06 - Chapter 1
06 - Chapter 1
The word drama comes from the Greek word 'dran' or 'drao' which
means 'to do' or 'to act'. A play is a story acted out; it shows the people
humorously. The speech and action recreate the flow of human life. A play
comes to life only when it is enacted on the stage and it combines many
arts those of the author, director, actor, designer and others. The dialogue
rich, interesting and different enough from each other so that in one way
or another they conflict. From this conflict comes out the drama. The
conflict may or may not be resolved, but conflict must be there. Applied to
the theatre, it embraces all works composed for performance and finds its
physical conflict, in short, when imitation becomes the action. Since the
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persuade the audience to believe as real, the mysterious of human
an old custom which made its presence felt from the later Vedic period.
The Indian culture, custom and mood are presented in Indian theatre
through - natya, lasya, mudra, etc. Indian drama and Indian theatre had
drama has the longest and richest tradition. The origin of Sanskrit drama
dates back to 1st AD. Indian drama became a means of exploring and
According to the legend when the world passes from the Golden
Age to the Silver Age the people started getting addicted to several sorts of
sensual pleasure, jealous, anger and desire. Then, Lord Indra requests God
Brahma: “Please give us something which would not only teach us but be
pleasing both to eyes and ears.”2 God Brahma gives the pious idea of the
Natya Veda. He combines the essence of the Natya Veda out of the four
Vedas, dance from the Rig Veda, song from the Sama Veda, mimicry from
the Yajur Veda and passion from the Athar Veda. Bharatha’s Natyashastra
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is a treatise that deals with all aspects of the diverse arts and embodied in
the classical Indian concept of drama including dance, music and poetics.
people. It follows that only drama uses the eight basic emotions of love,
joy, anger, sadness, pride, fear, aversion and wonder. It depicts different
situations relating to men - good, bad and indifferent. It also gives courage,
all major aspects of drama, namely stage – the setting, music, plot-
Later some episodes from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavat
Gita were acted on the public stage in front of people. Such type of
Dussehera. The two great epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are
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information and his views about drama. Vishakhadatta wrote political
Sanskrit drama flourished in its glory for a decade but after there
the Indian drama declined in its popularity due to certain foreign invasion.
When the British enter into India, the crippled Indian drama regained its
strength. With the arrival of the English theatre in India the concept of
heroes and celestial beings in drama faded away slowly as the English
theatre brought realistic touch to the Indian drama. Drama selected the
society. The colonization did a play major role in influencing the Indian
dramaturgy.
"A true play is three dimensional: it is literature that walks and talks
before our eyes. It is not intended that the eye shall perceive marks on
paper and the imagination turn them into sights, sound and actions: the
text of the play is meant to be translated into sights, sounds and actions,
which occur literally and physically on the stage. Though in fact plays are
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often read in silence, if we are to study drama at all intelligently we must
Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai were the three the important places
to develop the Indian theatre as these places were the centers of the British
patrons. During the eighteenth and the nineteenth century, many of the
and different theatres and literature. The Indian English playwrights were
others wrote dramas also in English and vernacular languages and enacted
theme before audience. The other dramatists tried to write scripts and
Some of the dramatic organizations like, the Parsi Natak Mandali, the
Akademi in 1954. But all these developments led to the growth of Regional
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language theatre. Many of the Indian English plays had to remain satisfied
of the English theatre in India. Theatre was born before the birth of
language that is theatre gives voice to the voiceless when state institutions
have turned away from becoming the voice of the people then theatre has
street theatre around 1967. Theatre is only relevant when it raises its voice
against degeneration and decay. The street theatre made its effort to
All these problems show us that whenever the voice rose against the
injustice.
the drama writing has been slow. The reasons for lop- sided development
of drama are many. Drama is an art which requires accessories like actor,
stage, audience, director and so on. As M.K. Naik puts it, “A play in order
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real theater and a live audience. It is precisely the lack of these essentials
ancient lore, native folk — forms and above all the problem of evolving a
language that would suit the Indian situation. The real success of a play
can be tested only on stage. For this, a living theatre is necessary. The
dramatists had to write plays which were stage worthy. The theatre
staging English plays in India did not enjoy much popularity. Even with a
faced problems while finding its roots in the native soil. The earlier
playwrights who wrote in English were not inspired by the classical Indian
drama. Neither did they employ the rich folk forms and techniques of
classical Sanskrit drama. The dramatists of the time were more interested
quantity nor, on the whole of high quality. Enterprising Indians have for
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The playwrights did not give much attention to the use of language.
English, being a foreign language, was not intelligible to the masses and
The English theatre had a limited appeal to the elite in big cities.
through the times one has to take a look into its history.
