The Theme of Gender Violence in Manjula Padmanabhan’s Play Lights Out

Abstract

Many Indian women writers have contributed to the development of Indian writing in English and taken it to the respectable position. Manjula Padmanabhan is one of them. She was born in Delhi in 1953. She has spent early years of her life in Europe and Southeast Asia. Later, she returned to India. She is a playwright, journalist, comic strip artist and children's book author. In Indian writing in English, Manjula Padmanabhan emerges as a sensitive writer who aims at the presenting the realistic problems instead of portraying the romantic, fanciful notions. She is one of the Indian woman playwright who attempted to bring a positive behavioural change in women towards themselves as well as society toward women. Her plays are issues oriented and deal with social reality. Thus, her style and content are realistic in a believable manner. Her plays are majorly women centric and thus present their perspective and narrative. Thus, this paper is a study of Manjula Padmanabhan’s Lights Out (2000) in the light of gender insensitivity and violence.