Ravan and Sita converse in Kathakali and Kuchipudi
On 9 February 2023, ‘Sita Ravan Vaadam: The War of Words’ was presented at the IHC in Delhi by T. Lakshmi Reddy under the direction of her guru, Jayarama Rao ji. Her Nritya Vahini Academy does a lot of work for dance. They collaborated with the Kathakali Institute for the nritya natya production. Lakshmi portrayed Sita while B. Jagadeesan Thiruvattar portrayed Ravan. The production was about the conversation that Ravan and Sita have in the Ashok vatika, to which Hanuman was a witness. There was a life-size tree on the stage. The characters of Ram and Sita were essayed by Kuchipudi dancers and those of Ravan and Hanuman by Kathakali dancers. The rest of the dancers were all Kuchipudi dancers. Hanuman is the protagonist here, who narrates what he witnessed when he went to Lanka as Ram’s messenger to assure Sita, carrying Ram’s ring as his token. Lord Hanuman was played by a Kathakali dancer dressed in an elaborate costume with white hairy apparition and long nails on one hand.
