That the world doesn't exist in black and white cannot perhaps be better explained in the context of Indian mythology than the Ramayana. For, despite the strong narrative of good versus evil that runs through it, we know of more than 300 versions of the epic, with plot twists and adaptations, that exist across South and Southeast Asia.

Between 2009 and 2011, the Adishakti Laboratory For Theatre Arts Research — which was established by the late Veenapani Chawla as a theatre company in Mumbai in 1981 before she felt her vision to help artistes engage with theatre on a more holistic basis could be better realised in the calmer environs of Auroville, Puducherry — engaged with the Ramayana, inviting performers and thinkers including Sattriya monks from Majauli, Indonesian dancer Sardono Kusomo, Aruna Sairam, Chhannulal Mishra, Romila Thapar and Ashis Nandy, to weigh in on its many versions. The conversations that emerged paved the way for several productions where artistes employed a new approach to the old text, rescuing "an old cultural symbol from being suffocated by purism."