The saga of Indian drama in English began with K.M. Banergi’s The
Civilization? (1871). The Indian English Drama has not yet achieved the
height achieved by other genres of Indian English literature like novel and
poetry. M.K. Naik remarks “The sad Cinderella of Indian English literature
from the beginning, drama remains its Cinderella still, waiting for her
prince.”6
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Rabhindranath Tagore occupies the highest place as a dramatist in
Indian English drama. Tagore was awarded with the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1913 for the poetic work Gitanjali. His plays are written in
Bengali, later himself translated some of his plays into English. These
others are The Post Office(1912), The King of The Dark Chamber(1910), Mukta-
regional Bengali Theatre. Like the classical drama of earlier times his plays
are full of songs and showed other features like prelude, dialogue and
Vidhushak. His plays have the loose Elizabethan dramatic model. The
The plays of Tagore deal with the themes of love, religion and faith
which are essential for human life. There are conflicts, reflective of life and
solutions are brought by life itself. Sanyasi (1923) is a symbolic play deals
with the truth of finding infinite in finite. Sanyasi, the main character
withdraws himself from outer world to realize the divine. Later he realizes
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love, nature and life but he rejects her. Nature takes revenge against him
and Sanyasi seeks the path of village in search of Vasanti. The theme of the
bondage. Ego and possession degenerate the Man; Love is the only
The play Malini (1923) deals with the conflict between Brahminism
and Buddhism. The play focuses on the theme of the religion of love.
Malini, the daughter of a king, supports Buddhism and she stands against
love and faith in humanity. Supriya and Kemankar stand against Malini.
This play also focuses on significance of love and humanity. This play is
dedicated to those heroes who bravely stood for peace when human
sacrifice was claimed for the goddess of war. Its plot is remarkable for
context and teaches the modern man the meaning and need of religion
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Chandalika (1933) depicts the victory of holiness over the lust. The
Prakriti's love is a devouring fever of desire. She asks her mother to cast a
magic spell on Ananda so that he may return and quench the raging fever.
The spell drags Ananda to Chandalika's hut. Prakriti's final victory is also
her supreme defeat. Anand has come to the cottage but his face is agonised
- not the face she has longed for, the face of beauty and holiness. She cries
in despair and asks her mother to remove the spell. Anand is released from
the spell. The mother dies of the wrong deed and Prakriti's spiritual rebirth
is completed.
symbolizes the God. He is everywhere and everything but only few can
see the God. The play is rewarding in its spiritual in sights. The King of the
Dark Chamber is about a woman with sick soul; the King visits the Dark
The Post Office(1912) is about a child with a sick body. The King
visits the boy. Amal is a sick boy with the vision that the King will send a
letter to appoint him as a post man and imagines the same throughout the
day and night but he dies at the end of the play. Amal's aspiration and
divine response meets and its consequence is his new birth, not physical
death. The adventure with the Divine leaves the man cured in soul as well
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as body. The spirit has come to the parched human heart and there will be
inspired by the Mahabharata. The play Chitra depicts love from the sphere
character Tagore embodies the idea of the evolution of human love from
God and got boon of beauty for one year. Under the false pretext Arjuna
loves her beauty. Indeed the youth and beauty are evanescent but Chitra
and Arjuna do not realise this truth and their illusion is broken. Both
realized that true love transcends mere physical love and signifies a total
giving. This play focuses on the youth and growth, and true virtue of
womanhood.
farmers but Prince Abhijit, a foundling, realises the grief of the poor and
fights against the heartlessness of the king. Abhijit breaks the dam and
sacrifices his life. The Cycle of Spring is an interesting play that deals with
the fear of death. A king finds two gray hairs behind ears, fears death and
loses interest in his duty. Later the king got realization that life is ceaseless
and resumes his duty as a king. Red Oleanders (1924) presents victory of
Bengal and Sanskrit drama and all plays are known for use of symbolism,
myth and legends. The characters and themes are rooted in Indian ethos
and deepest convictions. His plays are comparable with the dramas of
W.B. Yeats. Tagore's dramatic art is both simple and complex. It is simple
in style and expression. It is complex in the variety of its forms and the
depth of its meaning. There is variety of structure in his plays. The form of
Plays published in 1942. Hence, his plays can be taken up for study in the
published after 1947. Sri Aurobindo was a prophet and a recluse and he
stood apart in unique solitariness. His five complete plays and six
output. The complete five plays of Aurobindo are Perseus the Deliverer,
Vasavadutta, Rodogune, the Viziers of Bassora, and Eric the King of Norway.
Out of these five plays Rodogune is a tragedy and other four are comedies.
The romantic story, Perseus the Deliverer deals with Greek legend of
Perseus. Perseus, the son of Danae and Zeus, is known for grace and
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compassion. He fights against Poseidon and Polydaon, the evil force and
people. Perseus the Deliverer is a play in five acts written during the early
The Viziers of Bassora is a romantic love story taken from The Arabian
Nights. The two young lovers, Nur Al-Din Ali, a son of the good Vizier
Alfazzal and Anice- al -Jalice a slave girl, are united with the help of
Caliph Haroun al Rashid. The play is again presents fight of evil and good.
