Final Solutions
Hello, I am Emisha Ravani, Writing this blog as a thinking activity for the play "Final Solutions" which is written by the very well known literary figure Mahesh Dattani .
Mahesh Dattani is an Indian director, actor, playwright and writer. He wrote such plays as Final Solutions, Dance Like a Man, Bravely Fought the Queen, On a Muggy Night in Mumbai, Tara, Thirty Days in September and The Big Fat City. He is the first playwright in English to be awarded the Sahitya Akadami Award.
The theme of gender discrimination is all dominant in the drama. It circles around the grave and traditional issues of gender bias. The issue of cultural discrimination and injustice with women has been elaborately and comprehensively dealt by Dattani in the play.
Mahesh Dattani's Works :
His plays deal with gender identity, gender discrimination, and communal tensions. The play 'Tara' deals with gender discrimination, '30 Days in September' tackles the issue of child abuse head on, and 'Final Solutions' is about the lingering echoes of the partition.
Basically, this play Final Solutions is based on the communal riots and there are many stuffs which can be examine under the various aspects like minority vs majority, Hindu vs Muslim, past vs present, liberality vs bigoted etc. And it has story of a Gujarati family.
Here I would like to put some observations of the play by various literary figures.
In her analysis of the play, Deepali Agarwal observes:
Mahesh Dattani puts the eternal question with his play Final Solutions that every now and then rankles our consciousness – are the human beings real humane. It propels us to perennial problems as to what’s that we should have priorities – our religion, our perennial ideals or our compassion for other human beings. (Agarwal, Deepali: 81)
Alyque Padmasee (Directed of the play) comments:
As I see it, this is a play about transferred resentment. About looking for a scope goal to hit out when we feel let down humiliated. Taking your anger on your wife, children, or servants is an old Indian custom. This is above all a play about a family with its simmering undercurrents.” (Padmasee: 161)
When we see the title of the play “Final Solutions”. We find that at the very first look we can assume that it could be the solutions of some issues or it can be the interpretation of salvation of souls even. But it is about hatred and bitterness of Hindus and Muslims against each other. In the play we can see that there many issues around the characters and the plots its selves. Communal crisis happening there and it has started and it is still going on so there was no final solution to stop it and flawlessly it will go on. So we can say that author has given the title in the paradoxical way like we find that there must be a solution but in the play we see there is no such finalized solution to get rid of these kind of crisis.
“The Final Solutions” is the dealing with the burning social and communism riots. There are the characters and they representing various aspects of it. The mob or chorus are representing the hatred towards majority and minority. Or somehow it is symbolizing the whole society and it’s psyche towards one and another. The play has come into the year of 1993 but when we look at the present time scenario, we still feel the same things but in the different ways may be. So, if people are having courage to change the society and the way to treat each other, to behave in a such manner, to learn from the literature then only it can be helpful to the society in the better way. Because this the attempt that can make us aware that how we are threatened and having hatred in people’s hearts.
Hardika, in her diary entry, she mentions:
After forty years … I opened my diary again. And I wrote a dozen pages before. A dozen pages now. A young girl childish scribble. An old man’s shaky scrawl, yes, the things have not changed that much. (Act I) .The dialogue itself speaks a lot.
An innovative narrative technique + The major dramatic events
It starts with the recalling the past within the present. We can say the third act is the climax of the story. When it witnessed the truth behind everything. There is the dialogue of Chorus also shouts, “Our future is threatened. There is so much that is fading away. We cannot complement about the glorious past seeing us safely through.” (Act III)
So there is communal disturbance we feel at the both points.
The movie comes with in a very unique way. It was the play performance more than the movie. And directed has used very minutely ideas to symbolise the things on the stage. Like the colors, equipment, props and the very interesting was the chorus as mob. The setting was even in a very proper way when characters use the whole setting in the very good manner of play performance. Here the symbols which has caught my attention and how the author or directed wanted to signify such thoughts.
The diary:
In Final Solutions, Dattani projects multilevel stage to represent multiple layers of context involved in the issue of communal violence. In Daksha’s reflections and recollections of Diaries, Dattani exposes inner world of individuals encountering tensions and conflicts of personal relationships. She recollects the memories of her husband Hari and the friend Zarine. She also feels nostalgic for the melodious songs of Noor Jahan.
The cap and idol of lord Krishna:
These are the stuffs we can interpret it to take help of the religion symbols. In the play there is incidence of the cap when those young characters are having. And another incident of the idol of lord Krishna when Aruna is worshiping and bobby touched that idol so she was very disappointed for that cause she is the character here who is very rigid and conservative towards the religion and society.
At certain points we feel Ramnik is a liberal thinker and at some points we don’t agree even to our own arguments. Like when we became ready to rescue these both the Muslim boys and even the family members were his against so at that time, we feel his liberality but when the truth reveals at the end we feel very opposite of that same person. When there is the revelation period we find him not liberal rather then we feel him as selfish because ultimately he was doing this kind of help to these boys for himself only cause he only knew the truth so he wanted to be free from that prison of thoughts and acts.
In the “Final Solutions” we find three major women characters like Smita, Hardika or Daksha, and Aruna, Dattani admits that women have greater consciousness and deeper realization of communal and religious identities.
Smita, Gandhi’s daughter talks to her friend Tasneem whose hostel was the center of blast. Smita, a girl of liberal ideology views the whole situation as an individual and constructs an ideology beyond the ideology of religious and racial prejudices. She reveals her feeling to her mother:
It stifles me! yes! Maybe I am prejudiced because I do not belong. But not belonging makes things so clear. I can see so clearly how wrong you are. You accuse me running away from my religion. Maybe I am embraced, Mummy. (Act III, 57)
Education makes the differences like:
1. Independent thinking
2. Individual identity
3. Think beyond their physical conscience
4. Retain their awareness in society
5. Aware about their position, desires and dreams
6. Quest for the improvement of social status
7. Accept the challenges of Inter-community
These are the differences we can found in the educated people with reference of this play and its women characters. By the observation we can find different qualities or mindsets of women which Dattani has portrayed here to make difference.
We can put these three characters in different kinds of categories. Like Daksha and Smita both are educated but not behaving in the same way. In other had we have Aruna’s character, in which we can see very narrow mind set’s qualities.
So, this is my interpretation of the play “Final Solutions”. I have done it with various perspectives like Social, Communalism, Feminism as Dattani has successfully used his pen for women characters in his works.
Thank you!
(words 1515)
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