Violated Bodies and the Reclamation of Female Subjectivity in Usha Ganguli’s Ham Mukhtārā and Maya Krishna Rao’s Walk

Abstract

The article sets out to analyze the victimization and objectification of women and the assertion of female subjectivity in the agitprop theatres of Usha Ganguly and Maya Krishna Rao. The article focuses on Ganguly’s Ham Mukhtārā, an adaptation of Mukhtār Māī’s autobiography, In the Name of Honor: A Memoir, which registers protest against a patriarchal society that subjugates women, as well as Rao’s Walk, which challenges the dynamics of power and the societal ostracization of women. The article argues that in the wake of the Nirbhayā case and the ripples created in society by the protests, candlelit marches, and public performances, these recent feminist-propagandist plays are conceived as part of an ongoing pursuit on the part of both artists to resist the phallocentric objectification and reductive categorization of the female body and to reclaim the agency and subjectivity of women.