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VOL. 11, ISSUE 1 (2025)
A systematic review of thematic representation in the plays of Manjula Padmanabhan, Dina Mehta, and Poile Sengupta
Authors
Wasnik Vijay Wasudeo
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to provide a
systematic review of gender portrayal of three popular Indian English
playwrights namely Manjula Padmanabhan, Dina Mehta and Poile Sengupta. A
critical thematic analysis of the selected dramas is used to analyse how the
following playwrights in India are reflecting, challenging and interrogation of
the entrenched patriarchal norms in its postcolonial socio-cultural reality.
The study relies on some of the available literary criticism, in order to get a
sense for the general trends involved in gender bias, resistance and
transformation in modern Indian English literature in the form of a drama. In
his noir and hyper-realistic productions, such as Harvest and Lights Out,
Padmanabhan highlights the commercialization of the bodies of women and the invisibilization
of the violence against women in technologically geared societies.
Respectively, Brides Are Not for Burning by Dina Mehta Is centered on the
domestic sphere and analyzes the domestic violence, familial oppression and the
ability that women have in societies with limited scope. Poile Sengupta's
interventions add to this line of argument, exposing internalised aspects of
the gender oppression that exist in 'institutional settings', which examines
psychological trauma and institutional injustice, as well as the moral
distortions within institutional structures of middle class lives. While the
dramas diverge in style, content and focus, it is found that all three
playwrights have a feminist thrust which questions the traditional stereotype
of the geeta Daaru ka Sarreal, India ka Chota Kanaya, the passive Indian woman.
Their works in this manner bring women to a centrality of dramatic discourse,
so agency, resistance and identity formation are all in focus. In this study,
it is concluded that the modern Indian English dramas are a critical forum to
forge a new definition of gender relations and progressive feminist
sensibility.
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Pages:41-46
How to cite this article:
Wasnik Vijay Wasudeo "A systematic review of thematic representation in the plays of Manjula Padmanabhan, Dina Mehta, and Poile Sengupta". International Journal of English Research, Vol 11, Issue 1, 2025, Pages 41-46
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