Mahesh Dattani is India's first playwright in English to be awarded the Sahitya Akademi award for his contribution to world drama. His plays deal with religious tension, sexuality and gender issues. What one loves about them is the way he brings in the dynamics of personal and moral choices while focusing on human relationships. Theatre director Alyque Padamsee calls him one of the "most serious contemporary playwrights".

And what's more, he is a director, actor, dancer, teacher and writer, all rolled into one.

So, he is an actor

Dattani has starred in several well-known plays and has won accolades for his sterling performance in them.

They include:

1985 Surya Shikar, Five Finger Exercise.
1986 Inherit The Wind, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Witness
1987 A Macbeth, Hippolytus, Relatively Speaking
1988 Star Spangled Girl, Self Portrait, Where There's A Will
1989 Dance Like a Man, Doongaji House
1990 Professor Vasan (TV Serial), Doongaji House, Torch Song Trilogy
1991 Broadway Bound, Fate of a Cockroach
1992 Our Town
1994 Where There's A Will
1995 The Tempest, A Perfect Ganesh (for ART Portland, Oregon)
2001 Henry IV, Bangalore

And a director too?

Dattani is a director par excellence. Many of his plays have been staged to universal acclaim. His best radio plays have been aired on BBC radio too. His directorial ventures include:

1986 God!
1987 The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds
1988 In Camera, Where there's a Will
1989 Dance Like a Man
1990 Tara, Torch Song Trilogy
1991 Fate of a Cockroach, Bravely Fought the Queen
1992 Final Solutions
1996 Bravely Fought the Queen (Co directed with Michael Walling, London)
1997 Tara for Scene Stealers, New Delhi
1998 Bravely Fought The Queen (for TAG New Delhi)

Isn't he a playwright as well?

Yes, Mahesh Dattani is an internationally acclaimed playwright. In 1998 he received the Sahitya Akademi Award for Final Solutions, a gripping play on communalism, the only time since its inception in 1955 that it has gone to a playwright who writes in English. His writing credits include:

PLAYS

1988 Where There's A Will
1989 Dance Like A Man
1990 Tara
1991 Bravely Fought the Queen
1992-93 Final Solutions
1996 Night Queen (Short play)
1997 Do The Needful (Radio play for BBC )
1998 On A Muggy Night in Mumbai, Seven Circles Round The Fire (Radio play for BBC)
2000 The Swami and Winston (Radio play for BBC) Tale of the Mother feeding her child (radio tale for Radio 3 and 4 BBC)
2001 Thirty days in September

SCREENPLAY

1992 Chalo Memsahib (co-wrote for Shunyata Films, directed by Ayesha Sayani)
1994 Hum, Tum aur Woh (for Tutu Films, directed by Pankaj Parasher)
1996 Untitled script for Govind Nihalani.
1998 Ek Chingari Ki Khoj Mein (for Madhyam, directed by K P Sasi)
1999 Ek Alag Mausam (for Actionaid India, directed by K P Sasi)
2000 A Walk With Mr William - work in progress. An international project.
2001 Spice Boy - work in progress. An international project.

Important productions of the above plays apart from the premieres.

1990 Where There's a Will (In Hindi by Manzil Theatres, Bombay)
1991 Tara (Theatre Group, Bombay, directed by Alyque Padamsee)
1994 Final Solutions (Theatre Group, Bombay, directed by Alyque Padamsee)
1995 Final Solutions (in Kannada by Vedike, directed by Ritwik Simha), Dance Like A Man (Prime Time, Delhi directed by Lilette Dubey), still running.
1996 Tara (ART, Bangalore directed by Arundhati Raja), Bravely Fought the Queen (Border Crossings, London, directed by Michael Walling)
1997 Dance Like A Man - Leicester Haymarket Theatre, UK
1998 Bravely Fought The Queen (For TAG, New Delhi)
1999 On A Muggy Night in Mumbai (Bombay)
2000 New York premier of Dance Like A Man and On A Muggy Night in Mumbai at TriBecA Arts Centre. Sydney premier of TARA.
2001 Thirty days in September - Mumbai.

