Tara Mahesh Dattani Analysis

On the question of what gave him the idea of the play, Tara, Mahesh Dattani says in an interview:
. . . You know, the play is misread and, you know, people tend to focus on the medical details but that’s really not what the play is about. It’s a metaphor either for being born equal as male and female and sharing so much more and with the surgical separation comes a cultural distinction and prejudices as well, but on another level, it could also deal with the individual having the male and female self . . . (Sharma 4)
In the play Tara, the protogonist Tara is the daughter of a well educated upper middle class family residing in Banglore. The story is about the Siamese twins who are born with three legs and blood supply to the third leg is from the baby girl’s body. It is informed that only one of the twins could have two legs, and the other had to survive with only one leg. It is determined to fix the third leg on to the male baby’s body so as to make male baby complete.“This decision was not on the basis of medical ground but due to gender discrimination in our society” (Sharma 4).
Mahesh Dattani has very skillfully dealt with the tragedy awaiting the girl child. The social norms, economic standards

Identity crisis is often a repeated theme in the plays of Dattani. His plays often feature characters who are questioning their identity, and who feel isolated in some way.In the play Dance Likea Man, he dramatizes the identity crisis in the life of Jairaj Parekh, a dancer. Amritlal Parekh, has his own notions and ideology, which he imposes upon Jairaj who protests, but Jairaj his son fails and yields to the desires and dreams of his father and also of his wife. In fact he knows what he wants to be but his father wants him to shape his personality in his own way. “Family name and social recognition are the chief concerns for Amritlal Parekh, but for Jairaj, they are the obstacles in carving his self-identity” (Parmar72). He yearns for self-identity and