"The Final Solutions" by Mahesh Dattani

Hello! Everyone 

Myself, Aamena Rangwala student of Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University, Department of English.  We had a movie screening based on play 'Final Solution' in class so, this thinking activity is based on movie screening of play . In this blog I am going to discuss few  questions given as task based on ' Final Solution'.

       Mahesh Dattani

 

 Mahesh Dattani (born 7 August 1958) is an Indian  director, actor, playwright and writer. He wrote such plays as Final Solutions,Dance Like a Man, Bravely Fought the Queen, On a Muggy Night in Mumbai, Tara Thirty Days in September and The Big Fat City.

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.

 The Final Solution summary 

The play Final Solutions, written by Mahesh K. Dattani discusses the theme of communal riots, hatred and bitterness of Hindus and Muslims against each other.Plot is set in Gujarat. The play is divided into three acts. 

Basically, Final Solutions is the story of a Gujarati family that consists of four people – grandmother (Daksha/ Hardika), father (Ramnik), mother (Aruna), and daughter (Smita); and their encounter with two muslim boys.

1)What is the significance of the subtitle "Final Solutions"?

In the play communal riots, is at the peak. It can be seen when we find Hindu mob chasing Javed and Bobby after knowing that they are Muslims.Next, we also come to know other complex stories like love affair of Smita (who is a Hindu) and Bobby, Javed’s story of adopting extremist way, Ramanik’s grabbing of Javed’s land (after burning his shop) etc.

We find that Ramanik blames Javed and his community and vice versa. But deep inside, Ramanik’s conscience does not allow him to live in peace because of the sin which he committed in the past.There is another issue which is discussed in the play. It is the orthodoxy which is inherited among the believers of every religion. They consider people from other commun- ities as untouchables. Aruna’s denying Bobby and Javed from spending night at their home depicts this.

So, throughout the play, we find ample of problems and the playwright has not given any solution. Instead, he has let the audience to decide. Hence, the final solutions are, in real, no solutions to these communal problems. 

2)The movie comes up with many different symbols and colors. Write about any two symbols which caught your attention. What does it signify?

In movie we can find many symbols used by Mahesh Dattani but which symbols caught my attention are as follows:- Dairy , Frame of singer, Glass of water. 

Dairy

The play opens with a kind of flashback scene. In this scene we see and hear a fifteen year-old bride Daksha reading out what she had written in her diary. This flashback goes back to the late 1940. Here we simultaneously see and hear Daksha as she has passed nearly fifty years. In the present she is the grandmother known by the name Hardika. Diary is a record with entries arranged by date reporting on what has been done in the past.Through the diary two generation of time past and time present is heavily compared.

 Frame of singer's 

We can see that the frame was in her hands which removed from old pitara  which shows her passion for singing but was not allowed to sing. She has a good taste for the songs of Shamshad Begum, Noor Jahan etc. She even wanted to become a singer like them but due to the family restrictions, her desires remain unfulfilled.

From this we can notice that female's were not given rights to follow their passion. we can notice patriarchal society. 

Glass of water

Aruna was not ready to give glass of water to Javed and Bobby because she is was a religious person. Which shows that she highly believes in communal discrimination.  

3) Is Ramnik a liberal thinker? If yes then why? If not then why?

 No ,Ramanik is no liberal thinker.  Ramanik offers a job at his cloth-shop because, his father and his grandfather burnt the shop of Zarine’s father to buy it at a reduced price (in the name of communal hatred) and now he repents over his past deeds.

4) Does education make any difference? Comment with the reference to the women characters.

Yes,education makes difference in thinking process. Daksha/Hardika both are same character which in diary represent two generation of time past and time present is heavily compared. She was writing dairy which shows that she was educated while Smita daughter of Ramanik and Aruna was also studying in college . So both the female characters Daksha/ Hardika and Smita was having liberal thoughts and they don't believe in communal discrimination. The difference of uneducated person is seen in the character of Aruna who was wife of Ramanik she was religious person who highly believes in  communal discrimination. Education allows us to better understand the world in which we live and open our eyes to look at situations with different perspectives. 

Thank you!