Invisible Lives, Silenced Voices: Social Exclusion of Subaltern Sexualities in Mahesh Dattani’s A Muggy Night in Mumbai

Abstract

Mahesh Dattani's plays focus on the existential crises of marginalized identities that lack a well-thought-of position in the conservative social order.  Unveiling the grey areas of Indian society with a scientific spirit, he often seeks to address the complexities of sexuality and gender in the context of a heteronormative social setup. His pathbreaking works like 'Do the Needful,' 'Bravely Fought the Queen,' 'Seven Steps Around the Fire,' and 'On a Muggy Night in Mumbai' represent taboo subjects and endeavour to put these "closet issues" on stage and give a much-needed vent to existential dilemmas of LGBTQ+ community with a disinterested spirit. This research paper focuses on how he openly voices the hidden fears, terrifying vulnerability, sheer isolation, and social exclusion of the subaltern sexualities in one of his widely acclaimed dramas – On a Muggy Night in Mumbai. This play is of immense importance as it voices the existential crises, struggles, and predicaments of non-heteronormative sexualities. He explores the sociocultural instruments responsible for the subversion and denial of the voices, choices, and identities of homosexuals. They are predestined to remain unacknowledged, suppressed, and invisible within a homophobic world that is marked with barbarous intolerance. The paper examines how the play portrays the antagonistic sociocultural paradigms that brand the alternate sexualities as "others" and render them silenced and invisible. It explores the way mainstream Indian society forces them to hide their identity to avoid social stigmatization. The fear of exposing themselves and facing the subsequent ostracization compels them to adopt the façade of heterosexuality and hypocrisy. The play lays bare the pathetic predicament of homosexuals whose activities are forbidden in the Indian context, as the conventional heteronormative codes highly disapprove of their sexual proclivities. The heterosexist code of conduct sees their relationships as highly unnatural, sinful, obnoxious, offensive, and impious.