The wicked Vizier Almuene with his wicked tricks puts many obstacles in
their ways but finally the lovers get marry and also get the throne of
Bassora.
Mahasegn the King of Avanthie and kept in jail under the vigilance of
Vasavadatta. The love ensues between Udayan and Vasavadatta and they
only romantic tragedy. The love leads to the Civil war between Antiochus
and Timocles. Rodogun and Antiochus are the true lovers but Timocles is
ancient Norway.
evolution and symbolically they present the inner urge for freedom. All
ranging from ancient Greek times to medieval India and covering diverse
lands like Syria, Norway, India, Persia, and Iraq and so on. Sri Aurbindo
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Harindranth Chattopadhyaya occupies special place in Indian
English drama and his dramas deal with social, devotional and historical
themes and known for his versatility. He brought working class characters
consciousness and flair for realism. This collection of plays has social
playlist: -The Window, The Parrot, The Sentry's Lantern, The Coffin and The
— Siddhartha: Man of Peace, Saku Bai, Jayadeva, Mela, Eknath etc., deal with
the conflict between good and evil and the victory of virtue over evil. His
Indian drama in English. In the social plays evils and problems are
and situations stand sharp contrast to one another. The dialogues are crisp
and used several spoken words. The dramatist being a poet, made efforts
to write plays but unable to meet all the essentials of the stage so far as full
wrote both in English and Kannada. The plays present sound knowledge
of the ancient Indian lore. The rich tradition of the Kannada theatre and
rich cultural heritage of his country helped him to adroitly use myth and
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history for dramatic purpose. His long stay in England urged him to
English. His plays have a deep reverence for our ancient culture, the
values of life, blend of vision and stagecraft. The dramatist has taken
majority of his themes from the Mahabharata than from the Ramayana as he
believes that the characters of the Mahabharata are like real people of
mundane world, though they may have meditative ambition still all are
like human being but in the Ramayana, the characters have transgressed
humanity.
G.S.Amur holds a very high opinion about T.P. Kailasam, and says: "A
theatre. It is for this reasons that his plays whether in Kannada or English,
The English plays of Kailasam deal with epic themes and a world of
romance whereas his Kannada plays deal with contemporary society and
highlights the greatness of tragic heroes of the epics and gave prominence
to neglected characters of the epics. His plays are stage worthy as he had
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better stage sense and his plays appear to be capable of greater success on
the stage.
meet two aged Chamberlains at court and make enquiries with them but
fail to know the matter, finally they find the truth that their father
Dasaratha died and banished Rama. Bharatha is enraged with it and the
royal priest Vasistha consoles him and directs him to perform his duty. The
Purpose deals with life of Ekalavya who learned archery with the image of
observes the teaching of Drona from distance and become a great archer,
later cuts his thumb and offers to Drona as a fees to his teacher. Thus the
The play Fulfilment(1933) deals with how Lord Krishna tries to dissuade
Ekalavya from joining Kauravas, his efforts are failed, hence Lord Krishna
stealthily kills him and justifies the act that it is the purpose not the
manner of killing that decides fairness of killing. The misery of son's death
The Curse or Karna(1964) deals with the story of Karna, his birth and
his participation in war and his death. Keechaka(1949) is the last play of
a punishment for Pandavas) and his death in the hands of Bhima. These
of the tragic heroes of the epics, the plays have better stage sense, and
Clutch of the Devil(1926), Sita‘s Choice And Other Plays(1935), The Slave of
Ideas And Other Plays(1941), and The Trial of Science for the Murder of
play in five acts, deals with the theme of widow marriage. Brahma‘s Way is
between Rangaraju, a young lawyer with the spiritual leanings, and his
Thimmaraju. The Clutch of the Devil exposes the havoc caused by the
allegorical play with touches of humour and irony. A.S.P. Ayyar also
historical play. The playwright writes about the noble sacrifice of Panna,
the faithful nurse, who saves the life of Prince Udaya Singh by substituting
him for her own son. Panna’ s motherhood and sacrifice are glorified.
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"As a writer of plays dealing with contemporary reality and
historical themes Ayyar is a pioneer. His place, though not very high, is
Family Cage, Flags of the Heart, Winding Ways ,Love Becomes Light and Dog’s
Ghost. The play Mother of New India centers on the theme of social
elements in his plays, but the characters are not life like and not convincing
to the audience.
The Surgeon-General’s Prescription, The Point of View and Wait for the Stroke.
These plays provide us vivid vignettes of social life. Iyengar also wrote a
historical play At Any Cost which deals with the good treatment Akbar
gave to the wife and the sister of Rana Udai Singh after the siege of
Balwnt Gargi’s The Vulture and other Plays(1941) deals with themes
exposes the evil of hoarding and the title is symbolic. The Vulture
symbolizes the greedy tyrants who suck the life blood of the poor. The
realistic characters, life like characters and well structured plot are the
famous plays of these dramatists, Indian English drama could not achieve
Independence days.
regional language dramas than the English dramas. Some the Indian
English plays are performed abroad, later the plays are performed in
Indian theatre.
