Depiction of Sex and Violence in Vijay Tendulkar’s Play in the Context of The Prevailing Social Economical and Political Conditions of India A thesis submitted to THE MAHARAJA SAYAJIRAO UNIVERSITY OF BARODA FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Doctor of Philosophy in Theatre Arts (Dramatics) Guided By Prof. Dr. Mahesh Champaklal Submitted By Ashutosh Narendra Mhaskar Faculty of Performing Arts THE MAHARAJA SAYAJIRAO UNIVERSITY OF BARODA BARODA -390001, GUJARAT, INDIA. OCTOBER 2013 I Preface As a theatre practitioner, the theatre of literary genres specifically dealing with social concern has always remained a special area of interest for me. I know very well that to work on the contribution of a playwright of Vijay Tendulkar’s stature is in itself a challenge and I will have to burn the midnight oil to roam into the world of this great creative artiste and theatre practitioner. Many scholars and critics have shown a genuine interest in the literary output of Vijay Tendulkar who began his career as a journalist in a newspaper, but his soul belonged to a hardcore theatrical creativity. His devotion has earned him worldwide recognition and all those fellow practitioners, and actors are more than eager to support and stand by him. There is more than one reason to fall in love with him. He chooses such subjects for his plays as have a direct relationship with our external as well as internal world. He is bold enough to show us where the shoe pinches. Formerly, no great dramatist dared to touch the sensitive issues like homosexuality, communal prejudices, gender-discrimination, caste & class discrimination, etc. But he thought it necessary to expose pretences and false notions of urban middle class people or we can say he exposed the violence beneath the civilized structures of the society. II For my research work, “Depiction Of Sex And Violence In Tendulkar’s Plays In The Context Of Social Economical And Political Conditions Of India”, I have selected specifically those three plays which deal with the violent interplay within class, gender, power politics in a unique way. As we know Tendulkar deals with the vibrant issues of the so called civilized society in his major plays. Such as ‘Sakharam Binder’, ‘Shantata court Chalu Ahe’, ‘Ghashiram Kotwal’, ‘Gidhade’, ‘Kanyadan’, ‘Kamala’, etc. But, as discussed with my guide, Dr. Mahesh Champaklal I have focused on only three major plays which deal with different types of violence. These plays are, 1. Shantata Court Chalu Ahe 2. Sakharam Binder 3. Ghashiram Kotwal The reason to select the above mentioned plays is that each play deals with an issue which not only is concerned with social situations but creates a mental storm within the spectators or readers. The play ‘Sakharam binder’ is related to gender violence, but it has a special value of dramatic moments. I must mention that all of the Tendulkar’s plays have special dramatic value and all are different from each other, but as I III examined the play “Sakharam binder” I feel that the title “a curious case of gender violence” is perfectly suitable to the play. The second one is “Shantata Court Chalu Ahe”, which deals with the burning issue of abortion. After the long journey of civilization, we are now able to talk about women empowerment, women's liberation, but the basic question is, do we really accept the existence of empowered women in a male dominated society? And has a female gender realized a little bit of violence implanted by the society? Or is the violence deep rooted within as silence and is the form of violence changed as ‘accepted violence’? Still there is much possibility to discuss about the question raised, so much vibrant discussion is required to explode the violence beneath the silence hence, I gave the title “Cruel game of silence to suppress women’s sexual desire” – ‘Shantata court Chalu Ahe’. The third play is ‘Ghashiram Kotwal’. It is partially based on the imaginative story of Nana Sahib Peshwa of Maratha dynasty. Tendulkar skillfully weaved the element of Tamasha form into this play. The issue of power in politics is a core thread of the play. Just like hunting animals in a wild forest, a human on one side is food of a hunter and on the other side he is a hunter searching for food. Once a human is oppressed by someone he may become an oppressor in future where the power acts as triggering force. It is a constant process of transformation, so I gave the IV title “A violent oppressive transformation of power” – ‘Ghashiram Kotwal’. In the first chapter I have embarked on the personality, uniqueness and creativity of Vijay Tendulkar as a writer. In his career as a journalist he dealt with so many crime stories. As said by him in his process of living life he tries to find out human values, more specifically he wanted to find humanity. His quest is to find internal reality of human