Mahesh Dattani
Mahesh Dattani (born 7 August 1958) is an Indian director, actor, playwright and writer. He wrote such plays as Final Solutions,[1] Dance Like a Man, Bravely Fought the Queen, On a Muggy Night in Mumbai, Tara, Thirty Days in September[2][3] and The Big Fat City.
He is the first playwright in English to be awarded the Sahitya Akademi award.[4] His plays have been directed by eminent directors like Arvind Gaur, Alyque Padamsee and Lillete Dubey.
About Play:-
This play is about the hindu family in Gujarat who save 2 boys from Muslim community and are under threat to be skinned alive if they don't hand over the Muslims boys to the hindu rioter, and those boys are Friends with the girl whom house they shelter in and one guy love that girl is the brother of her best friend and other guy is her best friend fiance. She got scolded for that her friendship with Muslims guys and she take a full stand against that comments we see the bitterness in the both communities and there responses and author show the true face of the society to us in a way we understand best. But ending show that there is not perfect solution to end this communal hatred but there is hope coming generation may able to vanish this thing finally in the coming years. As in the ending we see all three young members were enjoying the water shower on each other and all there is love between boy of Muslim community and girl of hindu family is the difference they have to cross to become one in this life.
Questions and Answer :-
1 ) What is the significance of the subtitle the final solutions ?
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 love affair of Smita (who is a Hindu) and Bobby, Javed’s story of adopting extremist way, Ramanik’s grabbing of Javed’s land (after burning his shop)
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 of problems and the playwright has not given any solution. Instead, he has let the audience to decide. Hence, the final solutions are, in real, no solutions to these communal problems. We people need to know what makes us hate others.
2 ) Does education make any difference? Comment with the reference to the woman characters.
All women characters helps us to understand the play. If I was the director, I will end the play with solution. And all we know the solution is to be aware about what others says about other religions. We should not conclude any point without knowing everything about the matter. We have to see that we should not provoked by other peoples.
So overall this adaptation is good and it helps us to understand the concept of the play by Mahesh Dattani. The play is also portrayed in a very interesting way, and also it presents the harsh reality of society. We have to be careful while watching and listening to those nusense. Because many times it's happened that we don't know anything, but we join the groups of those people who are violent and provoke us against other religions.
3) How are the beginning and the end of the movie? Do you feel the effect of communal disturbances in the movie ?
The end of the movie is somewhere faithful to play. Original test also discussed the same story line and this movie adaptation also followed the original play. The end of the movie is very significant when Babban picks up the statues of lord Krishna. That time was very important. It conveys a very fascinating message to all of us. We humans are the same but our way of reaching God is different. Same thing Ramnik often told to Aruna and Babban elaborate it more. All religions are the same. Its main aim is to maintain peace and humanities among people. So this particular idea is quite justification mentioned in the movie.
4) Is Ramnik a liberal thinker ? If yes then why ? If not then why ?
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 reparate 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 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.
