Ramayan in cinema and television
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS
As in 2023
Arushi Bhaskar, May 9, 2023: The Indian Express
The trailer of the much awaited Prabhas-starrer Adipurush finally came out this week, featuring Telugu actor Prabhas as Lord Rama, Kriti Sanon as Sita and Saif Ali Khan as Ravana. The film, directed by Om Raut (who previously helmed the National Award-winning Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior), is an adaptation of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana, credited to Valmiki and considered one of the most important literary works of Hinduism.
Indian cinema, across industries, has shown a fascination with the Ramayana, with adaptations dating back to the very first films of the subcontinent, in the early twentieth century. Apart from straightforward adaptations, where little to nothing is changed from the source material, there have also been derivations where the epic has been reimagined in modern times and dealing with more contemporary themes.
More importantly, however, the story has become an indelible part of popular culture, with its characters and settings often becoming symbolic of a larger issue or theme. For example, if two people in a film are called ‘Ram’ and ‘Sita’, it will almost be obvious that they will get married and be the ‘ideal’ couple, with the woman having to prove her loyalty and chastity at one point.
We take a brief look at the enduring legacy of Ramayana.
Pre-Independence era
Dadasaheb Phalke, the ‘Father of Indian cinema’, chose the Ramayana as the theme for his second movie, 1917’s Lanka Dahan. The film is based on the Sundara Kanda chapter of the epic, which deals with the adventures of Hanuman, and his role in rescuing Sita from Ravana’s kingdom. The film is also notable for having the first ‘double role’ by an actor in Indian cinema, with Anna Salunke playing both Rama and Sita (women were not allowed to take part in commercial arts at the time).
In 1934, C Pullayya made the Telugu film Lava Kusa, which became the first major commercial success in Telugu cinema and paved the way for Hindu mythological films to thrive in the industry for decades to come. The film is also credited with pulling audiences to the theatres and ultimately building up a theatre-growing crowd amongst the Telugu-speaking population.
Another notable venture was Vijay Bhatt’s Ram Rajya (1943), starring Prem Adib as Rama and Shobhna Samarth as Sita. It became the first Indian movie to have a premiere in the US, and was also notable for its title and its connection to the Indian independence movement— ‘Ram Rajya’ literally translates to ‘Reign of Rama’, a phrase Mahatma Gandhi often used to invoke democratic rule for India. Ram Rajya ended up becoming the only film Gandhi ever saw, since he was opposed to the cinematic medium on principle.
Bhatt made at least three other movies with Adib and Samarth playing Rama and Sita: a year before Ram Rajya, the three had worked on Bharat Milap (1942), and the collaboration would be reprised with Rambaan (1948) and Ramayan (1954). In fact, Adib and Samarth were so popular as the mythological characters that they were featured as Ram and Sita on calendars, according to Heidi R.M. Pauwels’ book Indian Literature and Popular Cinema: Recasting Classics.
N T Rama Rao, Telugu cinema’s mythological star
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, popularly known as NTR, played Hindu gods so many times in films that commentators over the years have credited these roles with bringing him an almost-unprecedented level of success in the political arena, and ultimately, making him one of the most popular Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh.
Although NTR was most famous for his roles as Lord Krishna, he played Rama in many significant films as well. In 1958, a year after he starred as Krishna in Mayabazaar (a role and film that remain popular to this day), he starred in the Tamil film Sampoorna Ramayanam where he played Rama and Tamil superstar Sivaji Ganesan played Bharatha. Padmini, one of the most popular actresses of the time, played Sita.
In 1963, he starred in Lava Kusa, a remake of the C Pullayya film. The new film was also directed by Pullayya, along with his son C S Rao. The film won the National Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu, and was the first full-length colour film to come out of the industry.
NTR would go on to direct, produce and star in Sri Rama Pattabhishekam (1978), a film where he played both Rama and Ravana, the protagonist and antagonist of Ramayana respectively.
His descendants too would go on to star in Ramayana adaptations. Nandamuri Balakrishna, NTR’s son, played Rama in Sri Rama Rajyam (2011), which was an adaptation of Lava Kusa (1963). Nayanthara played Sita in the film, while NTR’s contemporary Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR) played Valmiki. Earlier, in 1997, NTR’s grandson (son of his other son Nandamuri Harikrishna) Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Jr (who would later become famous as Jr NTR), starred as Rama in Ramayanam (1997) as a child actor. The film featured thousands of child actors, and won the National Film Award for Best Children’s Film.
Foreign adaptations
One of the most popular adaptations of the Ramayana in the 21st century is the anime film Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama (1992). It was directed by Koichi Sasaki, Yugo Sako and Ram Mohan (known as ‘father of Indian animation’), and had music by celebrated musician Vanraj Bhatia. The film courted controversy from its initial stages, as its production coincided with the peak of the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute, and was even banned for some time. Later, a Hindi-dubbed version was aired on DD National, which eventually developed a cult following.
Another animated adaptation that created controversy was Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues (2008), which was a juxtaposition of Sita’s journey in the epic and the director’s own life experiences. Right-wing Hindu organisation Hindu Janajagruti Samiti said that the film “attempts to misrepresent the events and characters of Ramayana in the most derogatory manner through its explicit graphics, audio and dialogues,” and called for a complete ban on it. Protests were also staged at screenings of the movie in the US. Sita Sings the Blues would go on to win a number of awards.
Opera Jawa (2006) is an Indonesian-Austrian film based on the ‘Abduction of Sita’ chapter from the Ramayana. It is a musical, which features traditional Javanese classical music and dance in an opera setting. The married couple in the film used to act in plays depicting the epic, highlighting the cultural tradition of Ramayana in Indonesia.
