Welcome readers! This blog is written as a part of my third semester assignment in Paper No. - 202 Indian English Literature ( Post Independence era). In this blog, I will explore the topic The Role of Memory in shaping a character's identity in Mahesh Dattani's Play 'Final Solutions.'
● Name :- Hetal Pathak
● Roll No. :- 09
● Semester :- 3 ( Batch 2022 - 2024)
● Enrollment No.- 4069206420220022
● Paper No. :- 202
● Paper Name :- Indian English Literature
(Post - Independence)
● Topic :- The Role of Memory in shaping a character's identity in Mahesh Dattani's Play -'Final Solutions'
● Submitted to :- Smt.S.B.Gardi Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
● Email Address:- hetalpathak28@gmail.com
● Date of Submission:- 1st December, 2023
The Role of Memory in shaping a character's identity in Mahesh Dattani's Play - "Final Solutions"
□ Table of Contents :-
● Introduction
● About Mahesh Dattani
● Detailed Study of Mahesh Dattani's Play - "Final Solutions"
● Memory and Identity
● Conclusion
Introduction :-
The Play Final Solutions, written by Mahesh Dattani. The Play discusses the theme of communal riots, hatred and bitterness of Hindu and Muslims against each other. 'Final Solutions' is one of Mahesh Dattani's most renowned and Widely Performed Plays. A stage Play in three acts.
The Play - Final Solutions revolves around a Hindu family that gives refuge to two Muslim boys during a communal riot. Hardika, Ramnik Gandhi, Bobby and Javed are important characters in the play. Two Muslim boys, Javed and Bobby ( Babban) take refuge in the house of a Hindu businessman, Ramnik Gandhi while a communal riot rages outside.
About Mahesh Dattani :-
Mahesh Dattani ( born on 7th August 1958) is an Indian director, actor, Playwright and Writer. He is a well- known modern Indian playwright as well as the first Indian playwright to be awarded the Sahitya Academy award in 1998, which is regarded as the highest award in the writing field for one of his best creations, Final Solution and other Plays. He is not only a playwright but also a stage director, an actor, a screenwriter, and a film - maker. He is continuing to contribute to Indian - English drama. His plays are somewhere subjective and he has successfully staged his plays in the whole country.
Dattani remarks himself ;
" The function of the drama, in my opinion , is not merely to reflect the malfunction of society but to act like freak mirrors in a carnival and to project grotesque images of all that passes for normal in our world. It is ugly, but funny."
He set himself as a successful playwright among some remarkable playwrights and directors such as Badal sircar, vijay Tendulkar, Girish and Mahesh Elkunchwar, who no doubt contributed a lot to the growth and development of Indian drama. Dattani's art of writing expresses different mental states, emotions and ideas, desires and aspirations, strengths and weaknesses, basic moral and social questions as well as individual predicaments.
Mahesh Dattani is famous for using unconventional issues and presenting the human relationship and cultural values on the stage through actors' performances which connect each and every person with reality. He uses the unique strategies, tools and techniques which play an important role in his plays and this is enough to win the heart of common People. He started writing in English while at that time drama in English was not exactly flourishing ; on the other hand, he often selects unusual themes for his dramas.
As Asha kuthari chaudhari comments,
"The Preoccupation with 'fringe' issues forms an important element in Dattani's work - issues that remain lament and suppressed, or are pushed to the periphery, come to occupy centre stage."
Dattani has a unique strategy to introduce his plays to the audience. He has dramatised Indian cultures realistically. Human relationships as well as cultural values Play the most important role in Mahesh Dattani's plays.
His Plays :-
These Plays broke all the barriers in the history of literature. For their keen insight, delicate aesthetic sense, structural skill, Variety, dramatic and theatrical quality of the language, and excellence of stagecraft, they have a distinct place in world dramatic literature. In almost all his plays he has tried to bring on the Forefront the different aspects of Indian culture and class conflict.
