Hindus concerned at possible re-imagination of scripture in Mandalay’s ‘Ramayan 3392 AD’

Nevada (US): There seems to be a new interest in the production of Hollywood movie “Ramayan 3392 AD”, earlier announced in 2008, and concerned Hindus have urged the makers to stay true to the story and the spirit of the timeless epic.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) on Sunday, said that Ramayan was a highly revered scripture of Hinduism. Hollywood was welcome to make a movie about Ramayan but the final product should be the true depiction of it and not a fantasized or a re-imagined version. Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, argued that changing Ramayan to fit the Hollywood machine was likely to hurt the Hindu sentiments as Ramayan had been venerated for thousands of years and they believed that it would continue to be revered in 3392 AD. Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken lightly. No faith, larger or smaller, should be plundered; Zed stressed and added that pillaging and inappropriate use of Hindu scriptures and serious spiritual doctrines for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees. He further said that Ramayan was an integral part of Hinduism and was held in such reverence that Hindus believed that simply reading/hearing of it showered blessings upon the reader/listener. Ram, the hero of Ramayan, was incarnation of Lord Vishnu and was worshipped by Hindus. Hindus welcomed Hollywood to immerse in Hinduism but taking it seriously and respectfully and not for refashioning Hinduism concepts and symbols for mercantile greed. He or other Hindu scholars would gladly provide genuine Hollywood seekers the resources they needed for their study and research, Zed pointed out. Ramayan, an ancient Sanskrit scripture that consists of 24,000 stanzas, explores various themes, including human existence, concept of dharma, etc. ANI