Journalism of Courage
The setting is November 2007. An enthusiastic group of parents in Delhi have gathered to stage a Ramleela with a difference. This presentation is called Anek Ramayan,and true to its name,has stitched together many versions of the epic to present a remarkably cohesive play. Recently,Delhi-based film-maker Shikha Sen made a visit to Open Space Pune with a film that is a documentation of that play that has a mind-boggling amount of research involved while making it.
The epic Ramayans connect is widespread and that has given birth to hundreds of local versions,apart from the ones known to be written by Valmiki and Tulsidas. As Sen put it,”I used to always think of Ramayan as a very monotonous story,but the variations make it fascinating for me.”
The film is essentially a chronicle of the play and the emails that the parents exchanged with each other while finalising the script and treatment. The shooting,done by a ” shaadi wala video guy”,is far from professionally slick and the acting is amateurish. But the merging of the ideas is brilliantly achieved. The music score also lifts the spirit of the film – a track list of about 20 songs has captured Ramayana-related Baul verses,Oriya renditions,Malayalam poems,wedding songs from Mithila to Pandit Bhimsen Joshi’s songs. “It has taken up a life of it’s own,” Sen concedes.
Anek Ramayan has so far been showcased in Delhi,Kolkata and some select American colleges. But for Sen and the team,the journey of acceptance was the biggest take away. “We have tried to show not what is apparent. We are not trying to make any comment either; it is about accepting that there are versions of the stories that are different from what we know,” says Sen.
