Mahesh Dattani’s play “Dance Like a Man” 

is one of the best plays

written by an Indian in English. He is one of the finest and most prominent
playwrights in India. He is the first playwright in English to have won the
‘Sahitya Akademi Award’.
He choses chosses such topics dabated in society always debated in society and displayed on the stage
in a very good manner.The stage has all the qualities to take the play to a different level. There is a
difference in the bookish play and the play that is performed on stage or theater.The characters are
usually Indian and deals with some problem which are not socially acceptable. Mahesh Dattani has
made a name in Anglo Indian drama.  Besides being a dramatist he also deals with social problems
which he presents in his place. therefore his place can be studied as problem place. Dance Like A
Man is a play by Mahesh Dattani, which deals with the ideas of being a man in the 1940s, of the
Indian society. The dramatist has bought three generations on the stage. Also “Dance Like a Man” the
title suggests that a man should do the work which suits the man and should not do such works which
reduces their masquilinity. Here, on this basis we can say that the protagonist’s father doesn’t want his
son to become or behave like a woman and forbids him not to build his career in dance.Dance Like a
Man is a two-act stage play. The story revolves around three generations, their personal aims, their
sacrifices, their struggle and compromises, internal conflict and danc eplays a major role in the
house as it is a topic of debate between the father and his son and daughter in-law.
Dattani in the very start of the play puts a question on a man’s identity and his sexuality. The title
itself suggests that. The play deals with the significance of self and others in the genderrules made
by the society .
The story revolves around three generations. Jairaj and Ratna want to develop their career as a dancer.
Dance for them is not only their passion but also their life and soul. They want to develop their
careers in this field. According to the gender roles made by the society he should do the works that
belongs to men but Jairaj goes on to pursue his career as a dancer. This is the twist that the
playwright gives to the rules associated with ‘gender’ issues that shows a woman beyond the
oppressive power structures of the society. Infact The play shows that even men can be a victim to
such oppressions and suppression by the opposite gender and society.
Jairaj and and Ratna have to live within the domain of the Amritlal, father of Jairaj. Dance for
Amritlal is a profession of a prostitute and thats why he can not accept that his daughter-in-law
learning it and also it is unimaginable for him to see that his son ( in dance ) is going to make a carrier
.Also The reason can be the fact that he was a reformist and people would laugh at him for Jairaj’s
actions .

He cannot tolerate the sound of dancing bells in his home. His father also hates the female guru that
comes to their house and also the long hair that she and his son both have kept. Amritlal thinks that
the temples have slowly turned to brothels as they practise dance there. He forbids Ratna to visit the
old devdasi who teaches her the old forms and techniques of ‘Bharatnatyam’ .
Here there are delicate signs state that learning dance and having a guru like that would definitely
make his an womanly man which suggests the idea of homosexuality though it is not apprently
mentioned anywhere in the text.
As he cannot accept his son pursuing his career as a dancer, he tries all the ways to stop him from
seeking his ambition. He removes from his house and his property, not giving them a single penny to
survive.

Jairaj, leaves and take Ratna along with him. But the results are disastrous. They stay at Ratna’s
uncle’s house and he tries to take advantage of her and so they leave the house only to return.

amritlal then later makes a deal with Ratna. He says that he will allow her career as dance only if she
helps him forbid Jairaj to build his carrier as a dancer and make him a more ‘manly’ man.
Ratna can be called as a selfish character because she agrees to obey his conditions thinking that it
will be helpfull for her to build her carrier . She constantly misguides him and plays with his emotions
. She was blinded by her passion .
When Jairaj comes to know about her motives, the purpose was already achieved, that he was a failed
in his dancing carrier . He had turned into an alcoholic. She takes advantage of that . She pushed him
into the world of dance and also knew that he was not a great dancer that he was just a ordinary one.
Ratna then makes her daughter Lata, also a Traditional dancer. She used her daughter to earn fame
and money all over the world. She uses all her contacts to put her daughter’s career on the right track
right from the start. She also uses the contacts to get appreciative reviews for her daughter’s
performance. Lata here is the representative of younger Ratna who achives fame with the help of her
mother.Later, in the play Jairaj blames his wife for their son’s death . The nanny had given him a
sleeping dose to stop his cry but unfortunately, she gave him the maximum quantity of iit which
ultimately led to his death. Jairaj blames her for his unsuccessful career.
Dattani uses the technique of Traditional Dance as a medium to portray the conflict of gender issues
in the play. Amritlal forbids his son to become a dancer , Ratna misguided him, Jairaj was blamed for
earning enough money for his family. All these things demonstrates how how gender
discriminationworks in the Indian society.

Themes:-

Gender Bias
Dattani brings out the gender issue from one of his principal passions, Dance. This play talks about a
young man who wants to be a dancer. He is growing up in a world that believes dance is for a woman.
the middle class Indian society does not approve a man as a dancer because they considered that it
only ruins a mans masculinity . A Man must act like a man. Dance like a Man explores the life of a
dancer, Jairaj. It also explores how he loses his career, his passion, his dreams and his purposes in life.
Jairaj and his wife Ratna are dancers. They are under the shelter of Jairaj’s father Amritlal Parekh. It
is mentioned in the text that Ratna chose Jairaj as her life partner so that her career would not be
compromised. But Amritlal Parekh is unable to tolerate his son as a professional dancer .
Bhartanatyam is good as a hobby, but taking it as a profession by a man is something unthinkable.
Even he does not like his daughter-in-law going to meet a Devadasi to learn this art form. He just
completely spoils his son’s profession by using Ratna . Thinking about her own profits she supports
him to spoil her husband’s dream.The focus of the play is how social conventions and traditions of
gender roles spoil the life of the both male and female. The main idea of the play revolves around the
idea that individuals struggle against the society.

