The scenes of villagers seeing the RamLeela actors as Lord Ram, Sita and Laxman reminds you of the late 1980s, when Arun Govil spoke about how he couldn’t be spotted having a drink after playing the divine part in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan.Īlso relevant is how some politicians use the religion card to play their politics, never mind that the common people suffer as a result of their ambitions and greed, which has been realistically brought out on screen. While a number of films (like Delhi 6) in the past have used the RamLeela to tell a story, Hardik also addresses the blind faith of the villagers and the mixing of politics and religion. While theatre company owner Bhanvar also plays Raavan, Rajesh Sharma’s Bajrangi oversees the production, handles finance, drives their bus and also plays Hanuman, and Ankur Bhatia’s Lachhu, too, doubles up as their electrician, besides playing Laxman. Interestingly, like the actors of a travelling troupe play dual or multiple parts, the players of this RamLeela, too, play more than one part. In all this, there’s also the local politician Ratan Singh (Gopal Singh), who uses the RamLeela for a Shobha Yatra/Rath Yatra as a preparation for his campaigning for the upcoming polls. Bhanvar, who has his eyes on Rani, naturally, isn’t pleased with the development. They’re drawn towards each other and start making plans to leave for the city of their dreams, oblivious that everyone in the troupe is aware of their blossoming love story. Encouraged by the response his portrayal of Raavan is garnering from the troupe and audience alike, Raja Ram, inspired by Rani, also aspires to head to Mumbai to become an actor. REVIEW: From the opening sequence of a troupe bus driving into a Kutch village to perform the RamLeela, director Hardik Gajjar, who has also written the screenplay, wastes no time in getting on with the story. But can there be any possibility of Sita going with Raavan in real life, even if they were merely essaying the parts on stage? That’s when politics and religion get into theatre, and thereon things quickly get difficult. He’s drawn towards Rani (Aindrita Ray) who plays Sita on-stage and she also reciprocates later.
Initially shooed away, when Bhanvar (Abhimanyu Singh) falls sick, Raja Ram is sought out and offered to step in to play Raavan in his place. So, when a theatre company comes to his village, Khakar, Gujarat, to stage the RamLeela, he seeks a role, any role, to begin his journey in performing arts. STORY: Son of Panditiji (Rajendra Gupta), Raja Ram Joshi wants to become an actor.