To explore the works of any great writer is itself a pleasure and when the writer is Mahesh Dattani it becomes even more interesting! The journey with the plays of Mahesh Dattani started long back in the year 2007when first I read the drama ‘Seven Steps Around the Fire’ and immediately fell in awe with the writer and his craft. It appealed at once to me that here is this writer who is very particular about each and every word he pens and he is ready to change it up to the last moment. This caused a great impression on staging of the drama and commercially running it in theaters.
Rightly called as the successor of the well-known and highly acclaimed writer Girish Karnad, Dattani’s plays are commercially successful, insightful and containing social message too! A fine balance he has achieved which is very remarkable. The themes, style of writing, stagecraft, and raising the issues of the marginalized posses his signature marks. The play’s approach even to the reader is very lasting and shakes the reader out of his/her reverie and compels him/her to think about the theme.
All these years reading over and over again his dramas have made me feel that the striking feature is the stagecraft. This, I have tried to explore through the pages ahead. I am quite aware that it is not all inclusive, as a reader and student I too have my limitations and this is a very humble attempt to put forward my close readings of his plays. The dramas possess so much that it becomes very vast to encompass all at once. The dynamics in relationships, the power plays in the households, the issue of patriarchy, Queer community, stylistics, etc. are so many areas one can explore.
I hope readers will find this enriching and helpful.
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