NATIONAL LAW INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY, BHOPAL

(Academic Session: 2020-2021)

SEMESTER: II

SUBJECT: ENGLISH-II

TOPIC: Discuss Vijay Tendulkar as a playwright with particular

reference to “Silence! The Court is in Session”

Submitted to: Submitted By:

Prof. Mukesh Srivastava Juhi Mandhare

Professor of English Roll No. 47
NLIU, Bhopal

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................V

CHAPTER I.....................................................................................................................................6

SYNOPSIS......................................................................................................................................6

 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................6

 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM.........................................................................................7

 HYPOTHESIS..................................................................................................................7

 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES.............................................................................................7

 RESEARCH QUESTIONS...............................................................................................8

 REVIEW OF LITERATURE...........................................................................................8

 THE PLOT........................................................................................................................9

 WHAT DOES THE STORY TALK ABOUT................................................................10

 THE PLAY AND ITS COMTEMPORARY RELEVANCE.........................................11

 THEMES & SYMBOLS IN THE PLAY.......................................................................11

CHAPTER III................................................................................................................................13

VIJAY TENDULKAR AS A PLAYWRIGHT.............................................................................13

CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15

BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................................................................................................16

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project has been undertaken and completed by Juhi Mandhare who is
currently studying BALLB (Hons.) at the National Law Institute University, Bhopal. It is also
certified that the project has been prepared through her own work and research under the
guidance of Prof. Mukesh Shrivastava on the topic Discuss Vijay Tendulkar as a playwright
with particular reference to “Silence!The Court is in Session” All the sources used for the
research have been duly acknowledged in the footnotes and bibliography.

(2020B.A.L.L.B.47)

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would sincerely like to acknowledge and thank the Vice Chancellor Dr V Vijaykumar, Dean
Undergraduate Studies Dr Ghayur Alam and the Professor for English Prof. Mukesh
Shrivastava for giving me this opportunity to work on such a project that enlightened me in not
just one but many ways and helped me understand the concept of research in detail.

I would also like to extend my gratitude to my teacher for guiding me throughout the due course
of the project and helping me out wherever possible.

Last but not the least I would like to acknowledge the efforts of my family and friends for
helping me make this project happen.

May 26th, 2021

NLIU, Bhopal

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ABSTRACT

“There are times when one's life appears to be a stage. People come, people go. They come in
order to go & go with no intent of return. When they return, they return as one's past; a past that
would make you feel that the present is false.”

The writings of Vijay Tendulkar have never failed to identify the societal disgraces that the
women face as well as have always brought about in the writings, the injustices that prevail
within the society. One such piece of his is ‘Silence! The Court is in Session’ which is way
ahead of its time showing a woman trying to live with dignity in a corrupted society and
recognizes the plight of the women, how she is afraid to face the society because her decisions
are not accepted and how easy it is for the society to strip off a woman of her dignity. The play
has major theme of the so called “moral wrongs” that only apply to the women. For the purpose
of this project, I would discuss the plot of the play along with a personal analysis of play and also
integrate the views of other esteemed writers and critics and their perspective of how the play
discussed the theme.

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CHAPTER I

SYNOPSIS

 INTRODUCTION

Vijay Tendulkar is an Indian playwright who was born on January 6th, 1928 in Kolhapur,
Maharashtra. Most of his works have been originally written in his mother tongue, however
following the strong and influential writing his work was further translated into other Indian
languages including English. Tendulkar, who died in 2008, was considered an excellent
playwright and hence was also invited to various universities in the United States, where he had
settled down, to provide guidance to the students who wished to enter into the field of theater and
writing.

Tendulkar had grown up watching mostly Western plays and following this he wrote and
directed his first play at the age of eleven and later on started writing for newspapers and by that
time he had already worked upon two separate plays. Many of his works were appreciated and
had garnered quite an audience; however it was only until his play “Silence! The Court is in
Session” (English title) that he was critically appraised. Following this he wrote many more
plays which too received a critical acclaim and he soon transitioned to writing for films and
television series as well as political opinions for newspapers. Tendulkar has been honored with
numerous awards and accolades for his work including the Filmfare Award, the Kalidas
Samman, the Padma Bhushan, the Katha Chudamani Award for lifetime literary achievement
among others.

Tendulkar’s works usually encompassed the themes of social importance like violence in all
forms: domestic, political, sexual etc., the dominant patriarchy, communalism etc. His writings
while being non-controversial tackled the most dominant issues of the society.

