Mahesh Dattani

Quick Introduction

About Mahesh Dattani

Mahesh Dattani is a famous personality in the Indian film Industry. He is an Indian director who has written many plays and stories and presented them to viewers in the form of movies. He is a professional playwright, actor, director, and writer. He was born on 7th August 1958 in Bangalore, Mysore state, India. Mahesh Dattani has been awarded with the Sahitya Akademi Award for his prolific works. He is the first playwright in English who won this award; thus, Mahesh Dattani is an important figure in Indian writing in English. He is known for writing the most famous plays, including Dance Like Man, On a Muggy Night in Mumbai, Tara, Thirty Days in September, The Big City, etc. Many directors have made films on the plays written by Mahesh Dattani.

Mahesh was born in Bangalore, but his parents were Gujarati. He contributed a lot to literature; from childhood, he was very fond of reading and writing. He has vast knowledge of two different cultures, one which he acquired from his parents, i.e., Gujarati, and the other which he acquired from his hometown, Bangalore.

Education

Mahesh Dattani mainly completed his schooling at Baldwin Boys High School, and then, for graduation, he went to St. Joseph's College, Bangalore. Mahesh Dattani graduated in history, economics, and political science. Mahesh always wanted to become a copywriter, so he did his post-graduation in marketing and advertising management. Later, Mahesh Dattani worked in a theatre in Bangalore; there, Mahesh got his first role in Utpal Dutt's Surya Shikhar. After reading some plays and works of famous writers such as Edward Albee, he got the idea of writing. Mahesh read a lot of works of the famous Gujarati playwright Madhu Rye; her works, notably Kumarni Agashi, inspired him to write. With time, Mahesh enhanced his skills and took more interest in writing plays.

Career

Mahesh Dattani is a film director and he has written many plays and stories so far. Mahesh Dattani started his career in an advertising firm as a copywriter. Initially, he decided to become a copywriter, and accordingly, he completed his studies. Later, he decided to become a playwright as well. In 1986, he wrote his first play called 'Where There's a Will', which was appreciated a lot by the readers. Then, from 1995, Mahesh Dattani worked as a full-time theatre professional; Mahesh Dattani worked with his father in his family business.

Playwright

Mahesh Dattani wrote his first play in 1988, named 'Where There's a Will'. In 1989, he wrote 'Dance Like a Man'. In 1990, he wrote 'Tara'. Later, he presented 'Bravely Fought the Queen' in 1991, 'Final Solutions' in 1993, 'Do the Needful', & 'On a Muggy Night in Mumbai' in 1998, '30 Days in September' in 2001, 'The Girl Who Touched the Stars' in 2007, 'Brief Candle' in 2009, 'Where Did I Leave My Purdah' in 2012 and 'The Big Fat City' in 2012.

Mahesh Dattani directed the movies as well, including 'Mango Souffle', 'Morning Raga', 'Dance Like a Man' and 'Ek Alag Mausam'. These are the famous movies that Mahesh Dattani directed. Most other writers also made films on Mahesh Dattani's plays.

Awards

Mahesh Dattani has won many awards for his outstanding works or plays. Mahesh Dattani also got significant awards for the films he directed. Mahesh Dattani won the Best Film in English Award by National Panorama in 1998 for the film 'Dance Like a Man'.

Mahesh Dattani won the Sahitya Academy Award for the plays he wrote. Sahitya Kala Parishad selected his three plays (Final Solutions - 1993, Tara - 2000, and 30 Days in September - 2007), considering them the best productions of the year; these were directed by Arvind Gaur.

Mahesh Dattani's Works

Mahesh Dattani has vast experience in writing and working in theatres. He has contributed his whole life to literature, and because of his hard work, he is one of the most prolific Indian writers. After his first play, he started writing other plays dealing with societal issues. All his plays and stories focus on social and political conflicts. The main themes of his plays are gender discrimination, patriarchy, communal disputes, and child abuse. A play such as 'Tara' deals with the issue of Gender discrimination, and the main character of this play is Tara, a girl who is disabled because of her parent's decision. In this play, Mahesh Dattani describes how she suffers throughout her life.

Similarly, the play of the book named 'Final Solutions' deals with conflicts arising in society due to partition, and another play 'Thirty Days in September' is about child abuse. Mahesh Dattani once conveyed that Alyque Padamsee was the one who encouraged him towards English literature; he appreciated his writings a lot. Alyque supported Mahesh Dattani and raised his confidence to start his career in literature. Because of such achievements, Mahesh Dattani became the only playwright to win the Sahitya Academy Awards. He directed many movies and converted some of his plays into movies himself as well.

In 2003, he made his play 'Dance Like a Man' into a movie. Now, Mahesh Dattani is considered India's most successful playwright, and his works are loved by the readers a lot; his plays always consist of morals and provide the readers with a holistic view of the issues people have. Currently, he has his own theater studio and courses which now encourage students to learn the skills of writing, acting, and directing; his studio is located in Bengaluru.