Anguish of the Gays in Mahesh Dattani’s On a Muggy Night in Mumbai

Abstract

Mahesh Dattani is a multifaceted contemporary Indian English playwright who stormed the modern Indian theatre with his explosive subjects. Unlike the other playwrights who always dwell upon the beaten track man-woman relationship, he boldly ventures to speak for the gender minorities who are looked down upon by the common people. Dattani writes on the tabooed themes such as homosexuality, lesbianism, gay and transgender. He does not merely write to shock the public but to arouse awareness on the invisible problems faced by sexual minorities – mainly their repressed desires, innermost emotions, loneliness and harassment. Dattani’s On a Muggy Night in Mumbai is completely focused upon the lives of gays. This paper explores the emotional angst experienced by Prakash (Ed) and his gay partner Kamlesh. The entire play is muggy in nature – the characters, the place and its surrounding, the sounds, the ambience and the issue. The play inquiries into the ecstasy and agony of the same sex love confined to the gays and lesbians. Like the heterosexuals, the homosexuals too share and nourish their love and trust on their partners. This paper also examines the typical slang used by the gays in their day-today conversation and communication.