Dystopia in Disguise: Disintegrated Societies in Manjula Padmanabhan's Harvest and Lights Out

Abstract:The two worlds created by Padmanabhan have further significance in that they demonstrate how dystopia is embedded in reality, making it more relevant to the contemporary audience. Harvest sets itself up as a fictional dystopia while keeping enough reality for the contemporaries to recognize; Lights Out, on the contrary, begins as a realistic drawing room drama that initiates itself from a social incident, but reaches out to include dystopian qualities bad enough for the audience to want to deny its practicality. … Although by definition neither utopia nor dystopia can exist, Padmanabhan's depiction of dystopian societies that touch the quotidian life strengthens her commentary and critique on the existing world.