Shallow materialistic values of art and life v/s old spiritual values

The play deals with the conflict between art and society. Young Jairaj and Ratna are practicing dance
in the house of Amritlal Parekh. He is representative of the society of the nineteen thirties and forties.
He is a freedom fighter and a reformist, His son, Jairaj wants to become a male Bhartanatyam dancer.
Amritlal Parekh bharatnatyam is a art form of prostitutes hence a man shold not practice such dance
form. and and anyone who learns the art form is nota a man ”. In the earlier days Bhartanatyam was
associated with temples and rituals. The art was performed by Devadasis. who were exploited by the
priests and rulers. Finally, due to the socital rules they turned into prostitution. So, the dance form
was ignored and neglected till nineteen thirties and forties.Because of The artist’s societal . Though
the divine dancer of Bharatnatyam is none other than Lord Shiva himself, this art form is associated
with women by a misconception. Jairaj’s passion for bharatnatyam is restricted by his faather .Jairaj
and Ratna might have succeeded as dancers but they are failed to regulate their life as husband and
wife. In order to protect and continue any art form, the artist should raise above human weakness.
Jairaj discovers that the divine essence of human self is neither male nor female.

 Comment on the dramatic innovations and techniques used in Dance Like A Man.
Dance Like A Man is Praised by theatre critics for its dramatic techniques used by the playwright
Mahesh Dattani.Dance Like A Man has two timelines – The past and the present. Mahesh Dattani
cleverly shifts the settings, roles on the stage to represent the mixed sense of the past and the
present.While the total numbers of key characters in the play are seven, there are just four actors who
represent the seven characters. The representation is as follows:
The Amritlal Parekh of the past also plays the old Jairaj of the present.
The young Jairaj of the past also plays Viswas of the present.
The Young Ratna of the past also plays Lata of the present.
Finally, there is old Ratna of the present, who has a single role to play.
The roles here are played by only four characters but in real life too we have to play many roles. A
single person plays a role of father, son, son-in-law, uncle, brother and so on. Mahesh Dattani gives
much importance to this role switching and expects that it shold be carefully followed because it is
important for the structure of the play.
Past and Present Through Switching Settings
In Dance Like a Man, Dattani makes use of the split screan technique. . The garden represents the
past and the events of the past life take place in the garden. As opposed to this, the living room in the
house represents the present. All events pertaining to the present take place here. Thus the split-scene
is a convenient device to move the action between the present and the past.He uses fine example for
instance , the older Jairaj switches to become Amritlal as soon as he wears the shawl, and he becomes
older Jairaj as soon as he takes off the shawl.Thus, Mahesh Dattani makes use of dramatic techniques
of role-switching as well as switching of settings and properties, in order to represent the past and the
present in Dance Like A Man

Bring out the elements of humour in Mahesh Dattani’s Dance Like A Man.
Mahesh Dattani`s `Dance Like A Man` is a significant play that portrays complex human
relationships and the politics between them that causes battles and misunderstandings. Vishwas
pretending to be the butler of the house When a prospectivefor the house calls for Jairaj, Vishwas
answers the phone and pretends to be a south-indian butler with terrible English. When Ratna asks
him who called, he cheekily and innocently responds it was a man looking for a job as a butler in her
house. When Vishwas comes over to Ratna`s house, her parents are away, make a visit to the hospital
to see a musician who has suffered multiple fractures. When Lata finally talks to musician, Muthu
uncle, it is revealed that the mridangam player indeed had tripped on his dhoti and fallen. When
Ratna receives a call from Seshadri congratulating her on Lata`s rave reviews, she holds a cordial
conversation in spite of the fact that Seshadri had played the mridangam and given Lata the wrong
tala. In conversation we find out that Jairaj would much rather have had tea, and Vishwas hates
Bournvita. Jairaj and Ratna are discussing how Chandra Kala, another dancer, must be using her
sexual relations with Seshadri, the mridangam player, to ensure her daughter gets into a show that will
be happening in Canada. Jairaj tells Ratna not to push the topic of their daughter to Seshadri, and she
replies that she is only talking, but Chandra Kala must be sitting in his lap to get things her way. To
this, Jairaj replies that it is not possible – because Chandra Kala is too fat, and Seshadri is too skinny.
The elements of humour through irony, wit and sarcasm used in Mahesh Dattani`s Dance Like A Man
are small but unmissable.
.
Conclusion:-
The play “Dance Like a Man” forces one to think and rethink about how our actions are shaped
according to the society nrms and how one accepts them without questioning. This conditioning
which is done right from the childhood and it is nobody’s fault.In fact there is no way to put a stop in
this rules because the society is still growing.. Personally, I feel that the rules should be modified
according to the situations and time period.