 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Silence! The Court is in Session is a work of fiction, however the realistic elements and the
backdrop bring forth an image of the ‘60s and its treatment of women coinciding with the

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historical biographical accounts, that we are forced to consider Vijay Tendulkar’s inspiration to
be the unabashed degrading of women he had seen around himself.

 HYPOTHESIS

Vijay Tendulkar style of writing is emotional, a harbinger of changing perspective on many

traditional aspects of the society and heavily borrow from the realities of the time period that
they are set in.

 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1. To analyze Vijay Tendulkar’s ‘Silence! The Court is in Session’ and determine the
essentialities and theme of the same.
2. To understand, what does the word “game” that makes a recurring appearance is trying to
reference.
3. To determine what factors played a role in letting the members of the troop disrespect
and downgrade Binare based on her monologue.

 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What elements of Vijay Tendulkar’s play ‘Silence! The Court is in Session’ made is so
acclaimed even in the time when people had thought of it as okay to belittle women and
usually did not speak out against it?
2. What is the difference in the status of women during the time when the play had been
written versus now and what possible role the play may have played?

 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

1. Silence! The Court is in Session1

The play has been written by the acclaimed Indian playwright and author Vijay Tendulkar and is
based on the novel Die Panne (Traps) by Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt. It is the story
of an awareness raising troop that ends up improvising on a live courtroom which they were
scheduled to perform and how the life of a member who does not fit into the “societal norms” is
merged with the improvisation and is used as an opportunity to criticize her way of life. The play
1
Vijay Tendulkar, ‘Silence! The Court is in Session’(pdf.)

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was published in the year 1967 and is a depiction of the harsh standards that the women had to
abide by, which has not changed much even today.

2. Study Material by Dept. of English, Delhi University2

The study material has been prepared for the students of third year of the Delhi University and is
a detailed insight into the sequence by sequence. There are questions given pertaining to each
scene and a brief discussion of the same. For the purpose of the project the study material has
been used to determine the theme of the play and pick up some points about the critical a roles of
each character.

2
Dr. Ratna Raman, Study Material: SILENCE! THE COURT IS IN SESSION, Dept. of English, Sri Venkateshwara
College http://www.surendranathcollege.org/new/upload/MADHULINA_BAURIDSC2021-02-22the%20court
%20is%20in%20session(1).pdf

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CHAPTER II

SILENCE THE COURT IS IN SESSION

The play depicts the story of a troop that was going to perform a live trial, as it happens in the
court, for the members of the village. The troop that had gathered to practice the trial, soon due
to the cunningness of some members, strips off a woman of her dignity by digging out her
personal life in the proceeding as a “game” and being so immersed in the role that they even
sentenced her to an abortion.

 THE PLOT

The play starts with the members of The Sonar Moti Tenement (Bombay) Progressive
Association, an organization dedicated to creating awareness in various social problems. The
members of this association namely Miss Leena Benare, Mrs. Kashikar, Sukhatme, Mr.
Kashikar, Samante, Prof. Damle, Ponkshe, Karnik and Rokde have come together in the village
hall a few hours before their performance of a living courtroom however two of the members
including Prof. Damle are unable to make it on time and thus the troop decide to perform an
improvisation. Our protagonist for the play, Ms. Leela Benare is unmarried and pregnant and has
been dismissed from her job as a teacher for she might pass on her “immorality” to the children.
With the improvised trial, the lawyer and the judge remain same i.e. Sukhatme and Mr. Kashikar
respectively but a new accused has been decided upon as Leela Benare and her charge,
infanticide, maliciously suggested by those who happen to have some information into her
personal life.

Though in the beginning Leela is mischievous, but soon the trial begins to merge with her
personal life and the people who had always been quite judgmental of her took this as an
opportunity to denounce her lifestyle and she is visibly upset, but they prompt her that all of it
just a game. Soon Rokde takes this as a chance to reveal the details of Benare’s personal life and
informs that once when he went to Prof. Damle’s house he saw Benare inside and soon for the
sake of game, they announce Benare to be pregnant, but Benare’s expression confirms their
story. The more details are revealed, it becomes clear to the colleagues that their story resembles
the truth of Benare’s life to a great extent. When all this becomes too much to handle for Benare,
she tries to leave but to her dismay the door is locked from outside and she has to continue

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enduring the trial. More and more details and allegations are levied, Ponkshe and Rodke input
that they themselves have turned Benare down. Sukhatme, too immersed in his role calls out
Benare stating that she has corrupted the society and the idea of motherhood and as he gives her
time for an answer, the time freezes and she makes a monologue, talking about her life and her
commitment, time starts and the judge orders her an abortion.

