Mapping the Urban Space: Representation of Mumbai in Dattani's The Big Fat City

Sahitya Akademi award winning only Indian English dramatist Mahesh Dattani’s latest drama The Big Fat City
(2014) is considered to be the first black comedy in Indian theatre as in this text the dramatist has sarcastically
portrayed the stylized lives of the city dwellers and their involvement in socialization. Thus the textual fabric of
The Big Fat City captures the ever-moving ever-whirling spirit of Mumbai, the city of action where life never
stops. People who come into this city with aspirations and who go back from here with shattered longings all
want not only to have a big bite of it but also to connect with its ‘nerves’. The ‘big fat city’ is not void or lifeless
but the gap of reciprocity renders it with barrenness. Taking cue from social critics I, in this article, am going to
depict how Mumbai is presented in three dimensions - a mirror, a mirage and a magnet which reflects the
people’s lives, eludes the dreams of its people and attracts people respectively. Thus the city becomes a
character and influences the lives of its inhabitants incessantly.