Aligarh :
People are long accustomed to it – everyone knows that beneath all the make-up that Sita wears on the Ramlila stage, is a male face. Traditionally, men played all the characters on the Ramlila stage, but things are now changing.
Mahesh C Suharid, president of the Ramlila Gaushala Committee of Aligarh that organises the festivities in the run-up to Dussehra, said, “Earlier, there were problems in getting women to perform the roles of Sita or Kaushalya on stage. Things have changed in the past few years. People have realized that pulling the crowds means having women on stage, and the women are not as reluctant any more to play these roles. There are more people now attending the Ramlila.”
Vipin Swami, who is directing the Ramlila, is in the city from Mathura’s Braj Natya Kala Kendra. He says including women is also one way of shedding some work: “They understand the emotions of Sita and Kaushalya better. I don’t have so much explaining to do to them. And it is not like they have to exert themselves too much to express those emotions, like some of the men.”
Vipin Swami remembers a time when only the character of Sita was played by a woman: “In the 1970s, the sole woman on stage played Sita. That was because she was meant to marry Ram, and the marriage was arranged for the two on stage.”
After Ramananda Sagar’s epic Ramayana serial was aired on TV in the 1990s, the audience had taken to worshipping Deepika Chikhaliya, who played Sita. That was when Ramlilas that were performed live began to include women actors.
“The TV serial eroded the audience for the live Ramlilas. A serious attempt was then made to involve women in the Ramlila, as one way to increase the participation of women and resuscitate the traditional stage,” said Jitendra Vyas, president of Braj Natya Kala Kendra, also a Doordarshan artiste.
The 30-strong troupe from Mathura arrived in Aligarh on September 16. It started practising from September 18. Four members of the troupe are women.
On Saturday night, the show will begin with the kidnapping of Sita, the Sita apharan. Class 10 student Pooja Sharma is set to essay the role of Sita.
“I feel blessed to play Sita,” she said, while Ritu Sharma, a teacher from Mathura who is also part of the Ramlila troupe, says acting is also a means of empowerment.
“The crowd arrives from different strata of society. They see women performing roles in the Ramayana. If a positive message is sent out with the increased participation of women in every other field, then why not also in the Ramlila?” asks Ritu Sharma.