LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 12 : 12 December 2012
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Mahesh Elkunchwar’s
Flower of Blood: A Burlesque of Sex

A. Sunkanna, M.A. M.Phil., Ph.D.

Mahesh Elkunchwar’s name is now synonymous with the great tradition of playwriting in Marathi. His name is often invoked in the same breath as that of playwrights like Vijay Tendulkar and Satish Alekar. His plays in The Wada Trilogy had a very successful run and have come to be regarded as the canonical texts of Marathi literature.

Elkunchwar has lived and worked in Nagpur, away from the centre of Marathi Theatre in Pune and Mumbai. Maybe it is this perspective of an “outsider” that enables his plays to work not just as good theatre but powerful social commentary as well.

Even though families like the Deshpandes are on their last legs, The Wada Trilogy is a set of important plays, because it deals with the sense of tradition that is so deeply rooted in the Indian psyche. His plays question the cohesiveness of a joint family by telling the story from the point of view of the “outsiders” or characters forced to leave the family at various points. With this trilogy, Mahesh Elkunchwar achieves a feat unique to playwriting in this country: developing a cycle which moves between many registers to unfold the evolving history of a family in present-day India mirroring the social and cultural shifts and changes that mark the twentieth century. From Old Stone Mansion to The Pond and to Apocalypse, we follow the fortunes and struggles of the Deshpandes of Dharangaon, once highly respected and well-off landed gentry, now caught between the memory of their own genteel past and the financial penury of the present. As members of several generations come to terms with their past and future in drastically different ways, we see an image of India negotiating its way through modernity.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

A. Sunkanna, M.A. M.Phil., Ph.D.
Lecturer in English
Shree Durgaprasad Saraf College of Arts & Applied Sciences (Autonomous)
Garividi
Vizianagaram 535101
Andhra Pradesh
India
askanna02@gmail.com
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