He is not only the writer of cultural values but also he throws light on each and every aspect of society like - gender issues, position of women, the political areas, economic condition of society, patriarchy, discrimination, gender identity, development of thoughts and the mental state of people. In short we can say that;
' The Multi - talented playwright Mahesh Dattani has no boundaries in his writing field.'
He has an amazing sense of writing that can easily be seen in his plays as he throws light on societal issues. The Play - 'Final Solutions' is about the lingering echoes of the Partition. His Plays are known for addressing issues that;
' Society tries to hide or turn its face away from.'
Mahesh Dattani's approach is not only to raise questions that exist in contemporary Indian society but to think about the best possible solution for these problems and try to recognize the identity of the marginalised class in society.
It was Alyque Padamsee who first spotted and encouraged Mahesh Dattani's talent and gave him the confidence to venture into a career in theatre. Dattani formed his own theatre group, Playpen, in 1984.
Detailed Study of Mahesh Dattani's Play - "Final Solutions" ;-
बटने का दर्द कहने से कम हो ता है क्या?
फर्क रंगों में तलाशो तो अच्छा है, पैदाइशी में फर्क होता है क्या?
-Final Solutions (Zee5 2019)
'Final Solutions' is one of Mahesh Dattani's most renowned and Widely Performed Plays. A Stage Play in three acts. Moving between the Partition of India and the Present day, it explores issues of religious bigotry and Communal Violence. One night, after being chased by a murderous mob, two muslim boys Bobby and Javed Seek take shelter in the home of a Hindu Gujarati family. The boy's arrival Unleashes a flood of bitter memories and deep Seated Prejudices. And as the tension builds towards a Powerful Climax , the Play becomes a timely reminder of the need for tolerance. The Play's Characters grapple with their Own biases and beliefs, mirroring the Complexities of real life Situations. Dattani Skillfully Unveils the layers of Prejudice through Compelling dialogues Such as ;
It’s easier to hate than to love, isn't it?
The Dairy narration technique is used in the play to provide insight into the thoughts, emotions and Perspective of the characters.
The play prominently features Daksha's diary, serving as a narrative element. Through the character of Hardika, we glimpse into Present events, while Daksha's character brings us into the Past. Mahesh Dattani's skillful use of the diary as a narrative technique is widely praised in this play.
Overall, the Diary narration technique in the play Serves as a Powerful tool to enhance the emotional Impact and to highlight the Social and political issues it addresses.
Mahesh Dattani the first Indian dramatist to write in English tackles the issue of communal divide in his periodic play - ' Final Solutions' where the people belonging to two different religious communities Hindu and Muslim remain polarised on the basis of their respective religion and they have no love and mutual trust between. The playwright tries to reveal the causes of simmering discontentment prevailing on the communal lines between the Hindus and Muslims and suggestively offers some remedies for this problem as he does not want to be seen moralising directly ;
' Theatre is to me a reflection of what you observe. To do anything more would be to become didactic and then it ceases to be theatre.'
The Play by juxtaposing the people belonging to two different and dominating communities in India - Hindu and Muslim divided on the basis of their religious and cultural beliefs once again opens up the wounds of communal violence inflicted on humanity during Partition. The characters delineated in the play fall into two categories.
● One group comprises of Hindu such as Hardika, Ramnik Gandhi, his wife Aruna and daughter smita.
● While the other group comprises of Muslims like Javed, Bobby and their family members.
Even chorus which plays a very significant role in the development of action in the play represents these two communities.
Mahesh Dattani while delving deep into the psyche of his characters, analyses the process of their attitude formation towards people belonging to different community resulting in their communal preferences and abhorrence and consequently their aspiration for communal hegemony, and explores possibilities of finding a solution to the problem of communal divide hatred. The past beckons us that in India there have always been clashes of cultural identities between the Hindus and Muslims and our partition 1947 was also the result of this religious divide and cultural dissimilarities. Asha chaudhari while supporting this point affirms ;
" For the Indian, the most important battle for the establishment of a distinctive identity within a territorial location lay in the partitioning of India. National identities were conceived and took shape in accordance with the ideologues that formulated these on the basis of religious identities. The gruesome rioting and communal / religious disharmony that took seed in 1947 has continued to throw up countless such incidents independent of secular India."
