FilmIndia (Feb-Dec 1949)

February, 1949 FILMINDI A ahana .ni<l Sofia help t<> bring spring i<> the screen in Kishore Sahu's "Sawan V>a Re", a -ooial *torv of Hindu-tan Chitra. Now see what Mohan lal Dave and joo Bhatt have given us in "Ram ian". ^ ijoo's Ravan rolls his eyes M nstantly like a drunken idiot and eps asking "Main koun?" And himself replies to this with: \a\an'. This idiotic outburst is peated so often that Valmiki's lofty nception of Ravan is soon ridiculed d brought to dust with a contempt at drags down also the character of 1 im to the same low level. This "Main koun. Ravan" husines* unds something like the disgusting jjarati brag amongst our film procers such as "Hoon Koun? Vijoo latt!" or "Hoon Koun? Chandulal lah !" etc. DISTORTED INCIDENTS ! Let us now examine a few incints which the producers have disted and twisted out of shape to ike a story for making easy money. 1) In '"Ram Baan" we are shown 'swayamvar' mandap in Ravans rbar in which his sister Shoorpanla goes around, garland in hand, in arch of a husband but finding all feated and vanquished by her broer decides not to marry. This incident is entirely fictitious, le facts as mentioned in Yalmiki imayan are that Shoorpankha. ivan's sister, was married to Yidujjiva who was killed by Ravan mself in a battle. As reparation this act, Ravan gave Shoorpan kha the kingdom of Dandkaranya. with an army of 14000. where she was living and ruling when Ram arrived to stay at Panchavati. Seeing the handsome Aryan. Shoorpankha tries to flirt with Ram and Laxman and is ultimately deprived of her nose and ears when her demoniacal origin is discovered. \\ hat inspired Mohanlal Dave and Yijoo Bhatt to improve on \almikfs Ramayan in this manner we cannot say. 2) The golden deer incident in which Sita's womanly temptation for something that glitters has also been twisted by the producers. Actually when the demon Marich appeared as the golden deer around the ashram. Sita was tempted by the thought of herself wearing a choli fkanchukD made of the skin of that golden deer. This incident of a woman of even Sita's spiritual stature falling a prey to a temptation with its tremendous tragedy of subsequent happenings has in it a specific moral significance for the Hindu world. But Mohanlal Dave evidently missed it and makes Sita say that she wanted the skin of the deer to make a choli of it as a present for I rmilla. Laxman's wife. From the spiritual significance hid den behind a womanly temptation the whole incident is reduced to a Xmas present affair by this idiotic twist. If this is not distortion, may we know what is it ? SACRILEGIOUS DISTORTION ! 3) When Ram goes hunting for the golden deer. Ravan lets out a distress call in Ram's voice and Sita thinking Ram to be in danger chastises Laxman and ultimately succeeds in sending him in search of Ram, But before going Laxman draws a safety line around the ashram saying that anyone crossing it would be burnt to ashes and takes a promise from Sita not to step beyond the line. When Ravan appears in the guise of a mendicant and refuses to take alms from inside this line, Sita steps out through the sheer cultural and religious impulse of not letting a mendicant go back empty handed from a Hindu's home. It is thus that Laxman s safety line is transgressed and Ravan succeeds in kidnapping Sita. Contrary to this lofty concept of "'atithi-satkar" as practised by Hindu kings through ages. Mohanlal Dave and little Yijoo seem to have mistaken Laxman's safety line as a modern maginot line and devised a way of stepping over it. Yijoo's Ravan places his wooden sandal across the line and asks Sita to step on the sandal and give the alms. This distortion is disgusting for two reasons. Firstly Sita could have stepped out without anything happening to her and secondly Sita. the wife of Ram. could not possibly step on the sandal of a stranger seeing that even the shadow of a stranger defiled the chastity of women according to our old Hindu standards. If this important incident in Ramavan is allowed to be distorted in this heartless manner, one wonders what will remain of the original Ramayan in another ten years. OBSERVING GOOD ETIQUETTE ! 4) Prakash's "Ram Raan" once acain tw ists another well-known incident out of shane. It relates to Shabri. the Rhil devotee who was a maid of the sage Matani. According to Yalmiki Ramavan, Ram and Laxman meet Shabri for the fir<t time in her ashram while wanderini in search of Sita after she was kidnapped by Ravan. There Shabri feeds the Lord with h^lf-bitten berries. After this meeting Shabri entered the fire and destroyed herself. But Yijoo and Mohanlal Dave must improve on Yalmiki and distort 43