GENDER AND PATRIARCHY: CRISIS,NEGOTIATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF IDENTITYIN MAHESH DATTANIS SELECTED PLAYS

Identity is a complicated concept that has various definitions, but can be broadly divided into social and personal categories. In the latter aspect, identity is mainly concerned with the question of who or what a person is. Identity crisis, on the other hand, is a psychological conflict about one’s social role, especially in adolescence. Mahesh Dattani’s radio plays not only entertain the audience but also educate them about gender related social biases. Do the Needful (1997) deals with issues related to homosexuality in a patriarchal society. The Girl Who Touched the Stars (2007) explores the problems of gender discrimination and misogyny. The play, inspired by the life of Kalpana Chawla- the first woman of Indian descent to go to space, tells the story of Bhavna, the first Indian woman selected by NASA to go to Mars. But the spacecraft explodes, leaving Bhavna in a liminal space between life and death, where she finds herself talking with her childhood self, trying to connect the dots in relation to her present identity. This paper analyses the protagonist’s quest for identity, its formation, crisis, reconstruction and resolution.