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Mahesh Dattani is one of the most celebrated voices of contemporary Indian English drama, and his plays have drawn attention not only for their subject matter but also for their distinct linguistic texture. A recurring debate around Dattani’s craft relates to his use of English, particularly whether his characters all speak in a homogenised, convent-school variety of English that lacks the regional and class-based nuances of Indian speech. This criticism has been advanced by several scholars who argue that his plays often present urban English as a neutral, standardized mode of communication, which, while lending his work accessibility to metropolitan theatre audiences, raises questions about authenticity in representation. In his play *Tara*, this issue becomes particularly significant since the text revolves around identity, marginalisation, disability, and the politics of gender within an Indian middle-class family. To evaluate whether Dattani’s characters truly speak in a uniformised “convent English,” it is necessary to analyse the linguistic strategies he employs in *Tara* and the dramatic functions his language serves. At first glance, Dattani’s English in *Tara* may appear smooth, polished, and largely devoid of heavy regional markers. The dialogues of characters such as Patel, Bharati, Tara, and Chandan flow with fluency and command of idiomatic English that resembles the linguistic proficiency associated with convent education. This might give the impression that his characters are speaking in a uniform register, regardless of their emotional states, class, or generational positions. In this sense, the accusation of homogenisation has some merit. However, such an observation risks oversimplifying the nuanced ways in which Dattani __________ _______ ______ ____ _________ __________ _______ ________ _________ _________ _________ _______.
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