Sita Sings the Blues

Sita Sings the Blues had been on my list of must-watch movies ever since I happened to chance upon its trailer on YouTube sometime last year. Recently, when my brother mentioned it, backing it with his recommendation, I finally got down to watching this animated feature film., only to regret having not seen it earlier.

Employing the technique of shadow puppetry to narrate one of the oldest epics of all times, the Ramayana, in a very colloquial, conversational, and almost irreverent, discussion mode; using a host of colorful imagery, interspersed with classical jazz music pieces by Annette Hanshaw, interluded with a contemporary parallel drawn from the director's own life, in a movie that is available for free viewing (under the Creative Commons Atttribution-Share Alike license) - Nina Paley's Sita Sings the Blues is a path breaking experiment in cinema in more ways than one. Read more about it here.

The mythological tragic theme of Sita - the epitome of the righteous wife, who forsakes the wealth and abundance of the palace to follow her husband (Ram) in his exile, who is kidnapped in the forest, salvaged by her supremely powerful husband, forced to undertake the test of fire (quite literally) to prove her chastity, only to be banished again when she is carrying twins, and finally given the option to come back on the condition of another agnipareeksha (test of fire), which thankfully Sita denies and commits suicide (in a way) to end her miseries. This juxtaposed with the modern comedy of marriage from the life of Nina Paley (the director) whose long standing boyfriend abandons her leaving her high and dry, to fend for herself. What is very vividly brought out is the universal and eternal quality of the story of Ramayana outside of its religious context.

There are several other themes, alternate discourses and even questions that run throughout the narrative, quite evidently, though perhaps a little subtly:

• If Ram's father, Dasratha was the just and fair king he was known to be, how come he was unfair to his own son for the sake of a vow given to one of his queens.
• Was Ravana really the huge, ugly monster/villain he has been now made out to be? Apparently, the only great character flaw he ever had was he was smitten by another man's wife (Sita) - and that has been his only mistake. He was infact very well read and well endowed (by the gods).
• Why did Sita not leave Lanka with Hanuman when he first came to see her - in a sense the whole purpose of the historic war was to establish Ram's supremacy and omnipotence. If she had just escaped with Hanuman - it wouldn't have been much of an ego boosting exercise...or did Sita feel so outraged at her abduction that she wanted her man to come and rescue her in full glory with an epic scale war that killed way too many people; or maybe she never completely trusted Hanuman. Who knows?
• When Sita had already 'passed' in her test of fire (not considering for the moment how wrong Ram was in demanding it in the first place), why did he again abandon her because what a washerman said. Heavy rests the head that wears the crown? The just king versus the husband dilemma? Was that a difficult choice? Why is it so important that the leader be trusted by the wrong guys too? Is that good leadership? Even a four year old understands that "that was not fair of Ram' - Read about it here. Why is Ram then still considered an ideal man?

So, what may be the saving grace of Ramayana (or maybe not)? Finally, Sita did not forsake her self respect to return to the man who had doubted her inspite of her being with him in the most lowly of circumstances (the exile). She asked Mother Earth to take her (that is suicide) - and that final sacrifice pins her as the idol for all womanhood for all times to come. Why? Because so many believe that she silently did all that was told to her by her husband, thus upholding the true virtue of a wife? Perhaps not! On the contrary, I believe, that was her way of showing her disappointment in Ram. She resorted to means that were socially acceptable in those times. Today, if your husband does not trusts you (asks you for DNA tests for your children - wouldn't that be modern day agnipareeksha?), you might not want to return to him, but you wouldn't commit suicide - you could leave the house, start afresh somewhere else - society has grown to accept divorces and marital separations (the taboos exist but there is a real choice) - Sita did not have that option!

Coming back to the movie, it does not score a perfect 10 - when you see something that is good, you become greedy and also see the potential of what all could have beeen better. However, Sita Sings the Blues is a MUST WATCH. 82 minutes of a lot of sense, fantastic story telling, imagery and a whole load of food for thought - all this available for free on the Internet. You wouldn't get a better deal.

[Image Source: Google Images]

That was not fair of Ram!

This post comes, well, a tad bit delayed. And don’t get me started on how I trapped myself into being so busy when I thought I was “done”.

