Report : Prionka Jha
The Ramlilas are around the corner in Delhi and many areas are witnessing grand shows full of splendour and gaiety. One of the main centres of Ramlila in the city is at Sri Ram Art Centre. Every year this centre organises Ramlila in the form of dance-drama that has a distinct style of presentation which is a reflection of its 44-years experience in organising such events. This centre was established in 1947. It began with a specific objective of keeping dance and music alive. Soon this center got transformed into a big organisation called Sri Ram Indian Art Centre. Today this centre not only organises dance, music, ballet but also is to keep alive the Indian traditional art and at the same time present it in a new form to the people with a view to give impetus to its all-round growth. Like every year this year also Sri Ram Centre has announced to present a dance-drama based on Ramlila entitled ‘Ram – A paragon of exemplary virtues.’ This will be presented between September 28-October 23.
A new dimension of Rama’s divine character has been attempted in this dance-drama. The director of Sri Ram Art Centre, Shobha Deepak Singh says that for a decade, the thought of restarting Rama’s story was there in her mind. “The crux of Rama’s story is the victory of good over evil is what comes in front of us but this time we have tried to present a new dimension because ‘to err is human, to forgive is divine’.” Shobha Deepak Singh says that the secular character of Rama would be specially highlighted. At the same time, the purity of religious values would be maintained. In the process, she would keep in mind the impact of electronic media and suggestions received from people.
This time Sri Ram Centre has felt the importance of language as well. The language should be clear and simple, easily understood by people. Thus, for the first time Hindi has been used in the dance-drama instead of Awadhi. The important thing is that the dialogues in the drama are spoken in the background in a poetic style. But this time it will be in Hindi language where as earlier it was based on stanzas of Ramyana in Awadhi. She further says that this is the first time that 45 artists will participate in the dance-drama. It will be organised in about ten districts or villages of UP. Neelav and Arvind Kumar have prepared the script of this drama in the spoken Hindi language. Shanti and Vishwajit have given music. Ravi Chauhan will enliven the divine character of Ram and Kankoli will play the role of Sita.