Identity Politics and Dehumanisation in Manjula Padmanabhan’s Harvest and Mahesh Dattani’s Dance Like a Man

This paper explores the themes of identity politics and dehumanisation in Mahesh Dattani's Dance Like a Man (1989) and Manjula Padmanabhan's Harvest (1997). Both plays explore the sociocultural and political implications of identity while acknowledging the transformative effects of late capitalism on actual landscapes. The selected works examine the tension between personal desire, economic disparity, societal expectations, and commodification of human life. While Dattani critiques traditional gender norms, Padmanabhan addresses the intersections of global capitalism. This paper argues that both plays expose the ideology of prevailing capitalism, producing pre-constituted subjects in which one's role in society is predetermined. By examining the dynamic of social identity, the study locates analysis within the politics of space vis-à-vis power relations that reconstruct dominant hierarchal organisation and its implication to govern subordinates.