Last weekend, my nephew Ads – yes the super brilliant guy I talk about here – asked me to tell him one of the Ramayana stories from his Amar chitra katha collection. This four-year old has recently acquired a new found fascination for Indian mythology – especially Hanuman, Ram et al.

I was more than willing to spend a lazy Saturday evening with him, and enthusiastically asked him to choose the story he wants me to narrate.

As my luck had it, he chose the Uttar Ramayana – For those unfamiliar with Indian mythology, this is the part of the epic where Lord Ram sends Sita to the forest after his subjects (starting with some idiotic launderer) raise doubts about Sita’s chastity after her having stayed in Ravana’s custody. As is obvious from the subject of the tale, this one is not a simple tale about all good and destruction of all evil. Many hindus in fact do not consider this part of the original Ramayana – Else how can they claim Ram to be “Purshotham” (the best among men) when he turned his wife when she needed him the most!

With doubts on how I would gloss over the uncomfortable parts of the tale, I started telling Ads the story. But haven’t I told you before – this is not just about any 4 year old – he is not only very inquisitive who wants a story neatly laid out right to the finest of details – but he also exhibits a keen understanding of the details.

As you would expect I was ragged big time; here are some excerpts from our conversation that day. Most of the vocab I have used at the first go is a direct pick from the Amarchitrakatha book:

Me: So let’s start – so as you know Ram was a just and fair king.

Ads: What is just and fair.

Me: He was honest, always did what is right, was a good ruler.

Ads: Oh ok, I am also just and fair.

Me: Yes you are.

Me: One day, Ram heard that his people did not like Sita because she had been kidnapped by Ravana – so he decided to send her away to the sage’s hermit.

Ads: Why did they not like her? But Ram fought with Ravana, right? And he saved Sita – then why should he send her away just because people did not like her.

Me (trying to spin whatever excuses I could at the top of my head – crap, as if I cared what Ram did): But Ram also thought that his children should be born in the jungle with the sages so that they become intelligent and powerful.

Ads: Was Ram born in a jungle?

Me: No

Ads: But he was powerful and brave right? Then why should his children be born in the jungle.

Me: But it’s just a story and this is what happened. Everybody makes mistakes right. Ram also made a mistake by sending Sita away. So can we continue with the story?

Ads: Okay…

Me: So Ram did the ashwamedha yajna (I explained to him as much as I could what it required) – yajna has to be done with the wife else gods get angry. But Sita was in the jungle, so Ram built a gold statue and used that statue for the prayers.

Ads: Did he ask her to come?

Me: No

Ads: He should have said sorry and asked her to come – she would have.

Me (given up on defending Ram): He didn’t think of that.

Ads: Okay, but gods know right – Ram can’t fool the gods – they know his wife is in the jungle and this is just a statue.

Me: Yes….let’s continue…

Me: So Luv and Kush were defeated Hanuman and Lakshman, and started fighting with Ram without knowing he was their father.

Ads: Why did Sita not tell them?

Me: She didn’t want them to feel bad that their dad left them in the jungle.

Ads: Ram was not a good father, no?

Me: No. Okay, so then when he asks them who’s your mother and they say “Sita”, Ram becomes very sad – he feels very bad and becomes unconscious out of grief.

Sita tells Luv and Kush about Ram and they are happy. The sage asks Ram to go back with his entire family to Ayodhya.

But, Sita wants to go back to her mother (I didn’t want to get into the insult and suicide concept) and her mother is Earth – so the earth opens up and Sita goes inside.

Ads: She kills herself (see, I told you he is no ordinary 4 year old)

Me: It’s not really killing

Ads: But why does she not go back with Ram?

Me: Because she is angry with Ram as Ram sent her away to the forest and was not there to protect her when she was scared.

Ads: But the sage protected her.

Me: But Ram just left her right?

Ads: Yes, That was not fair of Ram. Just because someone tells you something, you can’t leave your wife and children right? (Well, if this was so simple, I wonder why Lord Ram faltered)

I think Hanuman is the best person in Ramayana – he helps everyone and saves everyone – he respects and loves everyone also. I think he is better than Ram. Ram was not fair.

Me: Yes, but Ads these are all stories, okay? Now let’s order pizza.

Ads: But stories can happen for real right?

Me: What topping on your pizza?

Ads: Paneer without spice!

Me: Thank god for pizzas!