The latest Ramayana

Despite the underwhelming trailer, the movie turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

The ecology of the world recreated through VFX offered a glimpse of what India could have been. Ayodhya, the Sarayu and the enchanting forests and rivers that feature in our epics are today either dead, dying or unrecognisable. When one watches any on-screen adaptation of say, The Odyssey or The Ten Commandments, the Greece and Israel portrayed are always worse off than the Greece and Israel of today. For India, it’s the other way round. Always. And this is another damning example of how the Indian state has failed all of us.

Growing up, there was no religion practiced at home. So mantras and slokas from our epics are foreign to me.  This ‘void’ was filled up by Amar Chitra Katha, which has always been the default reference point when I think of the Ramayana. It was largely through Uncle Pai I came to imagine Rama, Sita, Ravana and the world they inhabited. For an entire generation growing up today, including my daughters, this movie might well become their default reference point for the epic. (The first five minutes of Kalki 2898 AD, were also similarly the best graphic treatment of the Kurukshetra war that I’ve ever seen)

The portrayal of Sita as a warrior was refreshing. For the first time, we get to see her as a woman with agency. I read it as a smart reference to the multiple interpretations of the Ramayana that have existed across centuries. (Also a good time to read A.K Ramanujan’s 300 Ramayanas)

Shobana, the heartthrob of an entire generation who grew up in the 80s and 90s is now cast as Ravana’s mother. Imagine! Speaks a lot of my own age I guess.

I’m not sure how long Ranbir Kapoor as Rama will be remembered. But Kapoor as Parashurama may well be immortal. He looked comical, and it really cracked me up.

Ravana debating with ten different ideas, each expressed by a different Ravana and all the ten heads eventually coming together was a brilliant reimagining of the ten headed asura. His eventual decision to incur the wrath of Rama, despite knowing that his death was destined to come at his hands, made him all the more tragic. I found it to be the most magical scene in the entire movie.

What I appreciated most about the movie was that it was devoid of the political jingoism that I dreaded encountering. Rama, for many Indians, is now not merely a god but also a political icon. Rama-bhakti is no longer just a personal bond between a devotee and the Lord. So it was a delight to see the movie steer clear of political jingoism and instead focus on showcasing the grandeur of the epic.

Postscript: Before leaving for the 9.30 am show, I flipped through The Indian Express. It featured two pieces celebrating the life of a man who had just entered his 100th year, the man who catapulted Ram from the confines of bhakti into the cauldron of communal politics.