A new book series for young adults, a stage satire and a soon-to-be released 3D animation flick have one thing in common: Raavan. Just when did the epic villain become a more compelling protagonist than Ram, asks janaki viswanathan

In an open court, an emperor tortures a man accused of conspiring against him. The man, in fact, is his brother. That's the opening scene from a new book for young adults that's just out in bookstores. Pyre of Queens is the first of the Return of Ravana series, published by Puffin. It runs in two parallel time zones ufffd 769 AD and 2010. At the centre of the story lies an emperor who has discovered the secret to Raavan's powers. The emperor, Ravindra-Raj, is cruel, power hungry, arrogant, has a mighty sexual appetite, and wants the universe to bow before him. All disturbing resemblances to the demon king.



While Raavan isn't a living, speaking character in this racy thriller, he is its focal point. Author David Hair says he was looking for a villain to cast in his Indian fantasy. "Raavan was the obvious choice. I wanted all four books to follow the pattern of the Ramayana," he says, speaking over the phone from his Chanakyapuri residence in New Delhi. But Ravindra-Raj isn't a pure villain, the New Zelander clarifies. "It's not apparent in the first novel from the series, but the forthcoming books will see a progression in character. Ravindra-Raj isn't all evil."

Hair has read various versions of the 2000 year-old epic and calls the Ramayana an 'interesting take on morality'. He's not the only one. There seems to be a sudden spurt of interest in the bad guy of Valmiki's epic. Was he really all-grey, was he justified, and what if Sita had been seduced by his power, are just some of the questions curious minds are asking.

Cursed to be a villain
One of the legends explaining Raavan's bloody end on earth comes from the Bhagwath Purana. Lord Vishnu had two doorkeepers, Jai and Vijay, based in Vaikunth. They once refused entry to four sages who arrived to pay their respects, because the Lord was resting. The sages waited a while and returned only to be met with the same answer. After three failed attempts, the enraged sadhus cursed the doorkeepers: "Because you stopped us from meeting God three times, may you be born three times. May you experience death three times. May you know what it is to be away from the presence of God for three lifetimes."

The duo was reborn as Hiranayaksha and Hiranakashipu, asura brothers, both killed by two avatars of Vishnu ufffd the boar and Narasimha. They were then reborn as Raavan and his brother Kumbhakaran, who was destroyed by Ram (an avatar of Vishnu). The doorkeepers' curse was finally lifted when, in their third rebirth as Shishupala and Dantavakra, they were killed by Krishna, another of Vishnu's avatars. We guess Raavan didn't have much of a choice then. He was cursed to be a villain.

But for ages, several sections of society have chosen to overlook Raavan's biggest mistake: abducting Sita, and instead, worshipped him for his administration, valour, honour even. Mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik calls him a flamboyant villain. "One can't help but wonder: why does the poet, Valmiki, go out of his way to make his villain so admirable, so seductive, so enchanting?" wrote Devdutt in one of his columns.

Peeling the onion
It's perhaps this that caught Hair's fancy too.
Puffin's editorial director Sudeshna Shome Ghosh puts it down to the rich layering of Indian epics. "It's tempting for authors to use characters from epics since they can be interpreted in a variety of ways, making them attractive for even a young adult reader," she says. Ghosh says the Return of Ravana is not a straightforward story about Raavan; it uses the character obliquely. "Simple re-tellings don't work anymore; they need to be made imaginative." That said, the publisher clarifies that Ravindra-Raj, and by that definition Raavan too, is the bad guy. "We are not trying to recast him in another mould."

Nor is Ketan Mehta's soon-to-be-released Ramayana in 3D, directed by Chetan Desai. The animated feature is boosted with the third dimension, but remains a simple retelling of the epic.

Retelling the Ramleela
Ditto for Om Katare's recent production, Raavanleela. The play is a comic take on the tradition of staging the Ramleela in hamlets across India, usually enacted by untrained artistes who often forget their lines and can't get through without a prompter. "The audience wants to see the Ramleela, and waits to see Raavan die; they don't care about the quality of execution," says Katare. In his version, the actor playing Raavan demands a wage hike, refusing to die unless he is paid Rs 300 per performance. "That makes him similar to trade union leaders who hold scores of people to ransom," says Katare.

His interest in Ramayana, and Raavan, is far from recent. Heu00a0 wrote the Raavanleela script 30 years ago but admits to finding courage to stage it only now. "It's one of the greatest scripts ever written, and every modern day drama winds back to its plot, its characters."

Southern star Vikram agrees with Katare. The Tamil actor who played Dev (Ram) and Beera (Raavan) in Mani Ratnam's trilingual Raavan, says we can't help but muse about the Ramayana or the Mahabharata every once in a while. "The stories that we make for films often have their roots in either of the two epics. It's not a conscious effort; it's natural," he says.

Raavan as hero
When Mani Ratnam's Raavan released earlier this year, the point of interest (and controversy) was that he had decided to cast the villain as the protagonist. The audience sympathised with Beera (Raavan) and Ragini (Sita) who was drawn to him. In fact, as the honest, upright but egoistic police officer, Dev (Ram) seemed more grey than Beera. Om Katare seems reluctant to comment. "The reference to Ramayana was unnecessary, and ruined the charm of Ratnam's film."

Prem Sagar of Sagar Arts, producers of two versions of the Ramayana, wasn't curious to watch the film. "I wasn't comfortable with the posters. Mani Ratnam is a great filmmaker but Ramayana is meant to be made with devotion. It's not about technique."

Perception, changed or unchanged?
The Sagars' TV versions showcased Raavan as a villain, but with honour nonetheless. Prem Sagar's father, Ramanand Sagar, was particularly fond of the character. "Papaji was touchy about how we presented Raavan. We had to make sure he didn't turn out like a standard villain. He had to have his honour intact." Sagar Senior extended the belief to films too. Aankhen, Lalkar and Arzoo didn't feature any villains, because he didn't believe in the all-grey guy concept.

Like Ratnam, Film Shot Productions revisited the character four years ago. They produced TV soap Raavan, which delved into the demon king's history. "Raavan was regarded as a villain just because he abducted Sita. No one questioned why he did it, or what led to it," says Narendra Jha, who played the lead.

But for Vikram, Ratnam's film altered his perception about the epic baddie. "Raavan (the movie) changed my outlook. Suddenly, Raavan took on a whole new meaning. He was so volatile, so powerful, yet so vulnerable! But Ram still holds his magic. I still envision him with his bow, standing calm, yet lethal. Strong, but beautiful"
What we are waiting for is the radio version of the Ramayana voiced by Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah. That and a comicbook series by Sanjay Gupta of the iconic Raj Comics. The creator of characters like Nagraj and Doga recently tweeted about casting Raavan as the new superhero. His superpowers? Take a guess.

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