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T. Shashikanth Reddy says – “Post – Independence writing in
English has stood the test of the moment and the test of time. It has found
readers at home as well as abroad. It has got plenty of critical acclaim and
English written by the Indians has almost all the qualities that a standard
national identity after 1947 proved a great gain for the Indian English
writer. It gave him greater self – confidence, winded his vision and
The Indian English theatre, the rich chronicle of Indian drama, the
colossal history of Indian natya then witnessed a marked change with the
other who further carried English drama in India to the further step of
poet Nissim Ezekiel, Dina Mehta and Manjula Padmanabhan. The saga of
English theatre, which began long back during the British Imperialism,
India. Continuous study, deep understanding and above all the tuneful
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blend of the West and East have helped English drama in India as a
distinct art form whilst aiding it to stand apart with pride and dignity.
" ‘Indo — Anglican drama’: isn’t it like talking about ‘snakes in Iceland’?
Not quite, — but the problem is there, for while poetry, novels and non-
fiction prose can be read in the silence of one’s study, Drama can come to
Gurcharn Das, Mahesh Dattani, Vijay Tendulkar and Girish Karnad have
is a complex and singular piece of dramatic art. It has been highly admired
stage ability. It was staged at the Watergate Theatre in London in 1950 and
named after a Muslim saint and stands for humanity at large. Other
characters too are symbolical. It is a superb passion play which projects the
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life and death, his surrender to the phenomenal world, his realization of
the supremacy of love transcending time and space. The entire action of
Lakhan Deb’s Tiger’s Claw (1967) and Murder At The Prayer Meeting
blank verse in these plays. Tiger‘s Claw is a verse play in three acts, which
the Prayer Meeting deals with the murder of Mahatma Gandhi and is full of
technique of Greek tragedy. The playwright deftly uses the unities of time,
place and action, and employs the devices of Prologue and Chorus. The
plot of this play covers Mahatma Gandhi’s dominant role in politics, the
sad events that followed the country’s partition, the two-way exodus of
play on Shiva and in The Murder at The Prayer Meeting Deb has adroitly
Larins Sahib (1970) which deals with Henry Lawrence of Punjab. The action
of the play is based on event in the Punjab in 1846-47, deals with the
year-old son, Dalip Singh. The play is successful in presenting the colonial
essential historical traits of these historical personae. His other two plays
are — Mira (1971)deals with Mira's immaculate God-love for Lord Krishna
with all the superiority of contemporary theatre, and Jakhoo Villa presents
Pratap Sharma’ s two plays are The Professor Has A Warcry (1970)and
Professor Has A War cry but it is noticeable for a keen sense of situation and
side of the sophisticated city life that perpetuates the existence of brothels.
His plays were staged in Europe and America successfully but failed to
find proper stage in India. The sense of situation and dialogues are
effective.
Nissim Ezekiel, is a well known poet, has five plays to his credit.
comedy, and The Sleep Walkers: An Indo American Farce. His other two plays
are Don ‘t Call It Suicide, and Song of Deprivation. Some of his famous
themes are institution of marriage, the uselessness of social codes and the
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void in the urban middle class. He is not bothered about the plot
human life and behavior and his plays make a pleasant reading.
languages and sometimes translating their works into English for wider
use and publicity. Like Rabindranath Tagore who wrote plays originally in
Bengali and translated into English by himself and others also translated
his works. Some of the regional writers have been writing plays in their
respective languages and translating their works into English. The great
Bengali and Vijay Tendulkar in Marathi. These writers have left the
Elizabethan rules and regulations far behind and have evolved new
Waves(1973), Half— Way House (1969) show his love for new and
set up. His major concern has been the irony and tragedy of the
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relationship of man and woman. The people admire for his talent of
One Day in Ashad moves around the character Kalidasa who fail to
cope with surrounding and fails to maintain the good human relationship.
