis of the play “Ek Alag Mausam” a dramatic representation of the plight of AIDS victims. Author has tried to prove that the representation of current and unconventional issues is earnest need of time to patch the gap of page and stage. The monologue solo performance has been analyzed to establish the social problem of the unlicensed and unacknowledged relationship on the stage. Dattani adopts a relational and unconventional approach to break the myth of issues like feminism. The chapter fifteenth Women In The Plays Of Dattani presents a fine exposition of the feminist perspective presented in the plays of Dattani. In the earlier chapters the focus has been on the thematic concern in the plays of Dattani but in the subsequent chapter the author has exclusively been devoted to analyze the different dynamics of performance of theatrical technique innovated by Datttani to make play more vibrant and convincing. The last and final chapter is the conclusion of the findings of the various plays of Dattani.

It is my conviction that the present volume will be of immense help for the scholars having curiosity about the different dimensions of the dramatic art of Dattani.