being. The chapter is concluded with different factors affected and influenced him as a creative writer. This examination helps us to understand Tendulkar as a human being and as a creative writer. In the second chapter I have tried to examine the ‘violence’ as constructive force. This chapter includes the views of psychologists, biologists, and social scientists and it further focuses on Tendulkar’s concept of inherent predominance of violence in human being. Third chapter deals with different types of interplay of contradictions as found in Tendulkar’s plays. This chapter focuses on opposite forces inherent in different types of relationships, i.e. sexual relationship, family relationship and social relationship. Examination of the very nature of violence operating in forms of caste, class, gender and V relationship helps to trace out Tendulkar’s depiction of sex and violence as a triggering force to the relationships. As the subject of the present study, especially focuses on the depiction of sex and violence in Vijay Tendulkar’s plays, it reveals multiple aspects of the problem which cannot be understood in totality without having grasp of diverse disciplines like psychology, sociology, political science etc. Valuable and creative discussion with my guide and his valuable suggestions have helped me a lot to understand the interdisciplinary complexities and intricacies involved in the subject. Contents Preface I Acknowledgement VII 1. Chapter 1 : Vijay Tendulkar-life & Works 1 2. Chapter 2 : “Violence: the essential living fluid” Tendulkar on 42 his own terms. 3. Chapter 3 : “Violent interplay of contradiction” Character- 84 dialogues & theatrical devices of Tendulkar. 4. Chapter 4 : “Cruel game of silence to suppress women’s 135 Sexual desire” – ‘Shantata Court Chalu Ahe’ 5. Chapter 5 : “A curious case of gender violence” 182 – ‘Sakharam Binder’ 6. Chapter 6 : “A violent oppressive transformation of power ” 238 – ‘Ghashiram Kotwal’ 7. Conclusion. 283 8. Bibliography 302 9. Webliography 314 VII Acknowledgement First and foremost I want to thank my guide Prof. Dr. Mahesh Champaklal. It has been an honour to be his Ph.D. student. I appreciate all his contribution of time, ideas, and guidance to make my Ph.D. experience productive and stimulating. He has been a source of friendship as well as good advice and collaboration. During tough times in the Ph.D. pursuit he was contagious and motivational for me. I am highly obliged and express my sincere gratitude to him. The Faculty of Performing Arts, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda has given me an opportunity to study Dramatics, from Diploma to Doctor of Philosophy. I express my gratitude towards late Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad, Late Shri C.C.Mehta, Prof. Markand Bhatt and Shri Y. D. Kelkar due to whose dedication towards theatre education and institutional training has been established a serious tradition of theatre arts providing platform to study and exercise meaningful theatre for the young generation. I want to thank all my teachers who have contributed to shape up my skills as a humble student of Dramatics. I will never forget the creative class room discussions with Shri Mahesh Chapaklal and Shri Prabhakar Dabhade which has inspired me to develop my career in the field of theatre arts. I am thankful to the Dean, Faculty of Performing Arts, Head of the Department of Drama and other office bearers for their encouragement and support. The members of the ‘Youth Ras Thatre’ group have contributed immensely to my personal and student life at Drama Department. I would also like to thank my friends and students for providing great moral support. They have helped me in collecting study material for my thesis. VII VIII I am thankful to N.C.P.A. Library, Pune Library, N.S.D. Library, Advance Research Centre Library (Shimla) and my elderly friends, Dr. Dipak Kannal, Dr. Makarand Sathe, Shri Shrikant Bilgi, Dr. Rajkumar Hans and Shri Bakul Tailor for their valuable support. I am especially grateful to Kardambhai who supported me and enlighten me for the study. Creative discussions with him helped me for writing the thesis, without his interest and helpful comments this would not have been possible in time. I also express my sincere gratitude to President, Banaskantha District Kelavani Mandal, and other officials. I am thankful to my colleagues, Principal, and other staff members of my college ‘M.A.Parikh Fine Arts and Arts college, Palanpur’. I am also thankful to Shri. Girish Thakar, who supported me as my local guardian of Palanpur. I sincerely thank them all who have helped me in many ways for writing the thesis. I would like to acknowledge my past and present students Ghodeswar, Ravi, Gadhavi, and Charlie who assisted me as my family member, without their help and support the thesis would not have been finished in time.