30 DAYSMahesh Dattani

Mahesh Dattani 's 30 Days in September
A play about love and betrayal, 'Thirty Days' treats the sensitive and generally
taboo issue of child sexual abuse. 'Thirty Days' endeavors to lift the veil of
silence which surrounds child sexual abuse and addresses the issue
unflinchingly.It builds on the trauma of Mala who lives with the haunting
memories of her abused past.
Her abuser - her uncle “ subconsciously lives with her all the time, as part of
her dirty reflections. He damages her natural growth, deters her from pursuing
her love interests beyond the ominous 30-day period and scars her soul every
now and then. As Mala withers under the psychological pressure extorted on
her by the abuser, her mother watches silently, living her own pain - suffering
mutely.
Exploring the painful problem, Mahesh Dattani raises valid concerns and
structures a world of optimism where the wrongs can stand corrected and
resurrection of brutalized faith is possible. But none of this happens without
another man's willingness to help the two women bury their traumatic past
and find ways of rejuvenating their present. Deepak, Mala's boyfriend,
becomes the agent of change here. He dares to unmask the evil, even at the
cost of his love.
He hits the women hard until they hit the rock bottom. Finally, there is no way
but to come up - face the wrongs and dare to correct them, notwithstanding
the challenges the process of correction entails. By marking a daring
departure from norm, the play ensures that we, as a society, no longer take
comfort in the routine of uttering word "incest" in gutless undertones.The play
also brings us closer to the reality of abused children -pleasure does form a
part of their pain, but finally the consequence of dangerous games can only
be dangerous. Our only way to fight danger is to recognize it and crush with
generous doses of brutality lest we are ready to condemn innocence to
lifelong death.
Arivnd Gaur's "30 Days in September" is worth watching. Mahesh Dattani

builds his play around child abuse and tries to lift the veil on the hush-hush
subject…..Lifting the veil ....ROMESH CHANDER, The Hindu
About Smita Nirula

Smita Nirula has been involved with theatre since her college days. She has a
Master's degree in theatre from the State University of New York at Stony
Brook, USA and a Bachelor's degree in theatre and journalism from
McPherson College, Kansas, USA.She has been a theatre critic for the Indian
Express,The Hindu and the Pioneer newspapers over the last 15 years. She
has written extensively on theatre for various websites including ICICI's
CafÃ© Dilli.
She has worked in numerous productions both onstage and offstage(light
design, set design, stage management) in India and America.She has written
plays which have been produced and published. Currently she is busy
translating some of Mahesh Dattani's plays (including Dance Like A Man and
Seven Steps Around The Fire) from English into Hindustani, and studying
Vedanta.
About Mahesh Dattani

Mahesh Dattani, born in Bangalore on 7 August 1958, studied in Baldwin’s
High School and St. Joseph’s College of Arts and Science, Bangalore.He has
worked as a copywriter in an advertising firm and subsequently with his father
in the family business. His theatre group Playpen was formed in 1984, and he
has directed several plays for them, ranging from classical Greek to
contemporary works.
In 1986, he wrote his first full-length play, Where There’s a Will, and from
1995, he has been working full-time in theatre. His major plays are Dance
Like a Man, 30 Days in September, Bravely Fought the Queen,Final
Solutions,Tara, On a Muggy Night in Mumbai.Dattani is also a film-maker and
his films have been screened in India and abroad to critical and public
acclaim.
His film Dance Like a Man has won the award for the Best Picture in English
awarded by the National Panorama.In 1998, Dattani won the Sahitya
Akademi award for his book of plays Final Solutions and Other Plays,
published by East–West Books Chennai, thus becoming the first English
language playwright to win the award.
Dattani teaches theatre courses at the summer sessions programme of
Portland State University, Oregon, USA, and conducts workshops regularly at
his studio and elsewhere. He also writes plays for BBC Radio 4.
Sahitya Akademi award citation

Dattani’s work probes tangled attitudes in contemporary India towards
communal differences, consumerism and gender…
a brilliant contribution to Indian drama in English.
Review-The Hindu
Lifting the veil
Dattani builds his play around child abuse and tries to lift the veil on the hush-hush
subject
ROMESH CHANDER
A little over a year ago, I had read Mahesh Dattani's "30 days in September"
and was much impressed by its theatrical potential and was keen to see it on
the stage. As luck would have it, "30 Days in September" was on the boards
in New Delhi this past week. Translated in Hindi by Smita Nirula, and directed
by Arvind Gaur, it was presented by Asmita, a leading theatre group that
stands committed to socially relevant theatre. After having seen the play I
once again read the original English version to see how far the presentation
was relevant for the Hindi audience and I am happy to report that the play
went down exceedingly well with the average Hindi audience as was very
much obvious from the 25-minute audience discussion after the show.
Dattani builds his play around child abuse, particularly sexual abuse, and tries
to lift the veil on the hush-hush subject through Mala who lives with haunting
memories of her past inflicted, as is common, by a relative, in this case her
uncle. Mala's role was well played by one of Asmita's senior
actors,Amita Walia.
Dattani so develops the plot that all through the play, Mala lives with the
haunting memories of her past. Perhaps, without being conscious of it, the
uncle( acted by Susan Brar) has permanently damaged her development with
the result that she cannot pursue her love interest beyond 30 days,
psychologically hinted at by her underlining a particular date on the calendar.
Yet another sensitively projected character is that of Mala's mother, Shanta

played with immense control by Seema Mittal, one of our top actors on the
Hindi stage. To watch her facial expression, living her own silent pain was
indeed a rewarding experience for the audience.
As we go along, we hear meaningful lines in Hindi as written by Smita Nirula

and well spoken by the cast. For instance, when Mala and her mother are
blaming each other and Mala says to her mother, "Once we were talking
about a rape case that was in the papers. You said something about children
also not being safe...Then I told you about what happened to me. But you
changed the subject...That time I wondered if it was I or did I imagine it all?
Surely not. No, it did happen."
"Forget all these bad dreams," says the mother. "Every time uncle visited us it
would happen...whenever I told you, you always said eat well and go to sleep,
the pain will go away... Yes it did go away but it always comes back."
There was yet another most powerful scene when the mother tells her
daughter what she had seen. "You were pushing yourself in the bedroom, you
were asking him to kiss you, to touch you, to pinch you... I also remember
when your cousin came for his holidays...you wanted my brother and your
cousin dancing around you. How can I forget"? Yet another beautiful
sequence essayed with immense control is when the mother finally says,
"Don't talk about it, forget the pain... try to forget the pleasure." "But the
pleasure is part of the pain," says Mala. The mesmerising music by Sangeeta
Gaur builds up the atmosphere.
As we move towards the end, the playwright has some surprises for us, but
the evening I saw the play, I felt the pace could have been a little faster and
perhaps could do with a little editing. The last few minutes, however, will
remain with us forever, and so will Mala's anger.
There is dead silence for a few seconds as the audience stands up and then
a burst of applause as Arvind Gaur in his usual style of always being in a
hurry walks up the stage and invites the audience for a discussion... once
again.
A silence for a few seconds, and then a burst of frank comments and
questions, particularly from the youth.
Repeat show
The play is on the boards again at SRC on April 15 and must not be missed
for it is an aspect of life around us that must be exposed and fought.

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Mahesh Dattani 's 30 Days in September

Arivnd Gaur's "30 Days in September" is worth watching. Mahesh Dattani

About Smita Nirula

About Mahesh Dattani

Sahitya Akademi award citation

Yet another sensitively projected character is that of Mala's mother, Shanta

As we go along, we hear meaningful lines in Hindi as written by Smita Nirula

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