Love without borders | Mahesh Dattani's queer epic 'The Monk & The Warrior'
Mahesh Dattani's new play explores India's queer histories
While the stage has never lacked for grand romances, playwright Mahesh Dattani believes it is high time the spotlight shifts to a different kind of devotion. “We have already discovered through the classic tales of Sohni-Mahiwal, Romeo and Juliet, and Radha-Krishna that love transcends the barriers of class, caste and family,” the Sahitya Akademi awardee notes. “Now, yet another barrier comes down,” he says.
While the stage has never lacked for grand romances, playwright Mahesh Dattani believes it is high time the spotlight shifts to a different kind of devotion. “We have already discovered through the classic tales of Sohni-Mahiwal, Romeo and Juliet, and Radha-Krishna that love transcends the barriers of class, caste and family,” the Sahitya Akademi awardee notes. “Now, yet another barrier comes down,” he says.
In association with the NCPA, Dattani’s latest work, The Monk & The Warrior, is an ambitious collaboration with Brooklyn-based director Jonathan Taikina Taylor. The play starts with the historically accurate encounter between Alexander the Great and a Bodhisattva monk, which explodes into a love story that traverses culture, space and time, weaving together queer histories across centuries and civilisations.
The Monk & The Warrior leads audiences through a fantastical, episodic journey into India’s queer histories, revisiting several folklores such as Chandravati and Malavati and Shams and Rumi, among others, to propose what some might say is quite radical: queerness is not a Western construct. It is a traditional part of Indian culture. Taylor, who first came to India seven years ago, says he was introduced to a number of queer artists, mythologists and activists by his friend, theatre actor and director Akhshay Gandhi. “It touched me how we could connect through queerness, despite our cultural and historical baggage. I wanted to make a play about that tension, how queerness could be an opposition to, or a salve for, colonisation,” he says.
Ultimately, Dattani believes the play’s purpose is to bring a simple story of love between two characters unlikely to fall in love, and the broader theme of relinquishing power and genocidal tendencies. The production boasts of cast members from across the globe, with music composed by Finnish composer Eero Hämeenniemi. Additionally, Toms Carrasco Gubernatis, a composer and Chilean woodwind player, along with Prasoon Bhargava, an Indian musician and actor, will be performing live on stage.
—The play will be staged from April 2-5 at the NCPA, Mumbai
