This episode presents a comprehensive, critically engaged study of Vijay Tendulkar, one of the most powerful voices in modern Indian drama, through a close reading of his landmark play, Silence! The Court Is in Session. Situating the play within Tendulkar’s life, intellectual formation, and commitment to social realism, the discussion reveals how theatre becomes a site for exposing moral hypocrisy, gendered violence, and the cruelty embedded in everyday social structures.
Focusing on the play’s innovative play-within-a-play structure, the episode analyses how a mock courtroom rehearsal gradually transforms into a ruthless moral trial, dismantling Leela Benare's private life and dignity. Her silencing is examined as a deeply gendered act, reflecting the patriarchal values and middle-class respectability that Tendulkar relentlessly critiques. Attention is also given to Tendulkar’s dramatic language, irony, and use of the courtroom metaphor as instruments of psychological and social exposure.
The episode briefly situates Silence! The Court Is in Session alongside Tendulkar’s other significant works, including Gidhade, Sakharam Binder, and Kamala, highlighting his sustained interrogation of power, oppression, and institutionalised morality. Designed for UG and PG students, teachers, and theatre studies scholars, this episode serves as a definitive study guide, demonstrating why Tendulkar’s drama remains ethically urgent and profoundly relevant in contemporary discussions of justice, gender, and social conscience.