The villagers open the hall from outside and the court is brought back to reality, but a devastated
Benare lies on the floor and is undisturbed as the people remind her it was just a “game.” The
others leave and Benare is alone & lifeless on the stage.

 WHAT DOES THE STORY TALK ABOUT

The play depicts how a woman who is outspoken and is happily living the live by her own ways
is not easily accepted by the society and her lifestyle is a matter of discussion of every household
and some settings are unabashedly turned into an opportunity to criticize her. Each character in
the play has his/her own significance, where Sukhamate is a man who himself is of no good but
has an outright disregard for Benare's independent lifestyle, Mrs. Kashikars is a representation of
a traditional Indian woman who is submissive to her husband and is undeniably dependent on
him for everything, while Prof. Damle even without much appearance is an embodiment of a
respectful man and as can be seen all allegations and the "moral corruptness" have only been
levied upon Benare and not Prof. Damle. It is also interesting to note how the absence of Prof.
Damle acted as a free license for the people of the troop to shamelessly insult and disrespect
Benare, for had the Professor been there no one would have brought Benare's personal life in
play. Even men such as Ponkshe and Rokde were quick to input false pretenses against Benare as
if enjoying the show, marking her as a woman of no character.

The play depicts how the society has become a courtroom, where everyday thousands of women
undergo the trail of judgment by the members of the society, hoe the people who have known
you for years fail to stand by you in times of need and are quick to disown you. It highlights,
how only the woman is blamed and shamed and not the man, whose actions are always justified
on the pretext of being a man. It also shows that the life of a child out of wedlock is not at the
same level as the lives of other children and the sin of taking his life is not even a sin according

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to the "norms" of the society. We learn that it is not holy text and teachings of the lords that
decide our norms; it is what pleases and displeases the majority that becomes the norm.

 THE PLAY AND ITS COMTEMPORARY RELEVANCE

The play is an active take on the plight that women face based on their decisions and their will to
lead an independent life. It is safe to say that after almost 20 years in the 21 st century we have
come a long way, in many aspects, compared to the time period of 1967 when the play was
written, however the idea of women living their life independently and on their own terms is still
scrutinized upon by many. Many families have recognized the need for education of women and
their right to be independent but they still fail to recognize other rights of the women i.e. her
right to be an independent woman and not be penurious to someone else’s permission, her will to
not be dependent on a husband for the rest of her life and her right to be a part of any profession
she likes. We have even after so many years failed to make the world a safe place for the women;
we still blame the women for anything wrong that happens with her usually known as ‘victim
blaming.’ We have failed to take proper stand on the gender disparities that have existed for
centuries and have continued to grow.

When we talk about the play, its contemporary relevance is undisputed for even today had a
woman been in a similar situation as Leela Benare, she would have been insulted in the same
manner as Benare was. We have still failed to recognize a woman’s right to choose her partner,
her right to be a mother without being dependent on a husband. The play’s mock trial acts as an
analogy to the manner in which people of the society persecute a woman and provide their
verdict based on the selfish norms, they shame her in the society, her day to day life is affected,
she is left being treated as a prostitute only because the people know she’s pregnant before
marriage and is not a virgin and at the same time we fail to apply these same norms to a man
owing to the factor that he is a man.

 THEMES & SYMBOLS IN THE PLAY

The play mainly discussed the theme of oppression of a woman’s will and how the society plays
a big role in her downfall, how people’s notion of moral corruptness can take a toll on a woman.
The constant use of the word “game” signifies the manner in which criticizing someone else’s
lifestyle and their decisions has become nothing more than an entertaining segment of their day

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or a hysterical gateway out of their boredom irrespective of how it affects the accused. The
absence of Prof. Damle signifies that the society calls out women only in the absence of men in
their life for had professor Damle made it time, the men who had maliciously put up Benare as
an accused for infanticide, would’ve stuck by their own business. The next is the sequence
wherein Benare gives her side of the story while everyone else in the background freezes, this is
a depiction of the reality that women are unable to express their side in such situations and our
not given even a single moment to put forth their reality while the members continue to smear
her with numerous insults and allegations.

