It always perplexes (wow, that's a tongue twister! and also rhymes with multiplexes... sorry im digressing) me to see the amount of time we decide to see the same story countless times without any twists in it. How many times do i want to see a Ramayana with the same emphasis on how perfect Ram was and how he was dealt with so badly?
That's why it was a little surprising for me to see a serial called 'Ravan' yesterday on T.V. and what absolutely shocked me was the fact that Ravan was NORMAL. He didn't interject his sentences with 'Muhahahahahhahaha'. He talked sensibly all the time. He didn't plan to loot, pillage or rape anything. Best of all, he tells someone he's gonna get screwed because his dad messed up with the gods. Imagine the Ravan of lore doing that!
i am reminded of Amita Kanekar telling us in 3rd year that the Mahabharata had 13 versions, one of them having the Pandavas as the bad guys and the Kauravas the good ones. Which might explain why i was such a confused child regarding the Mahabharata. Yudi loved to gamble, Arjun was a transsexual/crossdresser, Bhima was a cheater in battle and Krishna was the Emraan Hashmi of his times of all. And Duryodhana, whose biggest crime seemed to be wanting to be king, was the bad guy. Go figure.
Every few days the Bible is re-interpreted and newer additions made to it, Shakespeare's plays are adapted to the Mumbai underworld or the Hindi heartland, but rarely do i see a re-telling of our myths. i wanna see a story or play where Ravan and Sita elope to save Sita from a bad marriage. i don't think it's too tough to do, is it? Oh wait, the V.H.P. may be reading this....
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