International Research Journal of Education and Technology

Mahesh Dattani is a renowned contemporary playwright. He is also considered as the first Indian playwright in English to receive the Sahitya Akademi Award. He represented thematic shift in English drama. He moved drama away from nationalist and mythological themes to the contemporary issues and social realities. His plays represented gender discrimination, homosexuality, child sexual abuse and communal tensions through experimental dramaturgy. His experimentalism not only depends upon subjects of the play but also in form. He uses fractured narrative, chorus and silence as the language of stage. Mahesh Dattani makes visible the lives and voices that were otherwise erased.

By analyzing his major works likeTara, Dance Like A Man, Final Solutions, On a Muggy Night in Mumbai,and Seven Steps Around the Fire this paper argues that Dattani is a an experimental Playwright in both content and form. Dattani in his plays criticized patriarchal structures and  advocates for gender inclusivity and equality. This study also explores that his experiments were deliberate strategies to engage audience in self reflection.