Final Solution by Mahesh Dattani

 Hello! I am Divya Parmar. This blog is a response to the thinking activity which is given by vaidehi ma’am. In this blog first i write about the original work and about the writer. Then we read the response of the pre view task. 

Mahesh Dattani writes about the society and surroundings in which he lives. His creativity is a faithful and authentic expression of first hand experience and knowledge of the socio-cultural environment. He holds a mirror to make reality visible to the audience. The play Final Solutions critically intervenes in the post independence era which has a communally vitiated socio-political scenario. The main character, Dakhsa also known as Hardika in the play fuses past and present. The theme of communal tension is given historical depth through flashbacks featuring Hardika at the age of fifteen in 1948 and her experience in the aftermath of the partition returns to her memory at different points of the play. The play explores the theme of communalism. 

The play took Dattani over a year to research and Dattani consulted books such as Freedom at Midnight (1975) by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapiers and Lankesh Patrike, a Kannada weekly magazine. He also conducted a number of interviews with survivors of communal riots in Gujarat and Karnataka. One of the riots that Dattani researched that particularly caught his attention was the 1985 Rath Yatra riot in Ahmedabad. This would have become his inspiration for the riot that brings Javed and Bobby to the Gandhi family in Final Solutions. 

In Final Solutions Dattani expresses his humanistic concerns. He deals with the theme of communalism. In this play Dattani applies religious consciousness and prejudices towards different religions. He presents communalist attitudes and stereotypes prevalent in the society which influence to have a sensibility of hatred of one community against another. Through the method of reflection of contemporary socio-political issues in the play Dattani tries to explain that if discursive boundaries are ignored in the effort to understand the complexity of communalism, solutions might not be really so far away. 

About mahesh dattani 

Mahesh Dattani is considered as one of the best Indian playwrights and he writes his pieces in English. He is an actor, playwright and director. Mahesh Dattani was born on the 7th of August in 1958 in Bangalore, Karnataka. He was educated at Baldwin’s Boys High School and then went on to graduate from St.Joseph’s College, Bangalore. After graduation, he worked for a brief period as a copywriter for an advertising firm. In 1986, he wrote his first play, ‘Where There is a Will’. 

After his first play, Mahesh Dattani began to concentrate on his writing and wrote more dramas like Final Solutions, Night Queen, Dance Like a Man, Tara, and Thirty Days. From 1995, he started working exclusively in theatre. All his plays address social issues, not the very obvious ones, but the deep-seated prejudices and problems that the society is usually conditioned to turn away from. 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. 

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. He is the only English playwright to be awarded the Sahitya Academy Award. He got this award in 1998. He also writes plays for BBC Radio and he was also one of the 21 playwrights chosen by BBC to write plays to commemorate Chaucer’s 600th anniversary in 2000.

Question 1 :What is the significance of the subtitle  “The final solutions”

Answer 2 :  For the understanding of the significance of the title  “The final solutions” we have to read the outline of the work. 

The play Final Solutions, written by Mahesh K. Dattani discusses the theme of communal riots, hatred and bitterness of Hindus and Muslims against each other. The plot is set in Gujarat (after the 2002 Riots). The communal hatred is at peak. It can be seen when we find Hindu mob chasing Javed and Bobby after knowing that they are Muslims. Next, we also come to know other complex stories like the love affair of Smita (who is a Hindu) and Bobby, Javed’s story of adopting extremist ways, Ramanik’s grabbing of Javed’s land (after burning his shop) etc.

We find that Ramanik blames Javed and his community and vice versa. But deep inside, Ramanik’s conscience does not allow him to live in peace because of the sin which he committed in the past. There is another issue which is discussed in the play. It is the orthodoxy which is inherited among the believers of every religion. They consider people from other communities as untouchables. Aruna’s denying Bobby and Javed from spending night at their home depicts this.

So, throughout the play, we find ample problems and the playwright has not given any solution. Instead, he has let the audience decide. Hence, the final solutions are, in reality, no solutions to these communal problems. We people need to know what makes us hate others.

Question 2 : The movie comes up with many different symbols and colours. Write about any two symbols which caught your attention. What does it signify? 

Answer 2 : There are two colours which are used to symbolise so many things. First one is saffron colour and the second one is green. As we know this both colours are used to symbolise the religion. Saffron or orange is use to symbolise the hindu religion and green colour is use to symbolise the muslim or islamic religion. This both colour and its symbol make the story more expressive. 

Question 3 : Is Ramnik a liberal thinker? If yes then why? If not then why ? 

Answer 3 : In Final Solutions by Mahesh Dattani, Ramanik is a secular minded person who believes in communal harmony among different communities. In past his father and grandfather had burnt the shop of a muslim family and began their own business on that place.

Ramanik tries to compensate for the blunders done by his forefather. When Babban and Javed enter his house, he tries to protect them from Hindu Mob. He is abused by the people of his community for giving shelter to Muslims. Even stones are thrown at his house. However he does not let them do any harm to Babban and Javed. Javed remains quite harsh to Ramanik and even scolds him for what his community is doing. However, Ramanik remains calm and quiet and even offers him a job in his shop. The sense of guilt does not vanish away from his mind and ultimately in the end he hates his shop and drops the idea of visiting it again.

Question 4 :  Does education make any difference ? comment with the reference to the women characters.