Besides the most important issue of communal disharmony, the play also raises the questions regarding cultural differences, quest for the liberation of the self from the narrow boundaries, feminist concerns, human opportunism, as well as man's attempt to run away from reality and his preference for living in a masked glory. The Playwright very deftly lets his audience have the feel of this facade worn by his characters, by portraying them in various situations and then delicately makes us see the blurred line between honesty and hypocrisy, integrity and diplomacy and reality and pretence.
Here, In this play the playwright Mahesh Dattani explores some possibilities for Solution to the problem of communal divide in his play - 'Final Solutions' and ultimately suggests some remedies in this regard. The dramatist feel that;
" Liberal outlook with a conciliatory approach and respect for one - another's beliefs, mutual trust and sharing of pleasures and pains can help in overcoming the man - made communal divide where individuals will be treated as a human being and not as a Hindu or Muslim."
The Play depicts the scene of a Hindu family in a communal - riots ridden city where two Muslim boys Bobby and Javed have taken shelter from the Hindu mob represented through a chorus wearing Masks. The family comprises Hardika the old lady, her son Ramnik Gandhi, daughter- in- law Aruna and Hardika's young granddaughter smita. The past of Hardika when she was young is presented through the eyes of a fifteen year old girl Daksha. One keeps on traversing from past to Present and from Present to past. From the Timeline we become aware of the causes of communal distrust through the protagonist Hardika ( Daksha) ; her longing for freedom and its suppression, probing of self about her faith in the Hindu mythology ; the stone throwing and beginning of violence in the streets of Hussainabad, a small town in Gujarat, during Partition in 1948 is again revisited when the two Muslim boys sought shelter in the home of Gandhis :
"This time it wasn’t the people with the sticks and stones. It was those two boys who were begging for their lives. Tomorrow they will hate us for it. They will hate us for protecting them. Asking for help makes them feel they are lower than us. I know! All those memories came back when I saw the pride in their eyes! I know their wretched pride! It had destroyed me before and I was afraid it would destroy my family again! They don't want equality. They want to be superior."
Through Hardika's attitude about the two Muslim boys in particular and Muslims in general , Dattani amply makes it clear that desire for cultural and religious hegemony is the main reason behind all this communal hatred and trust deficit between the two communities. Hardika's comments and her behaviour is an expression of her superiority towards the Muslims; she wants to be their saviour and godmother and by doing that she not only hurts their self- respect and pride, but also reduces them in her estimation of them. Her remarks about Bobby further proves that Muslims are not equal to them :
' What was he thinking? Of us? That we were all the same? Javed didn't think. I hated him.'
This attitude only helps in sowing the seeds of discordance, because all human beings irrespective of their caste, creed, sex, race or economic condition want personal dignity and to be treated with respect. Besides, we also find these elements of self - grandiose repeatedly in speeches by Aruna and Ramnik where the former after reluctantly offering water to the young boys. Aruna holds the glasses in such a way so that her thumb and fingers don't touch the part of the glasses that is touched by the lips of the Muslim boys and keeps these glasses separate from the others.
The play covers three generations in a period of more than five decades, beginning with partition of India after independence to the early 1990s. Hardika the main character represents the first generation followed by her
son Ramnik and daughter-in-law Aruna, and the couple functions as a link between the first generation and the young like Samita, Babban and Javed. As a skillful artist, the playwright's use of flashbacks makes the play a powerful study in time and space where past and present mingle in the eyes of Hardika.
