• Dr Priyamvada Agarwal

Mahesh Dattani in each of his plays reflects contemporary dilemmas. His plays make excellent theatre as they deal with characters that live out their lives of jealousy, power, prejudices, and loneliness etc. These themes are always of the here and now, as they are of the future. Dattani’s plays and their themes are contemporary. Clear perspective, enlightened opinion, and modern consciousness have clearly helped him to make an indelible mark in the Indian theatre treatise. It is hardly surprising that his works provide the ingredients that would stimulate any intelligent audience. His plots explore the tricky questions of gender identity, complexities and conflicts in human relationships, oppression and prejudices both at home front and in the society. Through the autocratic father figures in his plays, be it Hasmukh Mehta in Where There is a Will or Amritlal Parakeh in Dance Like a Man, does Dattani target at patriarchy? What disturbs Dattani and what inspires him to harp upon the issue of gender identity repeatedly in his plays? Does Dattani try to inspire a ray of hope through his play Final Solutions? In the post-Ayodhya phase of our country, the rise of communalism, violence, and intolerance have deeply disturbed the social fabric of the secular society. Through Final Solutions Dattani questions – isn’t there any final solution? This paper is an attempt to study the social issues in the plays of Mahesh Dattani.

Power, social issues, politics, jealousy, power, prejudices, theater.

"Commiserating Social Issues in the Plays of Mahesh Dattani", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 1, page no.52-75, January-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1901007.pdf

"Commiserating Social Issues in the Plays of Mahesh Dattani", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 1, page no. pp52-75, January-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1901007.pdf