One of the latest foreign adaptations of the Ramayana was Yak: The Giant King (2015), which retells the story of Hanuman from the Thai version of the epic called Ramakien. The film falls in the science fiction genre, and is a futuristic adaptation of the epic.
Ramayana adaptations in 21st century India
In 2001, the Rajkumar Santoshi directorial Lajja released, featuring the stories of four women in the oppressive patriarchal Indian society. All four had names which are versions of ‘Sita’: Vaidehi, Janki, Ramdulari and Maithili. This also predictably created controversy, with reports of BJP workers in Madhya Pradesh burning effigies of Santoshi and posters of Dixit for “objectionable dialogues” on Hindu gods in the film.
Veteran director Mani Ratnam made the Tamil-Hindi bilingual Ravaanan/Raavan in 2010. The films had slight variations in their casting, but otherwise followed the same story, of a police official in search of a tribal leader-turned-Naxalite who has kidnapped his wife. In this modernised Ramayana, there is also the added layer of the Sita character Raagini (played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in both versions) having Stockholm syndrome (a supposed psychological condition in which kidnapping victims develop bonds with their captors). Ratnam’s version is also notable for highlighting the perspective of the Ravana character.
Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama: The 1993 Japanese animated film
Sampada Sharma, June 17, 2023: The Indian Express
A little known Japanese film Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama was trying to find its feet in the country. Directed by Koichi Sasaki and Ram Mohan, and conceived by Yugo Sako, this was largely a Japanese production that is probably the best animated feature on Ramayana made till date.
Most of us know it as the ‘Cartoon Network Ramayana’ or the ‘Japanese Ramayana’. The film released in Japanese theatres in 1993 and had a rather tough time in India in the earlier part of that decade. Made by the Nippon Ramayana Film Company Ltd in Japan, the film’s budget was a whopping $6.7 million, a huge amount at that time. Yugo Sako, the Japanese animator first got the idea of making the film when he visited India in the 1980s, and during his subsequent visits, when Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana brought the country to a standstill every Sunday, Sako got familiar with the effect that the story had on the Indian masses. He joined forces with Ram Mohan, popular as the father of Indian animation, and conceived a film that would summarise the epic into a feature length film.
Late Ram Mohan’s wife Sheila Rao told Scroll that Sako was “impressed with the fact that here was a huge epic that was also a great story with deities and people and birds and animals and magic potions and war and motion.” The two animators wanted this to be an India-Japan co-production but the Indian side wasn’t as welcoming. As per Rao, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting pushed Ram towards making animated stories on Panchtantra. The idea of showing god in animation wasn’t wholly accepted in India and there was a certain apprehension about allowing foreigners to interpret the epic. Kenji Yoshii, the assistant producer of the film, told Kyodo News that it was actually quite understandable that Indians were hesitant. “It was as if Indians were making an animation on the Japanese imperial family, so it was natural for the Indian government to feel shock and worry,” he said.
It was reported that Vishva Hindu Parishad did not appreciate the idea and hindered its making but Ram Mohan’s son Kartik Mohan says otherwise. “Sako San had been introduced to the VHP by Professor BB Lal in the early 1980s and had secured their approval for the project even before my father became involved,” he told Scroll. Even Sheila Rao recalled something similar in her conversation with the publication and said that it was the VHP that told Sako to meet Rajshri’s Tarachand Barjatya, and it was through him that he got in touch with Ram Mohan.
Back in the 1980s, technology wasn’t as advanced as it is now so making a film that involved artists from both the countries wasn’t convenient for anyone, but Yugo Sako and Ram Mohan persevered and the end result was nothing less than extraordinary. Indian artistes would send handmade drawings to the Japanese studio and the discussion that followed this exchange was also quite brief. “There were no mobile phones, fax or emails, and we were discussing images that we received via courier,” Yoshii told Kyodo News. As per the film’s official website, the Indian side was in charge of scenario, art settings, dialogue recording, music, and the Japanese side was in charge of the storyboards, background, original drawings, animation, coloring, photography, and editing. Vanraj Bhatia composed the music for the film, which was dubbed in Japanese, Hindi and English.
But, despite the ace quality of the film, it did not get the kind of welcome they had expected in India. Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama had a limited release in Indian theatres in 1997 and wasn’t marketed well enough to draw any crowds. Kartik Mohan shared in the same interview, “For a number of reasons, Ramayana was never properly distributed, let alone marketed, on its Indian release. The movie ran in a few metro theatres and disappeared within a couple of weeks.” But after its release on satellite television, the film found its audience. “In effect, the Indo-Japanese Ramayana became a beloved holiday-season television special, and ultimately enjoyed greater longevity than most live-action feature films,” he said. On the other hand, the film celebrated its 25-year anniversary in Japan with year-long screenings.
Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama could have been a watershed moment for the Indian animation industry in the 1990s. The film was entirely produced in Japan and hence, the Indian animation industry never got the boost it could have gotten if this had been a collaboration between the two countries. The film got another lease of life in 2022 after PM Narendra Modi visited Japan and met with Atsushi Matsuo, the executive producer, and Yoshii. Upon his return, Modi spoke about the film during Mann Ki Baat and said, “People living thousands of kilometres away from us in Japan, who don’t know our language, who don’t know much about our traditions, their dedication to our culture, this reverence, this respect, is very commendable – which Indian would not be proud of that.”
Cartoon Network doesn’t draw the same kind of crowd it once did but for those who want to revisit the nostalgic days of hassle-free television, Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama is available to stream online. The film did not get a traditional release here but for anyone who grew up in the 1990s, it was this film that was probably their introduction to the mythological epic and continues to evoke fond memories at a time when various new retellings are in the works, with one of them, Adipurush.
