Mahesh Dattani’s ‘Clearing the Rubble’: A Critique of Centre Versus Margins

Abstract

The present paper proposes to depict the reality of the society of modern times in a socio-realistic play ‘Clearing the Rubble’ by Mahesh Dattani. The main thrust of the paper is to throw light on the pathos of the marginalized section of society. Mahesh Dattani is a well known playwright who is known for his courageous attacks on the cruel and inhuman attitude towards the weak and marginalized categories. The paper examines how a society can be cruel enough to deny equal rights to their fellow beings on the basis of caste discrimination. ‘Clearing the Rubble’ brings treatment; the marginalized section of untouchables goes through during the natural calamity of earthquake. It presents the discrimination against the minority community of Muslims and who are also untouchables and is thus doubly marginalized. The dramatist has struck the conscience of the society by exposing the hypocrisy of the Indian society. Dattani wants to give a message through this play that the marginalized sections of low-caste should be given human status that, man is a man and he is born equal to all other men. This play gives an exotic image of our country and barely scratches the surface of Indian reality. He has made Herculean effort to retrieve the true and realistic inside view of India and her people