In her monologue, Benare talks about her love for teaching; her commitment to her unborn child
and her strong narrative is a take on her journey as a woman who refused to bind herself with the
shackles of the society. She refers to the men of the troop as “Cultured men of the 20 th century”
with “ferocious faces” signifying how culture to them is just a facade a mask that hides their
ferocious and leech like attributes. Her beliefs strike a chord of empathy with the audience but
the people of the troop that represent the community are deaf to her yearnings and have no
sympathy towards her, this is represented as Kashikar who had assumed the role of the judge
announces his verdict and sentences Benare to an abortion.

Another important irony that the play possesses is associated to the name of the drama troop
which is called “The Sonar Moti Tenement (Bombay) Progressive Association.” It has been
pointed out, how the entire troop was lynching Benare for her choice of lifestyle as an
independent woman and thus it is quite ironic and amusing to note that this troop has named
them-selves as a ‘Progressive Association.’ As we get ahead with the plot of the play, the
members of this association come across as anything but progressive.

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CHAPTER III

VIJAY TENDULKAR AS A PLAYWRIGHT

Silence! The Court is in Session is undoubtedly an intriguing play and this is probably the reason
why it is regarded as a masterpiece in the Marathi literature, but as a basis to discuss Vijay
Tendulkar as a playwright, it is not enough a read to provide a conclusive take on his writing,
however I would still like to mention certain aspects of his play writings that I have assessed
based on the prescribed writing.

1. His plays are mostly based on the contemporarily relevant social issues.

Apart from Silence! The Court is in Session, Vijay Tendulkar’s other works such as Śrīmant,
Sakhārām Binder, Ghāshirām Kotwāl etc. as well as his screenplays for many movies focus on
the social issues that were relevant to the time they were written in and one can say are even
relevant today. Even without opinions, his plays had an essence that made audience connect to
the sufferer of the plight and through his works he can be regarded as a flag bearer of Feminism
in India.

2. Reality plays a huge role in his works

Vijay Tendulkar’s work is a retelling of the social realities that existed during the times. Though
regarded as a work of fiction, the stories heavily borrow from the reality and the difference lies
in his symbolic representation of the issues, rather than just being an entertaining story, they
encompass themes and symbols, the settings are kept intriguing and as far as Silence! The Court
is in Session goes, in my opinion he also kept the readers guessing as the play moved into act II,
about the eventual turnout for Benare.

3. His writings are simple to read

With the reading of the play I have made my assessment of Vijay Tendulkar’s work as easy to
read and comprehend, yet very symbolic. His use of words and depiction of his scenes and
characters is written well enough that they can penetrate through the minds of even the illiterate
as they listen to it. It is not only the choice of words but the entire set up of the play that allows

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not only for a subjective but also an objective interpretation and the message of his writing
reaches across loud and clear.

4. He is a pioneer of women empowerment

The women in his stories are no revolutionaries nor are they portrayed to be physically strong or
utopian in the sense that they break all of the societal norms and live with no fear rather, his
stories depict the daily struggle of a women’s life, tries to bring out the problem for the public
eye to see. There’s no hero in his story, but Vijay Tendulkar captures the essence of being a
woman and living with the consequences of it. He possesses a knack of making the reader
empathize with the lead of the story and really highlight the problem rather than focusing on only
keeping it entertaining.

5. The play does not lose its significance as a piece of literature

His writing while dealing with socially relevant issues and progressive plot does not do away
with the significance of the art that is literature. It is laden with literary devices like irony,
symbolism, monologue, motif and juxtaposition. They are simple to understand and play a
significant part in the marking the play as a piece of literature.

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CONCLUSION

The play Silence! The Court is in Session forms an entertaining and an eye-opening read and it is
much more impactful if the reader catches onto the symbols presented within the story, such as
those mentioned in the text. Vijay Tendulkar is an artist whose writings are simple to read, easy
to understand and interesting to analyze. He has written numerous stories and novels and
screenplays, which have received huge critical acclaim over the years. This alone stands as a
testament to the fact that Vijay Tendulkar’s writings are widely recognized and appreciated. His
devotion to writing upon contemporarily and socially relevant issues has given him recognition
as someone who notices and appreciates the concerns of the society. He is not afraid to speak his
mind and write free of political pressure and social stigma as he did in 2002, criticizing the BJP
government in Gujarat, headed by the then Chief Minister of the state, Narendra Modi, during
the 2002 riots. In simpler words, Vijay Tendulkar as a playwright is empowering, realistic and
socially relevant.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Silence! The Court is in Session by Vijay Tendulkar

2. Study Material, Sri Venkateshwara College, Delhi University
3. “Silence! The Court Is In Session” By Vijay Tendulkar – A Study on the Defeat of
Woman in Male dominated society

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