Mahesh is also an accomplished dancer. His landmark production 'Dance like a man' featuring a traditional Carnatic musical score and Bharatnatyam won rave reviews in the NY Times.

His dancing credentials include:

1984-87 Western ballet training under Molly Andre at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore
1986-90 Bharata Natyam training under Chandrabhaga Devi and Krishna Rao, Bangalore
1989 Ranga Pravesh (Dance debut solo) at Guru Nanak Bhavan, Bangalore. Subsequently performed in temples and festivals and informal spaces.

Does he conduct workshops too?

Mahesh does take time off his hectic schedule to conduct workshops for the sake of nurturing new talent and giving a new dimension to theatre Mahesh has been involved in the following projects:

1993- Screenplay writing at Xavier Institute of Communications, Bombay. Status: Guest faculty.
1993- Dramatic structure and playwriting at Media Centre, Bangalore. Status: Resource person, special communications program.
Actors' Workshop at Media Centre, Bangalore.
1996- Yoga for the Performer and Indian Cinema at Portland State University, USA. Status: Visiting Professor.
1996- Workshops for playwrights and actors conducted in all the major cities of India.
2000 - Dramatic structure - weekend class at Haystack, Canon Beach, Oregon, USA.

Mahesh will teach at Portland State University in July-August 2001. He has also been commissioned from BBC Radio 4 to write a radio play. He also has a commission from Rahi, a support group, to write a play on childhood sexual abuse, supported by the Ford Foundation.

Hey..I heard some of his works were published too

Yes, a great many of Dattani's works have been published. They are:

1994 Final Solutions and Other Plays - Affiliated East West Press, Madras
1996 Tara - Ravi Dayal, New Delhi Night Queen - Telegraph Literary supplement, Calcutta
2000 Collected Plays - Penguin - India
2001 Contemporary Indian Theatre - Performing Arts Journal, New York. Published by John Hopkins University Press. Edited by Erin Mee.

Dattani has held senior positions in theatre groups and institutions.

1987- Artistic Director, Founder of PLAYPEN performing arts group, Bangalore
1994- Senior Associate, National Institute for Advanced Studies, Bangalore
1998- Founder of Mahesh's Studio - a centre for the performing arts.
1999- Senior Trustee, Swabhava - a charitable trust.
2000- Trustee - VOICES a development organisation supported by Ford Foundation.

And recognition?…..what about it?

Dattani's dedication and passion for theatre has won him scholarships and awards, besides being commissioned by top national and international bodies to write plays on social issues for them.

His scholarship list includes:

1992 USIS Visitorship to USA to study American theatre and culture. British Council grant in aid to visit UK and meet with theatre professionals.
1996 British Council grant in aid to visit UK.
1997 Charles Wallace Scholarship to visit University of Kent as writer-in-residence.

His awards include:

1997 Sahitya Kala Parishad for best production of Dance Like A Man
1998 Bravely Fought The Queen, Sahitya Akademi Award
1998 for book of plays FINAL SOLUTIONS AND OTHER PLAYS
2000 Sahitya Kala Parishad award for best production, Tara,

Wow!…the media must be raving about him

Oh yes. The media just cannot stop gushing about him. Here are some quotes from the media on him and his works.
'One of India's best and most serious contemporary playwrights writing in English.' Alexandra Viets - International Herald Tribune.
'A playwright of world stature' - Mario Relich, Wasafiri.
'Mr. Dattani is a canny and facile writer, and there is nothing (in his writing) that is alien to American audiences. Powerful and disturbing.' Stephen Bruckner, The New York Times.
'Since Salman Rushdie swung open the door to the West, English language Indian novelists have wowed the world. Indian playwrights have been less conspicuous except for Mahesh Dattani' - Vibhuti Patel, Newsweek International.

Where can I contact him?

The best thing about Mahesh Dattani is that he is easily accessible to all. You can e-mail him at maheshdattani@explocity.com

Or contact him at:

Mahesh Dattani
Explocity Private Limited
24 Rest House Crescent
Bangalore 560001

Born a Leo on August 7, 1958. in Bangalore,
Mahesh is a graduate in History, Economics and Political Science. He is a Post Graduate in Marketing and Advertising Management.

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