Film Screening Mahesh Dattani’s "The Final Solutions"

This Blog-post is a response to Film Screening Mahesh Dattani’s "The Final Solutions" given by our professor madam miss Vaidehi Hariyani. To know more about this task, CLICK HERE.

• About the Author: 

Mahesh Dattani is an Indian director, actor, playwright, and writer. He wrote some brilliant plays such as 'Final Solutions', 'Dance Like a Man, 'Bravely Fought the Queen', 'On a Muggy Night in Mumbai', 'Tara', 'Thirty Days in September', 'The Big Fat City' and 'The Murder That Never Was'. He is the first playwright in English to be awarded the Sahitya Akademi award. His plays have been directed by eminent directors like Arvind Gaur, Alyque Padamsee, and Lillete Dubey. (timesofindia)

About the Play:

Final Solution is a three-act play written by very prominent Indian English writer Mahesh Dattani. The major concern or thematic concept is about communalism and communal riots. Narrating technique through dairy is also very appreciated work done by Dattani. The play is connected with a real episode of Indian History the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 in India which unleashed violence and riots between the two major communities, namely the Hindus and Muslims. (A Note of Integration in Dattani’s Final Solutions Against Religious Differentiation). The play also covered Postcolonial aspects through Daksha who read her diary which played a vital role in the whole play and display the shifting from present to past and past to present.  

• About the Screening :

We had a screening of the movie Final Solution' by Mahesh Dattani. Seeing the play is another level of experience to learning about the language of cinematography. However, we were introduced to Vaidehi Hariyani ma'am, which is a kind of mixture of play and movie because on the Zee5 platform it is shown in the section of movies. The use of #chorus is very well presented by director Mahesh Dattani himself. They show the inner conflicts in some dark stages of the character's life. It became tough to understand the ongoing situation of Hardika (a 15-year married girl) or Daksha (old Hardika) is parallel going by Daksha who read #dairy of her past events. The use of lighting and the choice of colors is deliberately done by the director. However, we also read feminist postcolonial arguments from the Gujarati family. There is no such final solution instead of interpretations or acceptance.

• The Significance of the Title: 

The play is written after the independence of India but it is the presentation of the tension and crisis that people felt. The story is led by first-person narrator Daksha or Hardika with the dairy of her past or we can say her young life and her present life. While reading the title, probably Dattani put the article 'The' deliberately, because ultimately there is no solution to the communal crisis and their rights. The very idea of communalism is somewhere in the strong line while the partition between India and Pakistan. The false narrations also played quite an important role created by the communist party. By giving the title Final Solution, Dattani probably gives the message that there is a big slap to Humanity by creating such a communal riot. 

• Does "The Final Solutions" makes any significant changes in society?

 

The play is written in the centralized historical events in India. The event is about the demolition of Barbi Masjid on 6 December 1992 in Uttarpradesh. 

The play opens the history again to the viewers and with such an excellent narrative pattern, Dattani also opens the reading of post-feminist discourse and re-visiting very big events in Indian History. During this chaos of communal riot around 2000 people died. The play has also covered the attack on Rathyatra in Gujarat by the Muslim community. The significance is the end of the play while Bobby tack the ideal of lord Krishna in his hand and his powerful speech gives the massage about Humanity. 

• Beginning and End of the Movie and the effects of communal disturbance: 

The play started with poetic lines with floating animation which described the chaos of something that will happen in the play. The very important part is about the musical chorus around seven or eight people. Along with the musical starting, the whole play is interwoven between the past and present of the protagonist, Hardika or Daksha. The play is also flowing like hesitation of something will happen. Hardika's interpretation plays a very vital role in Ramnik's liberal thinking and also to keep both Muslim guys in his home. Perhaps there is no such end to the play, but while observing technically, the end is the starting point of a new world through liberal speech of Bobby. There is much communal disturbance between characters in particular situations. Especially, with Hardika and two Muslim guys. Her disagreement with Ramnik to stay them in their house is suggest her communal crisis, though it seems more personal because of her bad past but still after realizing that Tasneem's stall was also fired by her husband and family members, there are no changes in her voice but only regretting expressions. 

• Symbols in the Movie: 

In the musical chorus, majority of the play only two colors were shown, Green and Orange lighting. And seeing their movements with several dialogues and poetic lines, Green symbolized the Muslim community and Orange symbolized the Hindu community. Both presented the contrast which is the concern of the play. The very catchy symbol is the book or the diary of Hardika. Which presented the education of females at that time. However her interest in listening to music and her love for Pakistani Singer Noor Jehan and her interest in singing. 

• Comment on Education: 

In the play, we can see two sides of education, one is pre-independent through the character of Hardika/Daksha and another one is through Smita's character after the independence of India. Both have their perspectives of looking at the situation, however, ultimately it is all over to the situations that Hardika or Daksha faced under such pressure from the masculine voice and on another side, Smita has her father's support for thinking. Hardika has only one device that is dairy and through dairy, she can only describe her guts, happiness, and all feelings. While in Smita's case she has her family listen to her voice. Which clearly describes the role of education. Between the relation of Smita and Bobby they practically thought about their relationship which is presented in liberal thinking. The play is very helpful to understand the chaos by such communal riots.