Page 265 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Unit 31: Mahesh Dattani: Final Solution—Theme

Theme of Communalism Notes
Mahesh Dattani's 'Final Solution' is a very serious and delicate drama on the well-worn subject of
communalism. It is first staged in Bangalore in 1993 focusing on the problem of communal
disharmony between the Hindus and Muslims in India, especially during the period of the post-
partition riot. 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. The play opens with Daksha reading from her diary. Daksha is the grandmother of
Gandhi family. When she closes her diary, Hardika appears on the stage. She feels that nothing
changed much before independence and after. In between Hardika is telling her daughter that
'those people are all demons' which didn't like to Ramnik, a liberal minded person. In the communal
riot, two muslim boys Javed and Bobby took shelter in Ramnik's house. When the chorus shouts:
"Kill the sons of swine", nobody helps the boys. Finally Ramnik opens the door for the boys and
protected them. For this protection, chorus calls Ramnik 'a traitor'. Even inside the house, every
member of the family was against Ramnik but still he was stubborn with his decision and became
a true descendent of Mahatma Gandhi. The play also presents the love that doesn't restrict religion,
caste and creed, is evident from Smita's love for Babban, an outsider muslim boy. The love and the
violence are two different matters are mixed together where violence is promoted and preferred in
communal riot. The playwright at the end of the play wishes to stop this game of hatred and
communal tension through the character of Ramnik. Even Ramnik accepts that his father has done
the black deed so we should forgive offenders and forget the past. This is the final solution
suggested by playwright Mahesh Dattani through the character of Ramnik. Chorus, an important
element of drama is well used by Mahesh Dattani in the play 'Final Solution'. Flash back is another
important technique adopted by playwright in his play which shows how the past moulds the
present and how the present reinterprets the past.
There's 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 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'.
Self -Assessment

1. Fill in the blanks:
(i) Final Solutions highlights the ............... .
(ii) Daksha is the grandmother of the ............... .
(iii) The chorus with Hindu marks burst with ............... .

31.2 Summary

• Final Solutions' discusses the Hindu-Muslim problems. In also tackles the theme of transferred
resentments in the context of family relations. Alyque Padamsee says, directing Final Solutions
in Mumbai.
• The most exciting thing in the book Mahesh Dattani's Interview is included which will help
researchers, scholars, academicians and teachers to understand dramatic world of Mahesh
Dattani. Vishwanath Bite in his well researched article on Thirty Days in September analyses
the play through different perspectives.
• Mahesh Dattani's Plays: a Mirror of Contemporary Society, states that Dattani's plays are
reflection of the contemporary society. According to her, Dattani not only deals with common

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