He has the feeling of uprooted and fear of leaving the native land but
Mallika force him to accept the royal proposal, Mallika and Kalidas love
each other, her mother expects them to get married. Then he goes to city,
failed to adjust with the city life and returns to village. Kalidas is a symbol
relation. The play Half- Way House (Adhe- Adhure) deals with elder
daughter who cannot find fulfillment in her husband, she fails to get
complete satisfaction in other man also. The play is concerned about the
broken house forms the background of the play, it also moves around the
unmanly and unemployed husband who fails to fulfill the needs of his
wife. Great Swans of the Waves deals with dilemma of Nand who loves his
wife and strongly attracted to the call of Lord Bhudha. The irony lies in his
inability to take decision even when limited alternatives are left before
him. All the character is alienated, isolated and dissatisfied with the
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Badal Sircar is a great Bengali writer uses the contemporary
situation and social problems to present the life -in -death situation in
modern society. Badal Sircar starts his career as a dramatist with the play
Evam Indrajit (1962), the unique structure and social utility attracted the
popularity. The play moves around the theme of middle class people who
have failed to adjust and struggle for survival of the life. Evam Indrajit is a
writer. He presents the mechanical and chaotic life. There is no value for
have weightless existence, the dramatist does not offer any hope in the
play. The dramatist negated all the conventions of the traditional drama by
this play. The dramatist uses situations and social problems of his time to
depict the atrocities of modern life. His themes depict an anguish caused
Indrajit (1962), The Other Side of History (1964), and There is No End (1971)
Procession is about the search for real home, a new society based on
equality. The theme of the play is ideal concept where man works
being exploited. Bhoma is another play focuses on the life of the innocent
farmers, the society is full of exploiters and opportunists who make use of
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woodcutter, cannot cope with these people, and symbolically sharpens the
Some Day Later deals with various questions relating to history. The
play moves around the character Shankara, who feels that one or the other
day the horror of his experience may repeat. Man is a puppet to possess
materials like-property, career, and marriage. Poet's Story deals with the
wants to win the seat in Assembly. The dramatist presents the comedy
presenting the gap between the ideal and real. His plays belong to the
third Theatre, the socio political problems are discussed. The subjects of
He dwells deep into the problems of middle class society. Thus the
thirty full length and twenty-three one act plays. His contribution to
modern Indian theatre is significant. Some of his subjects for plays are
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consciousness, cultural freedom and so on. For his significant contribution
Gaurav Puraskar (1990), The Kalidas Sanman (1992) The Pandit Mahadev
also got Nehru Fellowship (1973) and Life Time Fellowship from the
(1972), Vultures, and Silence! The Court is In Session (1968)are his four
successful experiments on the Marathi theatre. The themes of his plays are
The play explores the life of morally decadent Peshwa ruler Nana
Phadnavis and the corrupt Brahmins of Pune. The play has the element of
Dashavatara form with music and dance which sharpen the irony of the
aspires for sex which leads to violence and evil. The hideous nature of the
woman, the character Leela Benar performs mock trial in a village, but it
which expresses the hypocrisy and double standards of the society, and
attitude of man who used her body as a commodity. She has been
exploited since her childhood, when she was fourteen her uncle enjoyed
her body, second time a professor enjoyed her and made her pregnant but
refused her to marry. Then she requests her male friends to marry her but
very one rejects and laughs at her, here an exploited woman stands as a
respect less, shameless and loses the dignity. The condition of Bener is of
Draupadi in the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna has rescued her but in the play
none is there to rescue her. When she stands in witness box, her plight is
very critical. The play ends with the doubt that whether she aborts the
child or not. The upliftment of woman is possible only with the changed
attitude of men.
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Vijay Tendulkar is known for stage -craft by presenting the pictures
rituals. The plays include music, theatre, religion and philosophy. The
dramatist goes deep into the human psychology, existence and expresses
assured by following his stage direction. The characters of his plays are
from middle class who struggle for the achievement in the outer world.
The women characters are memorable and present the woman position in
first, i.e. only a purposeful return to its roots in the rich tradition of ancient
Indian drama, both in Sanskrit and folk drama in the Prakrits can help it
shed its lean and pale look, increases its artistic hemoglobin count, and
classical rituals and folk perform once to create a modern Indian theatre in
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Panikkar is an eminent poet and theatre director. He has written 26
Malayalam plays.His famous plays are Sakshi, Aramba Chekkan and The
Right to Live. These plays have the influence of poetry. He was awarded
the Sangeet Natak Akademi award for Direction in 1983, Sangeet Natak
Akademi Fellowship 2002 and Padma Bhushan in the field of Arts in 2007.
His plays are derived from Sanskrit drama and Shakespearean drama. He
is the founder director of theatre troupe which led to the foundation of the
emissary of Indian art and culture. He has played leading roles in films
Subhas Ghai. His roles in 'Mahatma' and 'Swamiji' in Hindi films brought
Kaladalli'. For his contribution to art and literature, he got several literary
award in 1999.
are Yayati (1961) Tughlaq (1972), Hayavadana (1975), Naga Mandala: Play with
a Cobra (1990), Tale — Danda (1993), The Dream of Tipu Sultan (1997), The
Fire and the Rain (1998), Broken Images (2004) and Flowers (2004). His themes
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are borrowed from Indian myth, legends, folk tales and history but his
approach and techniques are modern. He has used history, myth and
legend with imagination and creativity. He built a bridge between the elite
into English by Karnard. The theme is borrowed from the Mahabharata. The
as a ruler and he exchanges his old age with his young son to live the life
of sensual pleasure and yearns for eternal youth. Through this play
Karnard portrays the life of modern man who is engrossed with sensual
mundane pleasures.
all the characters are fractured personalities; none is whole. Thus the play
The play moves around the character Rani, who is ill treated by her
relation with Rani. Later Rani has to undergo a test to prove her chastity.
