Mahesh dattani’s ‘Final solutions’ was recently staged in ongoing ‘Asmita summer Theatre fest at the India habitat centre, New delhi .The Play starring Susan brar, Viren basoya, Bajrang bali singh , Shilpi marwah, Vrinda bedi , Pooja pradhan and Disha arora under the direction of Arvind Gaur , staged on 5th and 6th of June,2010
With able translation from Shahaid anwar and music by Sangeeta gaur, Final solutions holds a mirror to the society we live in. simple and intense, yet powerful production. The subject difficult, the response good, something audience can take home and think about.Play is rare look at a socio-political problem that defies all final solutions. Arvind Gaur’s competent direction is intense, topical and artistically mounted. Asmita’s ‘Final Solutions’ brought back memories of Habib Tanvir’s ‘Jis Lahore nahi Dekhya’ and Saeed Mirza’s ‘Naseem.
On a more contemporary note, Final solutions easily stand out as one of the few truly satisfying experiences for the senses. The beauty of the script indeed lies in its ability to relentlessly and sensitively question. Its urgent need to use ‘dialogue’ as a remedy for a socially pressing issue such as ‘communalism’ is the play’s underlying theme. While the front of the stage is peopled by the principal characters who are psychologically exorcizing themselves, the back part of the stage has a chorus whose role is as symbolic as it is instrumental in furthering the action in the play when required.
Mahesh Dattani’s final solution in its Hindustani avatar is sound and looks much better than it did in the original English. Translator Shahid Anwar and director Arvind Gaur have done a fine job indeed. Arvind gaur with ‘Final solutions’ invites the audience to participate in a debate at the end of the play. The idea works as it attracts large numbers to be a part of discussion, the communal aspect of the drama .Final solution was first performed in Bombay under Alyque Padamsee’s direction. Originally an English script ‘final solution’ found an audience that normally chose to disassociate itself with the harsh realities of life and pretend that certain situations did not exist. An audience that went to the theatre to be entertained was suddenly confronted with its own reality.
The chorus is something that is worth mentioning, its continual presence, its proximity and occasionally threatening, occasionally silent almost oppressive nearness, constantly comments upon and envelops the action inside the Gandhi household, Shifting from two communities. it also comments upon the fact that a mob has no name, no loyalty. If the price is right so is the cause.
The Play, that looks at India – now and henceforth; both forceful and relevant…communalism? One community hates another. One community is in the majority, the other is in the minority. Consequently, the two communities are at loggerheads, living in a atmosphere of conflict and acrimony. The 1990’s have seen a number of films, plays and dissertations, Asmita’s Final solutions comes across serious attempts that go beyond the superficial lesions and talk about the problem with all its complexities.
Play is rare look at the socio-political problem that defines all final solutions. In Dattani’s view, Hindus and Muslims are not just two cardboard communities who clash when a procession is stoned, a pooja is disrupted, a mosque is dismantled. These for him, are just the jagged tips of an ominous iceberg. One that threatens to freeze the entire landscape into polarized communities that live by intolerance and hate in place of harmony…more important is the iceberg an amorphous mass that glorifies the credo of unity in diversity without actually understanding the meaning of diversity…the play looks straight in to the heart of fundamentalist and the liberal and tears down the prototypes
Asmita’s Hindustani adaptation under Arvind gaur ‘s competent direction, manages to retain the philosophical import of the text, without losing out on the visual appeal .The constant presence of the shadowy mob at the back with its hysterical chants represents the scourge of communalism, which has persisted since partition .final solution has a powerful contemporary resonance as the central issue of communalism is of the utmost concerns of our society. The play attempts to underline the stereotypes influencing the collective sensibility of one community against another.
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