Mahesh Dattani Nayashastra Analysis

The need for rethinking an alternative means of assessing performance in theatre studies arises because it was never gesture-centric, uniform signs or culturally inclusive. Amossy articulated a challenging nature of the ‘peculiar nature of the pluricodified, multileveled theatrical system… the theatrical (poly)system’ in 1981 (Amossy, 1981, p. 5). These comments confirm insights that the approaches which earlier researchers chose and the perceptions with which they function will influence on what they may find and treat as vital. The present analysis of Mahesh Dattani’s play proposes to address this subject matter through examining Bharata’s Natyashastra. This research plan presents the case for rethinking the paradigms of production analysis in the 21st century, which transcends the challenge of theatre analysis as identified in the earlier quote. While this article does not cast the net much wider, I note that in important studies on theatre and film analysis

First the article explores current methods employed to examine theatre productions, specifically, Patrice Pavis, John Whitmore, and Patrick Finelli and Richard Schechner and Fischer-Lichte. Next, scholarly literature on the Natyashastra by Philip Zarrilli, Kapila Vatsyayan and Sreenath Nair and Arya Madhavan and others are examined. Finally, tables on the specific rasa and their descriptions are compiled and they are used to ananlyse Dattani’s play. This article treats Dattani’s play, its methodology, results and outcomes as individual case study rather than absolute, self-contained product of studies on the Natyashastra. Before this article turns to the specific production and it methodology, though, the next section provides a wider picture of discussions about the theatre