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Karnard suggests that if the society wants to change, it will have to revert
to matriarchy.
The Fire and the Rain draws the story from the Mahabharata. Karnard
in the play are the learned man but they do not save one from unethical
and Paravasu to dishonesty. The 'Fire ' in the title is the indication of lust,
anger, vengeance, envy, treachery, violence, and death. The 'rain' indicates
bin - Tughlaq. The play is considered as his most famous play and would
have been established Karnard as a noted dramatist. Tughalq deals with the
Tughalaq's last five years’ rule from 1327 to1332. The dramatist flouted the
period when Tughlaq shifted the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad. Tale -
Danda (1993) starts in the year1168 which comprises three acts and sixteen
scenes. The play is based on a historical incident that took place in the
twelfth century. It deals with last years of Basavanna's life who is a great
social reformer and founder of the lingayath caste. The play awakens the
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sensibilities of audience to think about the eradication of caste system in
Veena Noble Dass has said about Girish Karnad's contribution as:
"He has shown the Indian stage as to what depth the mythical themes
theatre community and to the world theatre community how our past and
write plays in English and does not follow the western dramatic canon.
analysis of his plays reveals that plays are rooted in urban milieu of India,
present common man's efforts to have space and respect in society. Plays
plays, and Collected plays comprises six full length plays and two radio
plays. His Final Solutions (1992-93) deals with communal tension which
bags Sahithya Academy Award in 1998. Where There's a will (1988), Bravely
Fought the Queen (1991), Dance Like a Man (1989) and Tara (1990) are the
plays deal with painful tales of various families have gone into the fabric
and texture of the plays. The playwright depicts the battles being fought
The play Tara deals with the major problem of female feticide,
parents favor the boy and rejects the girl, there is a tensed argument
regarding parents' preference for male child at the cost of girl child. The
purpose of the play is to create awareness among the people to protect girl
child. Dance like a Man deals with conflict between tradition and modern.
The play Seven Step Around the Fire deals with life of Kamala, a eunuch, is
killed and the police investigates the case. The play reveals the attitude
play, presents the voice of the marginalized being HIV positive. Through
this play the dramatist seeks for creation of awareness against HIV, love
and understanding for the HIV afflicted. Mahesh Dattani is known for use
of symbols, devices, technique and props to suit the theme of the play.
Days in September (2001). Dattani has written various radio plays and the
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screen plays such as- Do The Needful (1997), Seven Steps Around The Fire
(1998), The Swami and Winston (2000), A Tale of A Mother Feeding Her Child
(2000), Clearing The Rubble (2000), Uma and The Fairy Queen (2003,) Screen
Play are - Mango Souffle (2002), Morning Raga (2004), Ek Alag Mausam
(2005).
realities. The themes are-Indian joint family, the plight of woman in the
social system, the conflict between tradition and modernity, identity crisis,
is well known for complete use of theatre space in order to yield the
Bharati Sarabhai is the most eminent women dramatist. The first play of
this author is The Well of People (1943). It is a realistic play which depicts
Haridwar. She decides to dig a well for untouchables from her savings in
her dear old village, but a pitcher is broken at the threshold of the well,
which has symbolic significance. Her play is Two women depicts the
girl who turns a devotional singer are the two women in the play. Each of
38
these women is herself two women in one- an artist and a saint. The play
reaches some sort of conclusion but reader gets impression that the real
Dina Mehta’s The Myth Makers (1969) is a significant play for which
agitation flares up in Bombay against those people who have come from
the first prize in the first Onassis International Cultural Competition. Her
famous drama Harvest won this prize in 1997. It deals with exploitation of
dehumanization of the city people. Light out moves around the real
Cruz, Mumbai 1982. The crime of rape occurs in the society but none
comes forward to help the victim. The people have closed doors and
windows and switch off their lights to the scream of the victim. The play
39
presents the disgusting system and need to overcome it. Five Monologue is
based on the Bombay and Gujurat riots. The play focuses on violence in
and resentful.
The famous play So Many Socks presents sense of rejection but one cannot
reject one's own identity. Other full length plays Name Place Animal Thing
and Jamwon Hindu Metro Plus and BBC International radio award
poetry, fiction and non-fiction prose. The playwrights are unable to solve
technique which are essential for success of plays on the stage. Most of the
Tagore.
events, society with all its complex problems, east-west encounter, lives of
saints and great men, myth and legend have been the themes of Indian
40
English drama. The playwrights leaving out a few notable exceptions like
Vijay Tendulkar, Mahesh Dattani and Girish Karnard have evolved neither
but little has been done in this direction. Some modern playwrights have
matter of great satisfaction that some of the Indian English plays have been
of Indian English drama is not yet bleak. The playwrights like Dattani,
Karnad, Tendulkar, Sircar and many others are willing to experiment with
a strong sense of a living theatre and they have opened up a new horizon
of dramatic achievement.
