A Critical Analysis of Vijay Tendulkar's The Vultures

The Vultures (Gidhade) was actually written 14 years before it was produced (1970) and published (1971). It shocked the conservative sections of Marathi people with its naturalistic displays of cupidity, sex and violence. After the first production of this play, Girish karnad wrote that the staging of Gidhade could be compared to the blasting of a bomb in an otherwise complacent market place. It was with the production and publication of Gidhade that Tendulkar’s name became associated with sensationalism, sex and violence. There ensued a long war with the censors who condemned the play as obscene and in bad taste. Conservative sections of Maharashtrian Society were stunned by the open display of illicit sexual relations and scenes of violence that constituted the plot.