Question- Justify the title of Vijay Tendulkar's play, Silence! The Court is in Session.

Answer - 

The Play originates from a real incident: Vijay Tendulkar's Shantata! Court Chalu Ahe (1967) is a well-known Marathi play. Priya Adarkar translated it as Silence! The Court is in Session (1978). The play is in some respects typical of Tendulkar's literary ventures. As is usual with him, the experience of the play originates not from a concept but a real incident. In this particular case, the motivation came from an ameteur group of players on its way to stage a mock trial in Vile Parle, the suburb where Tendulkar lives. The bits of conversation he heard as he guides the members to their destination provided the groundwork for the play. Tendulkar wrote this play for Rangayan at the behest of his friends Arvind and Sulabha Deshpande. The play has gained world-wide recognition in the field of contemporary drama. The Madras players performed the English version of the play in March 1971 at the museum Theature, Madras (Chennai)..

Double suggestions through the title: The title of the play, Silence! The Court is in session gives us the impression that the court is transacting a very Serious business and as such it is ordering the people in the court to observe 'Silence' Indirectly, the title also alerts the audience to give up their chitchatting and get ready to watch the play connected with a court trial of someone. But soon we come to know that a group of, amateur players who belong to Sonar Moti Tenement Progressive Association, Bombay have come to a village hall to stage their play, the trial of President Johnson for producing atomic weapons. But as they have plenty of time to kill before the actual performance, they plan to stage a mock-trial so that they can induct Samant, the local hard in the regular performance at the fourth witness. The amateur dramatic troupe consists of its chairman Mr. Kashikar, his docile but talkative wife. Mrs. Kashikar, a school teacher, Sukhatme, a lawyer without any practice, Ponkohe who is Intermediate failed but posing as a great scientist, Karnik, an actor posing as a theature expert, and Balu Rokde, the adopted son of the Kashikars, Prof. Damle who is also a member of the troupe but he is absent.

The members of the amateur dramatic troupe plan to stage a mock trial making Miss Benare the accused. When she returns from the washing closet, she is accused of infanticide under Section 302 of Indian Penal code.

Ironical Presentation of Court Scence: When we expect somethings serious from the trial of the accused, we find total disorder and lack of decorum normally associated with the law court. We find that judge Kashikar himself checking pan and allowing his prosecutor Sukhatme, his wife Mrs. Kashiker, Ponkshe and Karnik to do the same. He even grants an adjournment of ten seconds to the prosecutor for spitting out pan. He leaves his seat and goes out to spit pan to verify the exact time taken for doing that. This makes the accused Miss Benare question the prosecutor whether it is a court of law or spitting contest.

Ironical title as there is no such seriousness in the court: The very title of the play itself is highly ironical for there is no silence or discipline in the court, which is going to sit in judgement against Miss Benare for her crime of infanticide and unwed motherhood. Even the wife of the judge pokes her nose in all husband. He has to silence her before he silences the accused and others to conduct the trial. Thus Tendulkar's Silence! The Court is in Session is a powerful satire of modern society. The characters attack each other and expose their latent sadism and hypocristy. The hollowness of the middle class society is exposed through Benare Damle episode. In the name of social values, moral standards and religion crash on the accused like a bombarded building. But not one of them raises his voice of protest against Damle who is responsible for the eatastrophone of Benare. He is not even summoned as a co-accused in the court. She is facing the trial while he is attending an academic seminar. He is like a Nero fiddling while Rome is burning.

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