Typical Indian Parents’ Mentality Portrayed in the Drama “Do the Needful” by Mahesh Dattani

Mahesh Dattani is a well-known playwright and a film director of India, whose themes mainly revolve around modern-day Indian issues. Although the main theme of the drama “Do the Needful” is not about the mindsets of the Indian parents, the researcher has found it interesting that the dialogues between parents of the Lata and Alpesh sound very much like the typical parents of many households. The qualities that the parents look for in a Son-in-law of a Daughter-in-law, the discussion between the mother and father weighing the pros and cons of the match, forcing the wedding on their children, talking high of the properties of the in-laws, all these factors are the stories of many households in India. This research paper is an attempt to bring out some of the typical characteristics of the mindset of the Indian parents with reference to the play. In the first part of the paper, the researcher introduces Mahesh Dattani as a playwright and introduces the general traits of the Indian parents. The researcher justifies that it is not to generalize but to reflect the attitude of the majority of Indian parents. In the second part of the play and the theme are explained. In the next part of the paper, various lines from the play that represent the theme are taken and explained amalgamated with the quotes of other researchers to justify the theme of the research paper. The last part of the research paper concludes with the critical appreciation of the play.


Introduction
Mahesh Dattani's plays reflect many ills of Indian society. Usually, the plays that highlight the ills of society tend to be serious in their tone but Dattani's narrative style is quite different in that they do not always seriously portray the ills of society. He uses comedy as a genre if required. The play "Do the Needful" is one of those romantic comedies that immerses the audience in humour yet brings out a very important shortfalls of Indian society.
The very title of the play "Do the Needful" is an Indian English expression. The whole theme is very much Indian. It is interesting to note that the play is written for BBC Radio.
According to Sally Avens, the play is well-received by the British audience. Sally Avens, in her note to the play, writes about the universal appeal in the drama: "Like all the best love stories, the hero and heroine end up getting married, but the road to marital bliss is full of the most unexpected twists and turns. For me, this was the enjoy of working on Mahesh's script: his writing, whilst taking on a conventional form and being readily accessible to an audience, never fails to challenge and surprise and whilst the play may be set in India within the conventions of 'arranged marriages', its wider themes are universal" (Dattani 2016:138) Typical Traits of Indian Parents: It is not intended to stereotype the attitude of all Indian Parents to a particular category. As every individual is different, parents too are different from one another.
However, the majority of Indian parents have some traits in common. There are positive outcomes as well as negative outcomes of upbringing by the Indian parents. Indians flourish in academics and hold very good positions in various multinational companies because of the upbringing of the parents and at the same time, they come hard on their children and devoid them of their freedom to choose either in terms of career or marriage. In an article published References from the Play "Do the Needful": Lata and Alphesh both are unwilling to get married because of their own reasons, Lata is in love with a Muslim man named Salim and Alphesh is a gay, who adores Trilok, a massage therapist in Mumbai. Alphesh is already a divorced man.
Patel's family comes to Bangalore for a matrimonial interview. The situation makes us identify the typical Indian tradition, where marriages take place according to the wishes and whims of the parents without giving much importance to the wishes of the children. You do not have to marry someone whom you love, you get married to the one we select, and then you can love your future husband or the future wife is an unwritten rule in India. However what is notable is that the Patels and the Gowdas agree to inter-caste marriage, which is the modern trend in its way. In this conversation between Prema Gowda and Devraj Gowda, we understand that desperation, being rich despite being divorced, showing off the wealth, and addressing her own daughter as notorious, these regressive ideas are exposed yet they consider themselves as broad-minded because they are in favour of inter-caste marriage: "PREMA GOWDA. Do you think it will work with these Patel people?
PREMA GOWDA. He is thirty-plus and divorced.
DEVRAJ GOWDA. She is twenty-four and notorious. DEVRAJ GOWDA. 21st and 22nd September. We can take them to the farm. That will impress them." (Dattani 2016:144) It is not uncommon in India that if there an unmarried daughter at home, the people around them such as neighbours, colleagues and relatives bring in so much of pressure to marry off the girl. The more they delay them more pressure the parents are under. Such kind of societal pressure gets on the Gowdas, who are desperate to marry off their daughter, as early as possible. It is more of an issue of honour rather than respecting the feelings of the girl. "It is ironic that the Gowdas and Patels, who try to show that they are very civilized, in terms of inter-community arranged marriage, have no care for inner happiness of their children" (Kumar 2017) Kumar Rai (2014) gives his reasoning for the attitude of the Indian parents to resort to such actions as "There are the two levels of the mental spectrum of parents and mental spectrum of the children, but the interior space dealing with individual's free will and choice is hidden. It is yearning to express under the weight of exterior space dealing with the society/parental mindset. What parents think good/proper is revealed through exterior mode.
And what Alpesh/ Lata think is revealed through the interior channel. An exterior device can 168 the Indian parents, rights of gay community, hypocrisy of elders, society that pokes its nose into affairs of others and so many other themes are highlighted in a short play. On further research, the topic can be extended to the psychological and sociological reason for the mindset of the Indian parents.