We are not used to experiencing Hindu-Muslim riots and bloodshed on a daily basis here in Chennai. Veteran playwright and actor Mahesh Dattani’s Final Solutions will remind us of the kind of communal riots that our country has witnessed and highlight the incidents of communalism that continues to exist in some parts of India. The play will be staged by Masquerade Youth Theatre in association with Theatre Impresario.
The play showcases different shades of communalist attitude among Hindus and Muslims through the eyes of powerful characters, here in the city. “The play reflects the issue of communal rivalry and goes beyond it,” says Prema Venkateswaran from Theatre Impresario, who also essays an important role in the play. The beauty of the play, she says is that what Dattani wrote back in 1993 holds relevance even today.
Director of the play Abhinav Suresh says that Final Solutions, which travels from the partition to the present day communal riots, was the best bet for him when he decided to take theatre seriously. “We have edited the original play down to one hour and 20 minutes, but in the process, we’ve tried to retain the original essence of it,” he says explaining that the edited portions are only those that deviate from the main storyline. “Is there a solution to the problem of communalism? That’s the theme of the play,” he adds. Weena Pradhan, another representative from Theatre Impresario, says the play really displays the level of tolerance we have as Indians. “The tolerance and understanding that we have for other communities,” she emphasises.
All three of them feel theatre is an important medium that is capable of bringing about change. “If theatre can change me as a person, it can change anyone,” says Suresh, to which Prema, in the hope of touching as many people as they can with this play, adds, “People should understand that we have to move on from the past — forgive and forget, and also that this kind of rivalry should not happen again in the future.”
Final Solutions will be staged on August 3 and 4 at the TN Rajaratnam Auditorium, RA Puram.
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