Ram, in yet another avatar

TELLY VISION

Nearly two decades ago, when I was a student in a boarding school, teachers, students (well, most of us), peons, caretakers, and sometimes, even the dhobi, used to assemble religiously in what we called the "common room".

Here, in the midst of the rising stench of smelly socks, loud murmurs and a mad scramble for seats, we strained each and ever limb to be close to that modest television set.

You see, the humble telly showcased Ramanand Sagar's televised version of Ramayan and if I remember correctly, there were even some hands in the audience that religiously folded every time Arun Govil, who played Ram, came on screen. Of course, it was also the serial that marked the great divide between students who wanted to watch video cassettes of English films (a sad minority) and those who fought (not very hard, in this case) to watch this serial.

The streets of Ajmer (where I'd studied) emptied as people sat in their homes to watch this serial complete with its shoddy costumes and tacky sets. Close to that time, I even remember reading a newspaper report when some residents of Jaipur took to pelting stones after they saw the onscreen Ravana from the same serial making an appearance in their city.

Contrary to that extreme treatment, the serial's Sita Ma (Deepika), on that same trip, found herself blessing people who were old enough to be her grandparents. The trio, if I remember, had come to Jaipur way back in the late '80s for some election campaign. The residents of Jaipur went into a tizzy, came with arti thalis and garlands and applied vermilion on their "Ram aur Sita".

It's been 20 years and with so many memories attached to the old serial, it was weird to go through a press release on what was called the "brand new Ramayan".

Interestingly, the serial is once again from the house of Sagar Arts and produced by Prem Sagar, son of the late Ramanand Sagar.

This version of the Ramayan will boast of a new breed of young actors, fancy sets by Omung Kumar (he's behind some of Bollywood's best sets, including films like Saawariya and Black) and songs sung by veterans like Suresh Wadkar and Kavita Krishnamurthy. NDTV Imagine, the new channel showcasing Ramayan, has already put up hoardings all over the country announcing the show's launch on January, 21.

But I wonder if the magic will be recreated. Not only has the Indian television content undergone a sea change, what's also changed are the audiences who viewed these serials with immense devotion. Can you imagine anyone running to greet the onscreen Ram, for instance, at a Cafe Coffee Day outlet? Or, for that matter, beating up a person now simply because he's an evil character from this sacred epic? I don't think so.

That said, the world of animation and comics all over is busy recreating Ramayana. There's an Indo-Japan collaboration that created Rama""The Prince of Light and Virgin comics too will start a series of books dedicated to the epic.

But what caught my attention was this hilarious Youtube video made by a group of teenagers from the US for their school project. Dirty socks, complete with post-it notes, announcing names of characters and some fantastic dialogues in clipped accents completed the look of the video with background scores from Star Wars.

A sample: Bharata: "Hey Rama, I'm mad at what my mum did to you. I'm now gonna take your sandals and put them on the throne." Or better still: Rama: "Stupid Ravana. You wait. I'm gonna get you." I suppose, there's a Ramayana for everyone.

(abhilasha.ojha@bsmail.in)