Art forms come together to portray a saga for the ages

The smell of perfume filled the air as performers touched up their make-up. There were slight jitters before they stepped onto the stage. It was a packed house. However, as the bell chimed to signal the start of their performance, all nerves disappeared as the artistes began the portrayal of the life of Lord Ram.

Navratri celebrations returned to the Capital last week, with artistes bringing to life an epic tale of love and sacrifice through the Ramlila. The celebrations will continue till the weekend, when Dussehra marks the end of the festivities.

And one of the most pre-eminent portrayals of the Ramayana is being enacted at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra (SBKK), now presenting the 68th rendition of its Ramlila, Shri Ram.

The story of Lord Ram, played out over 26 scenes, Shri Ram has been put together and perfected by SBKK chairperson Shobha Deepak Singh — the dance-drama is an amalgamation of classical and folk art forms.

“There are a lot of new costumes and jewellery. Newer styles of lighting effects have been used. Additionally, we always try to put equal emphasis on all characters to make the story more interesting,” Singh said.

Rutuparna Dashota, who has portrayed the character of Sita for the last four years, said performing the role of such an important character on stage has contributed a lot to her personal life. “Playing Sita is a huge responsibility. She is not just a character but a divine figure. There are several complexities in the entire performance, like different mudras, and we have to be careful about them,” she said.

Applying aalta to her fingers moments before her performance began, the 26-year-old said, “I still get nervous before every performance but try to remember that even if I goof up, we should just continue confidently and finish the show.”

Talking about the challenges of bringing the production together, Singh, a Padma Shri awardee, said, “It is always a mammoth task to coordinate everything perfectly. There are a lot of young performers too and to make sure that the character they are playing is getting into their skin is very important.”

The show brings to life the unique saga of Lord Ram and his journey to victory, compressing the entire production into sequences of highlights, spanning two-and-a-half hours. Starting from Lord Ram’s birth, his marriage to Sita, his exile, and the journey that culminates with the slaying of Ravana and Sita’s agni pariksha, the performance is a pinnacle of mixing dance, drama and storytelling.

As the day’s performance began at 6.30pm, the stage came to life with lights, music, and dancers in bright costumes. The audience erupted into a round of applause as Lord Ram came on stage, the music reaching a crescendo, indicating the beginning of a saga.

Anushka Singh, who had come to see the show with her family and four-year-old son, said, “This was a great show. We came for the first time and I feel this is such a great way to introduce the story to the newer generations.”

Rajkumar Sharma, who has enacted the role of Lord Ram for over 25 years now, said he has to keep up his stamina and stay in constant practice to do justice to the character. “But my experience definitely helps me portray emotions better, especially through so much makeup. The tiniest of things like body language, hand movements, etc are important when playing such a significant role, which holds special sentiment with people,” Sharma said.

Ghanshyam Khinchi, who plays two roles — that of Ravana and Bharata — said that the biggest challenge in a live performance is movement with such heavy costumes and jewellery.

“But nothing beats the thrill of being creative and always adding new bits to your character. When you perform, you are the character and you must feel the role,” Khinchi said.

SBKK director Jayant Kastuar said this year, computerised lights were used to perfect the lighting for the saga. “We believe that through our endurance, we have perfected the genre of dance drama we use. This year, a whole wardrobe production was done for the show and the jewellery was designed and produced in-house,” Kastuar said.

The show ended minutes after 9pm, with the return of Ram, Lakshman and Sita to their kingdom.

As the ending notes were made, people from the audience lined up before the stage, shoes kicked aside, to meet the performers personally.

Merta Palao from Spain was visiting a friend in Delhi when she found out about the show. “I could not resist. I had heard about the colours, drama and extremes of Indian performances as such and I had to experience them once. Of course, I do not understand Hindi very well but the story has been divided into sequences and that is helping me understand what is happening,” she said.