Shot at 37 different locations of Ramnagar, a small town in Varanasi, 'Ramlila of Ramnagar' has not only been documented for archivial purposes but also an exhibition, 'Bimb Pratibimb', displaying pictures of the various scenes of the Ramlila are up at Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) here.
A visual documentation of a 31-day-long Ramlila of Ramnagar patronised by Kashi Naresh, the maharajah of modern day Varanasi and his forefather for more than two hundred years is all set to be aired on Doordarshan
The Ramlila which generates a crowd of over a million pilgrims is basically operated by Maharaja with the help of Pt. Laxmi Narayan Pandey and his cultural family every year. The 'Ramnagar ki Ramlila' is an Unesco labelled intangible heritage of India.
The 37 different locations mentioned in the Ramayana are represented in various areas of Ramnagar So one can find specific thematic names like Ashok Vatika, Lanka, Panchvati etc in the town, thus forming a unique and unparalleled form of theatre work in India. The spectators move along with the actors from one place to another.
Speaking about the challenges during documentation, the makers recall how it became difficult for them to convince the locals who were against shooting. It was only after lot of reasoning that they allowed the shooting.
"We faced challenges because we needed to respect the sentiments and the emotions of the people there. The people were against documenting. It was a very unusual scene for them but when we told that this was for the archival purposes they understood," Project Director Gautam Chatterjee said.
