‘Performance and Identity’: Exploring the Idea of ‘Gender Performativity’ through a Comparative Study of Mahesh Dattani’s Dance Like A Man and Rituparno Ghosh’s Chitrangada: The Crowning Wish

Abstract

One of the most misunderstood ideas among the socio-literary discourses is, perhaps, Gender Performativity. It is often confused with our physical identities and the whole idea of ‘Performance’ becomes an error. Mahesh Dattani is well known for his dealing with a wide range of themes including unusual love-triangles, same-sex relationships, subversion of patriarchy and child-sex abuse, etc that includes the idea of ‘Performance’ as well. His Dance Like a Man (1989) is one such play where he creates the parallel binary worlds [i.e Patriarchy and Matriarchy] for us. The characters in this play fail to understand their true self and thus, get entangled in the labyrinth of the idea of ‘Performance’. Similarly, Rituparno Ghosh’s Chitrangada: The Crowning Wish (2012) explores the problems in the character in understanding their real identities and getting themselves attached into the war of sexual limitations. This paper explores a comparative study of both texts: how they try to represent the idea of performativity through their understanding of the self and creates a hypothetical gap for our research and understanding.