Bowers as “India’s first authentic voice in the theatre".14 His plays are not
only the expression of thought but thoughts are meant for action on the
stage. He is the only Indian English playwright who put great effort to
actable plays. His plays cover various facts of society and written social,
41
He was born on 15th August 1928 in Bombay. His father was an arm
chair intellectual and a liberal minded person. His mother was veteran
social worker. He hails from a family of industrialists who won the title of
the early stage of his life. Though he studied in the Christian missionary
school, he did not miss the roots of an indigenous culture. He studied the
Ramayana, the Bhagavad Geeta and other Indian classics. For higher studies
He stayed in USA for four years and studied Shakespearean dramas and
Reddy said “this (USA) must have gone a long way in shaping him as a
techniques.
Paris gave an opportunity to acquaint French culture and way of life over
42
there. He compared living style in Paris and Indian standard of life. Later
partition of India and Pakistan had great impact on him. During the sixties
there was great current of violence in India to quote from Bayappa Reddy
culture among the parents, crippled the education system. The students
were thoroughly disillusioned when they knew that their degrees would
not get jobs at all. So they often indulged in violence. Much of this has
His plays were enacted in the Ropertory Theatres and Coffee House
with him and became an acceptable playwright in India. Then onwards his
After analyzing Currimbhoy’s life sketch, one gets the idea that our
life is not to ask why, it is in only to do and die. He died of a heart attack in
43
1994 on a train returning to Bombay from Calcutta viewing a performance
Rest of the 7 plays are short and have not been published till date. The
plays of Asif Currimbhoy may be divided into two phases, the early phase
covers the period from 1959 to 1968 and the later phase covers from 1969 to
1975. Important plays of the early phase are - The Tourist Mecca (1959),The
Dancer (1961), Om (1961), The Thorns on a Canvas (1962), The Captives (1963),
Goa (1964), And the Never Twain Shall Meet (1964), The Kaleidoscope (1964),
Monsoon (1965), The Hungry Ones (1965), Valley of the Assassin (1966), The
Temple Dancer (1967), The Lotus Eater (1967), Abbe Feria (1968),and The
Mercenary (1968).
The important nine plays of Asif Currimbhoy in the later phase are -
An Experiment With Truth (1969), Inquilab (1970), The Refugee (1970), Sonar
Bangla (1972), The Darjeeling Tea? (1971), Om Mane Pudme Hum! (1972), The
Miracle Seed (1973), The Dissident MLA (1974), and This Alien ... Native Land
(1975).
Asif Currimbhoy is well known for using new technique in his plays
44
cinematographic technique; picturesque background and episodic
technique. His dramas cover wide variety of subjects like history and
are brought on the stage. It is very interesting to note that majority of his
dramas end with ray of hope, that life gives chance to be optimistic.
encounter, and so on. The plays like The Doldrummers, and Thorns on A
banned by the state censors but ban was removed by the efforts of Mulk
Raj Anand and Khushavanth Singh. The play was enacted in the Theatre
Group, New Delhi in 1969. The depressed youth of lower class of urban
society is represented by Tony, Joe, Rita and Liza. The play deals with
basic human needs of food and sex, hence these characters want to satisfy
these instincts which led to rivalry and conflict between Rita and Lizza,
and Tony and Joe. The play successfully presents the poverty, squabbles,
love, small joy, basic humanity, disillusion, agony and reality in urban life.
The play presents a picture of artificial life, a careless and pleasure seeking
45
life which is ruining young boys and girls. Through this play Asif
Currimbhoy is giving a message to the Indian mass that the morals and
values are not cultivated to the young generation. Hence they are involved
youth, lack of courage and vigor of the modern youth. The play is
on the audience.