Even the chorus plays a vital role in the play. All three generations encountered religious animosity and mistrust prevailing on the communal lines. Outwardly everything seems fine between the people belonging to two different communities; Hindus and Muslims, they have social ties with one another but inwardly there is an undercurrent of abhorrence and mistrust obvious enough for the audience to realise what makes the establishment of healthy relationship between the communities having cultural differences. Dattani shows how we transfer our own perceptions, impressions and viewpoints to the younger generation and this transferring of cultural hostility is revealed through the outbursts of young Daksha who later on as Hardika can never trust the Muslims.
The Characters are forced to question their previously held views, memories of past incidents, and their personal conceptions of faith. Each character is seen trying to come to terms with his/her conception of faith and religion, for it forms the very basic characteristic of his/her nature and hence identity, and determines all the actions and reactions to various persons and situations.
Memory and Identity :-
Memory plays a very important part in the play. Public memory is time and again juxtaposed with personal memory. Through the interplay of recall memories, the audience sees that the political acts are committed for personal interests. Happenings of the past are contiguous with and impinge upon the incidents of the present night, and vice - versa.
The action of the Play is happening through the eyes of Hardika, not as it happens but again as a representation of her memory of it. An interesting element of the play is the presence of Hardika and Daksha, shown to be two different, though at the same time, same characters. The play opens with a reading of Daksha’s diary. A diary is something that contains personal memories, written from a point of view of being read by an-other some time in the future. Though this ‘other’ might be another person, it is more often an evolved self. It has all the self-consciousness of a personal memory becoming public in a future time.
Dattani has interestingly put in two characters to play the grandmother- Hardika and Daksha - the newly married young girl, who is reading from her diary; and Hardika - the grandmother, who is listening to this diary recitation. The difference between these two is in that while Daksha still holds independent views and is a sort of rebel, Hardika has come to accept her husband’s point of view concerning her friendship with her Muslim neighbours. However, in spite of being two different characters they are not different, their thoughts, memories and actions are seamlessly interwoven as the following diary entry shows:
' And I wrote. A dozen pages before. A dozen pages now. A Young girl's childish scribble. An old Woman's shaky scrawl. Yes, things have not changed that much.'
Ramnik is also plagued by what happened in the past. Knowing what happened years ago, he is ashamed of his father’s and grand-father’s act of arson to lay their hands on Zarine’s father’s shop. Because they were planning to set up a mill as well, it was perhaps more an act of jealousy rather than of communal hatred. Religion merely served to justify the actions later on. Ramink tries very hard to be non-communal. He time and again laughs sarcastically at his wife Aruna as she goes about her rituals and ceremonies. He feels a need to save the two boys from the wrath of the communal mob in an effort to atone for the mistakes committed by his family in the past. He even offers a job to Javed thinking that it would redeem him of his sense of guilt. Ramnik is in the trap of his own memories of the wrongs done in the past. His sense of identity and belonging to either the middle class or to his religion is at the mercy of the happenings of the past and his memories of the same.
Conclusion :-
To Conclude, The play - 'Final Solutions' ends in an ambiguous and disturbing manner. Only Babban has a solution which is that they all believe and have faith and tolerate. And there are no takers for it! All others have just questions and a sense of loss and defeat. Everyone is shaken by the stirring of memories, same memory and yet different for each character.
References :-
Dr. Suman Sigroha. Role of Memory in Shaping Characters’ Identity in Mahesh Dattani’s ..., Dec.2013journal.unika.ac.id/index.php/celt/article/download/26/pdf.
Dashrath Gatt. “Will there ever be a final solution? Mahesh Dattani’s final solutions revisited in the light of communal divide.” Journal of English and Literature https://Www.Academicjournals.Org/App/Webroot/Article/article1379517182_Gatt.Pdf, vol. 3, Oct. 2012, pp. 125–131.
Shweta Dubey. “Mahesh Dattani: A Strategic Playwright.” Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) https://Www.Jetir.Org/View?paper=JETIR1805667, vol. 5, no. 5, May 2018, pp. 421–422.
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