DRAMA: A POWERFUL MEDIUM FOR PRESENTING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Abstract

Drama is used as very powerful medium to present social problems. In 1950s the emergence of
social evil is first noticed in Marathi theatre through drama. Vijay Tendulkar, an avant- grade Indian
playwright used the stage as a platform to question the discrimination system in Indian society. Creation
of expressive women characters from the pen of a male writer is certainly a heartening support to the
women writers who constantly engaged in proving the individuality of women.
Vijay Tendulkar, with his integrity and dexterity, won reputation and recognition in the society.
And now he is referred as a great Indian playwright. Tendulkar is often termed as ‘the angry young man
of Marathi theatre’. He has portrayed almost all social institutions and establishments, such as family,
marriage, working place, caste that he came across and tries to hold them upside down in order to reveal
the oppressive nature inherent in their discursive configuration. In his Silence! The Court is in Session
Tendulkar presents the picture of young women through the central character of the play Miss Leela
Benare. The suffering of Leela Benare, has caught each one’s attention and consequently became one of
the most prominent characters of Indian Drama.