Themes and Technique in Mahesh Dattani’s Brief Candle

Abstract

The present paper has been designed to study themes and technique in the selected play of Mahesh Dattani. The paper primarily focuses to examine the thematic aspects and the narrative technique called ‘play within a pay’ successfully employed by Dattani in Brief Candle. Indian English Literature is an independent academic body of writing enriched by Indian writers. Its early literary graph goes back to the works of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio and Michael Madhusudan Dutta which was subsequently followed by Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo. Indian drama has acquired a profound consideration since older time. Contemporary Indian drama is vigorous, innovative and experimentative. Girish Karnard in Kannada, Vijay Tendulkar in Marathi, Mohan Rakesh in Hindi, Badal Sircar in Bengali and Mahesh Dattani in English have made notable contribution to the Indian literary canon. Mahesh Dattani is an iconic literary figure in modern Indian theatre. He has employed ‘Theatre’ as a tool to bring forth some hidden burning issues of modern Indian society. Dattani’s plays are chiefly concern with the sensitive issues of middle class society. Dataani’s play Brief Candle: A Dance between Love and Death is a saga of various cancer patients. The plot unfold characters inner frustration and physical suffering. Love and death are dominant themes of the play. Through the narrative technique ‘play within a play’ Dattani has presented one minor play to generate twin aspects of life.