A sight, less ordinary...

"Show me the meaning of being lonely…" Perhaps, this hit number from once popular boy band, Backstreet Boys, also sums up the crucial moment in Ramayana, when Lord Ram, had to take a call between being a king and a husband. It also reflects Sita's ultimate sacrifice when she journeys back into Earth's womb. Regardless of the political correctness of Ram's decision, squarely debated by devotees and feminists, it is the act of renunciation, from both ends, that holds fort at the end of the day. Ram and Sita- very human, very un-Godlike (and melodramatic for some!), acting out within the confines of patriarchy.

That is exactly how Ram and Sita emerged from the richly conceived world of Puppeteer Anurupa Roy and architect-animator Vishal K Dar's collaborative effort, "…about Ram" (based on 7 th Century AD Sanskrit Poet and Dramatist, Bhavabhuti's Ramayana).

The production was decidedly ambitious and innovative in its vision and though in parts, animation tended to out do puppetry, the stand-alone moments of introspection (Ram's remorse in the beginning on the sea shore) , action ( Hanuman's ravaging of Ravana's
Ashok vatika) and renunciation ( Ram and Sita's decision), were the most well executed sequences, where puppets made it all the more human, more believable.
For a rasika, to engage himself/herself with three streams of viuals- Puppeteers, Puppets and Animation- and then to collate three to fully comprehend their inter-dependence and inter-relationship is not an easy task. What do you look at and when, and what can you afford to miss? Mercifully, there was enough breathing space and Anurupa bravely attempted to even out the dilemma through her mature direction. Ram's war on Lanka went the animation way, where as Ashok Vatika was stolen by the puppet!

The production was complex (and one believes it was not deliberate) with puppeteers becoming life size puppets. Then, there were dance- elements of Mayurbhanj Chhau and Kathakali- bringing in the dramatic element. The four disciplines of dance, puppetry, theatre and animation, were therefore fused together to create Ram and Sita and their share of demons. The puppets, moistened with emotions, invested by the manipulators, narrated their own story. The animation, sprung to life, drenched in saffron and technology and art, birthed a battleground. And amongst all this, the internal world of Ram and Sita manifested through puppets where as the external world of war came alive on screen.The ekaharya tradition of dance was dexterously followed, with Ram becoming Hanuman, perhaps also as a reference to the myriad emotions that inhabit one individual.

But there were a few feathers that ruffled against the current. The sequences involving the shadow puppets and the episode depicting Hanuman setting Lanka on fire, were marred by lack of coordination (with a tail-less Hanuman!) and consequently, trivialised the uniqueness of shadow puppetry ( which is a dying art and needs pro-active approach).

However, the effort, the vision behind, and the canvas of, "…about Ram" raises the bar of innovation in puppetry. The aesthetic stage design and impressive dance sequences embellished the production. Not to forget, the highly humorous episode involving Hanuman at Ashoka Vatika. While the puppet and life size Hanuman were ravaging the Vatika, the icing on cake for this writer and others sitting around in the audience- was a question put by a child to his mom, "Mummy, Where is Hanuman?"