Once the focus of this issue was decided upon, my task began. I got in touch with playwrights I knew. They all responded positively, either with suggestions or other names, or of course, with contributions in the form of articles and plays. Mahesh Dattani was his usual unassuming self and agreed to answer any questions that I put to him. Since I was in no position to travel to Mumbai, he very graciously decided to this over the email, a fitting way to do things for an ejournal. What follows is the result of that effort. Mahesh is the doyen among Indian English playwrights and his profile can be seen by clicking on his name at the top right corner.

LC: Good morning Mahesh. Thank you so much for agreeing to answer my questions for Muse India’s issue which focuses on Indian Plays in English. Let’s start with this basic question - How did you get into playwriting?

MD: When I started my amateur group Playpen I was keen on directing and acting. It was only when I realized that some of these plays that I attempt to do on stage do not really speak to me directly, I thought of trying my hand at play writing. In that sense I do consider myself as a dramatist more than a writer. Also at that time there were few playwrights writing in English so it was a bit of pioneering work.

LC: You can say that again…you are a pioneer in many ways. How did Bangalore respond to your plays?

MD: The city did not respond favourably to the earlier plays I had done, such as Hyppolytus and Star Spangled Girl. They were badly done and I insisted on acting too! Only with Where There's a Will, my first full length play as a playwright that audiences began to give their approval to some form of theatre they could relate to. There weren't enough actors and I relied on the kindness of friends to act and help back stage. Also I was dependent entirely on my father to fund my plays! But we did have a lot of fun and that made everything worthwhile.

LC: Why do you write in English? How do you feel about it?

MD: I write in English because I feel it is my language. English is also an Indian language and it is the language I am educated in. Also, I write in Indian-English which has its own distinct rhythm and syntax.

LC: How do you feel about adapting your plays to the screen? This could be with special reference to Dance Like A Man. Did the adaptation work?

MD: I had no say in the making of the film simply because I wasn't there. I was too busy with prep work for Morning Raga at that time and spent more time in Hyderabad than in Bangalore. But making it into a movie certainly made the play more accessible to a lot more people. And I had confidence in Pamela Rooks who did the adapting. But live theatre is live theatre.

LC: What made you shift from Bangalore to Mumbai?

MD: The Bangalore that I remember does not exist any more. But I miss my family and friends. 

LC: How did you manage to get your plays published?

MD: I was first approached by Mr Padmanabhan of East West Press in Chennai. I was absolutely thrilled that a publisher might be interested in publishing my plays. I don’t know his reasons for wanting to publish my plays but I am glad he did. Because it was his publication that got me the Sahitya Akademi award. After that Penguin approached me for a collected works edition.

LC: You have experimented with writing, directing, acting, running workshops....where does your passion lie?

MD: I guess it’s all momentary. A bit like when you are eating bhel puri, you enjoy it more if you are not thinking of chocolate mousse! So I am passionate about it all, but seriously, all my interests seem to feed my primary interest of seeing my works on stage.

As one philosopher put it - all forms of entertainment are like playing with the shadows of life. All things beautiful in this world are transitory by nature. And there is nothing so immediate and ephemeral as theatre. To me it is a search for beauty as much as it is a search for truth. We can only experience them in the shadows that our art generates.

LC: Are Mad About Money...how did the audience react to this play?

MD: This is actually a kind of continuation of Where There’s a Will….the audience may take time to accept my writing lighter plays, but I have the confidence that it will happen.

LC: Yes, even in class when we deal with dramas written by Indians in English, the students always want to know why we write such serious stuff. But tell us how do you get ideas for writing your plays? Personal experiences? Happenings in the country? Is the emphasis on characters, or situations or themes? 

MD: Almost all my ideas for my plays are from real life, although some like Clearing the Rubble and Tara were from reportage. Clearing the Rubble was inspired after I saw a documentary film by K P Sasi, a director whom I had assisted on a project, on the caste biased nature of relief operations in Gujarat after the earthquake.

My characters are a marriage of people from the imagination and real life. Sometimes a situation inspires certain characters. But mostly my plays are driven by my characters’ needs.

I do focus on social issues, such as gender bias and sexuality, both alternate and mainstream. And I’m happy to say that quite a few of my plays have got responses from society. For example, 30 Days in September did evoke a strong but positive response on the topic of incest. But, the responses are varied. Some react enthusiastically to it saying it is about time we brought such issues on stage. Others dismiss it as being sensational. And some of course would rather I did not write about such issues!

LC: What are the projects you’ve dealt with recently?

MD: I was engaged on a multicultural project in China sometime ago. This involved an English director Michael Walling along with English actors, two actors from Sweden and four Chinese actors. Also one Indian dancer! It was a project called ReOrientations, part of a trilogy devised by Michael. It was really an attempt to use different forms of theatre and experiences to create something that bridges the gap between East and West cultures. This was a three week period where we workshopped at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre. It also involved two choreographers from France, Denise and Micha.

My job was more of a dramaturg's, to try and form the improvised sections into a dramatic structure. It was a fluid process and I did enjoy it. 

LC: Is Michael Walling the same director you worked with to produce 

The Tempest in Bangalore? I think this involved the use of Indian mythology and had Prospero in a dhoti?

MD: Yes you are right…that was also an attempt to bridge the gap between the East and the West. Prospero was a Brahmin, Caliban a Dalit and so on.

LC: What are you writing/doing now?

MD: My future right now is the opening of my stage adaptation of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist. 

LC: What is the advice you'd give upcoming playwrights? Especially those writing in English? 

MD: Follow your heart. Know the language of crafting a play before flouting all the rules. Don’t think you can pass off your laziness as rebellion or breaking away from the norm.

LC: There is so much happening in the theatre world in Mumbai...even in English. How can the rest of the world, the rest of the country get to know about this?

MD: That is the true challenge with theatre. It is bound by language and also by region. Unlike the electronic mediums, a stage play is not travel friendly. This poses a problem to academicians who wish to make a serious and exhaustive study of theatre. I guess one way is to record performances which can be viewed for academic purposes, though it is not quite the same thing as experiencing it live. 

LC: Mahesh, thanks once again for sparing your valuable time and giving us such insightful feedback on how you have tackled this issue of writing plays in English.