1.

Mahesh Dattani
literature department and performing arts
Sahitya Akadami
2. His Wold
16 plays
Screen plays, stage plays and radio plays
3. His Concerns
Communal tension
Gender discrimination
Child sexual abuse
Sexuality
problems of alternative sexualities
Notions of sexuality for the readings of these plays
- Andrinne Rich's 'Compulsory Heterosexuality'
In 'Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian
Existence', Adrienne Rich argues that
heterosexuality is not intrinsic in human
instincts, but an institution imposed upon
many cultures and societies. To her,
heterosexual desire is
a 'construct'.
heterosexuality as a political institution is
founded for the interest of men.
- Sigmund Freud's 'Polymorphus Perversity'
Freud in his Three Essays on the Theory
of Sexuality attempts to bridge between
the
"perversions"
and
"normal"
sexuality. "not all men have sexual
interest in opposite sex".
the young individual, male or female, is
capable of all possible forms of sexual
pleasure.
-Jonathan Dollimore's 'perverson' shows
relationship between power and sexuality.
he believes that naming something as
perverse enables authority to control it.

4. Readings of his two Plays

4.1. Do the Needful (1997)
Radio play
Romantic comedy (Alpesh- Trilok; Lata- Salim; Mali-Alpesh)
They contrive a scheme- marriage. The
marriage fulfills dual intentions (pleasing their
parents and society and continuing their
relations) During their wedding Alpesh thingks
of Trilok and Latha Salim.
Negotiation: The very institution of marriage
in heteronormative society that protects their
culture becomes here the protective shell for
the gay people.
4.2. On a Muggy Night in Mumbai (1998)
Stage play
Gay theme of love, partenership and betrayal
(Kamlesh- Prakash (Ed); Prakash-Kiran;
Kamlesh- Sharad, Bunny, Deepali )
Prakash and Kamlesh passionately love each
other. But because of social pressures, he
wants to break their relationship and marry
Kamlesh's divorced sister, Kiran. This gives
immense pain to Kamlesh though he pretends
to forget Prakash and loves another gay,
Sharad, but he can't help it. Finally, he invites
all his friends belonging to different categories
of homosexuals to find solutions to his
problems. The evening party results into the
following negotiations of private spaces:
1. Escapist
(a) Internal (Gay to Straight) eg. Prakash
(b) External (Migrating to West as India is
a 'wretched country') eg.
Ranjit
2. Loyalist (Sharad and Deepali)
3. Hypocrite (Enjoy gay relations while
remaining happily married) eg Bunny Sing,
TV actor and Prakash

5. Conclusion
The reading of these plays offers different
possibilities of negotiating (carving) private
spaces out of public spaces for the survival of
the relationship of alternative sexualities.