and Man's creative work. The artist expresses his unique essence of the
world. The play is a reaction against the banning of the Doldrummers. The
play is a satire and protest against all establishment of sponsored art. The
play moves around the characters like a patron, who runs an Academy of
art, his daughter Malti, a painter, Nela, a dancer, Yakub and Nafesa. The
feelings, ecstasy and unique essence of the world. Art cannot be taught by
dramatist satires the government policies and academy where no real art is
produced. A true artist does not require any publicity and does not require
any patron. Asif Currimbhoy clearly presents that artist is blessed by God,
The Hungry Once (1965) deals with poverty and the famine-stricken
the mystery of India. It ends with the two frustrated Americans leaving
India. This play is a symbolic play, which has been inspired by American
focuses on the harsh reality of Indian society, where rich people exploit the
poor and become rich. The rich are becoming richer and the poor are
becoming poorer, there is a great gap between the rich and the poor. The
Calcutta. The playwright has not only presented the hunger, but also the
other forms of hunger like hunger for external values, hunger for sex,
hunger for happier life for common people, hunger for wealth without any
come to Agra from different countries like, U.K, U.S.A and U.S.S.R. The
Tourist Mecca deals with visit of Janet Toffin, the daughter of an American
Widow Lady Toffin, to the tourist place Mecca, the Taj Mahal and falls in
love with Keshav Singh, a tourist agent. He wants to marry her but Jenet
wants to love him but does not want to marry him. The play presents the
several contrasts like lady Toppin who is growing older and Keshav who
becomes younger and younger, Toppin thinks her daughter is like herself,
but inwardly she knows they are pole apart. Both Janet and Kate are
47
possessively jealous of Keshav, Kate thinks that Keshav is a professional
lover but Janet feels he has a sincere love towards her. Their love affair is
cut short by the intervention of Lady Toffin. Jennet goes back to USA
promising him that she would come for the next holiday. Keshav Singh
slips the ring given by her. The playwright is successful in presenting the
audience go into the mind of the characters. The language is crisp and
lucid. Dialogues are suitable to characters. The new technique like flash
back and the use of music reveal the intensity of action on the stage.
religious subjects in his plays like Om. The play Om deals with
development of the Hinduism from the Vedic times. The dramatist makes
use of the Vedic and the Upanishad lore to make his play a panoramic
sweep of India's spiritual tradition. The main theme of the play is search of
God and different paths of salvation. The new technique like one character
is used in a one act play. The Clock has psychological theme. Henry, a
salesman, is the one character in the play; the other characters are revealed
through voices and shadows. This play deals with the disappointments
and failures in life. The materialism has violated all the morals of human
being. One has to take care of spiritual upliftment rather than physical
this play is the use of Kathakali dance art form. Bhima is the protagonist
48
who completely identifies himself with the characters of Bhima in the epic
cannot make any difference between the world of reality and the world of
insane at the end of the play. The Captive (1963) is a play on China war and
deals with Indo Chinese conflict of October 1962. It actually probes the
Asif Currimbhoy uses apt title for his dramas, the title of the play
suits the morale and theme of the plot. The Dumb Dancer deals with the life
of Calcatta; Om has religious theme; Clock reveals the fact that time never
waits for anyone and man has to get success and spiritual achievement
within given period of time; Darjeeling Tea? deals with life of planters in
the place called Darjeeling. All the plays of Currimbhoy have the titles
some Hindi words in his plays like nehi, sabjee, pundit ji, yes mamu etc.
more effectively to the audience. Even the readers can visualize scenes in
theatre.
psychological etc. The use of new techniques, dream like sequence and
Sharma, Krishna Bhatta, R.K. Dhawan, K.R.S. Iyenger, V.K. Reddy etc.
50
Workshop, Calcutta. The author has undertaken a herculean task of critical
K. A Agarwal has written full length work The Best Plays of Asif
imagery and his world vision. The study proposes to put together the
important incidents under scrutiny. The main purpose of the present thesis
is an analytical study of the nine significant plays of the later phase of Asif
contemporary social issues are incorporate in his plays; human frailty and
foolishness are observed in the plays. Hence this humble attempt has been
made to study the later nine plays in chronological order -- Inquilab (1970),
51
(1969),Darjeeling Tea? (1971) Om Mane Padme Hum! (1972), Miracle Seed
(1973), Dissident MLA (1974)and This Alien... Native Land (1975). The
research study comprises of the nine of the later plays which are very
powerful on the stage. The scope is limited to these nine plays, leaving the
There is a field work of collecting plays and reviews. The language should
be of the apt kind to study and analyze the major nine plays from the
The thesis is designed into five chapters of which the first chapter is
literature. It gives a fair background to the study of the modern plays. The
second chapter deals with the three major plays in chronological order -
Inquilab (1970), The Refugee (1971), and Sonar Bangla (1972).These three
plays deal with problems at different point of time in Bengal in the 1960s.
With West Dinajpur District in West Bengal as its background, The Refugee
is about the influx of Bangladesh refugees into India during 1971. With the
border village in Bengal as the setting, Sonar Bangla presents the emergence
52
of independent Bangladesh. The plays are studied from the thematic and
Experiment With Truth (1969) deals with the life and assassination of
Mahatma Gandhi. The play Darjeeling Tea? (1971) deals with the life of
The fourth chapter deals with the next three major plays - The
represents the plight of all farmers during drought for two years. The
makes use of students to get assembly dissolved. This Alien ... Native Land
lived in India. This chapter also analyses the theme and techniques used
by the playwright.
The last chapter " Conclusion " concludes the earlier conclusions of
the previous chapters having studied the plays. The focal point is laid on
the major themes and techniques in the plays, social relevance, innovations
53
REFERENCES
p.201.
54
13 Noble Dass, Veena. "Experiment and Innovation in Modern Indian
Books,1990, p. 72.
p.7.
16 Ibid. p.24
55