How Ramleela artistes weave simple language and humour into storytelling

Its that time of the year when the troops of Ramleela narrate the epic Ramayana to keen audiences through various skit performances As the Navratri festival begins on Sunday October 15 the Ramleela troupes are in the midst of their lastminute preparationsOver the years the art of traditional mythological storytelling and the Ramleela performances have survived because of their community connections The Ramleela is a traditional Indian art form that originated in the northern parts of India mainly in the state of Uttar PradeshThe artistes from Mathura mainly await the Navratri festival in order to perform and showcase their traditional art and give the audience a glimpse of Ravan Dahan on the last day the 10th day of the festival also known as the Dussehra festival The Ramleela is a dramatic reenactment of the epic Ramayana a Hindu mythological story that narrates the life journey of Lord RamaSeveral mandals have been organising Ramleela in Mumbai at different locations including Dadar Cotton Green Tilak Nagar and Girgaum Chowpatty to name a few Even in the digital world of technology and the Gen Z generation the artistes express that their art cannot be stated as dying art as even today people eagerly visit to watch them performThe 72yearold artist Baijnath Chaturvedi from Mathura has been performing since the early 1960s According to Chaturvedi since his grandfatherrsquos era the family members have been a part of the Ramleela troopThe term lsquoRamleelarsquo is derived from two words lsquoRamrsquo which refers to Lord Rama and lsquoleelarsquo which means skit or playChaturvedi who performed the role of Lord Ram in his earlier days has now taken up various other roles as and when required Chaturvedi has travelled across India to perform Ramleela According to Chaturvedi Ramleela is still a traditional art that people like to watch especially the Ravan DahanThe crowd gathers slowlyWhile in the first few days there is a smaller audience more crowds can be seen gathering in the last few daysChaturvedi explains ldquoWe canrsquot say it is a dying art Even today people like to watch the epic episode of Ravan Dahan Every year while on the first three days there are fewer people who gather to watch our performances On the last three to four days we see a huge number of people gathered at each and every location in Mumbai On the day of Dussehra Ravan Dahan concludes our skit performances with a bangrdquoRamleela is performed during the nine days of Navratri and concludes on the 10th day with the celebration of Dussehra It marks the victory of good over evil According to the artistes Ramleela has regional variations in different parts of our countryAccording to the artistes efforts have been made to preserve and promote the Ramleela art form Artistes concerned with the decline in the audience have started moulding their art form to keep the audience engaged and the cultural heritage aliveSpeaking about how the old artistes have moulded themselves to blend with the demands of the new generation Chaturvedi explained that they keep the traditional language alive but twist it in a way that will help them connect with the newer audienceChaturvedi said ldquoThe older generation is connected to us because they have been watching us perform Ramleela for a very long time But to connect with the newer generation we try to mould language and add a bit of humour that helps the young population understand the mythological stories in a better way We try to use laymanrsquos terms rather than very old traditional wordsrdquoAdding about what they prefer to not change in order to keep the traditional art form alive he added ldquoWe do not use dark comedy or filmy songs only mythological songs are used to connect with the mythological stories and keep the art aliverdquoAccording to Chaturvedi itrsquos their duty to keep the Ramleela art alive and raise awareness about it among younger generations so that people donrsquot forget this artThe younger generation is keeping it aliveWhile Chaturvedis grandfather father and brothers have been artistes since their childhood the new generation in his family thinks that they need to preserve Ramleela as an artJust like Chaturvedirsquos mandal there are at least 10 to 20 more mandals in Mathura that perform Ramleela throughout the year professionallyChaturvedirsquos 27yearold grandson Siddharth has been performing with his family for the past 10 to 12 years As a child artiste he has performed various roles including Ram Lakshman and Sita to name a fewAccording to Siddharth he always wanted to be an artiste like his family members in order to perform the Ramleela and take the art forwardSiddharth said ldquoA few of the people from the younger generation in Mathura now prefer to do professional jobs and take up Ramleela art as a hobby While a few like me want to encourage this art by taking it to a professional level in a few cases the youngsters work in a corporate setting for the entire year and take leave during a 10day festival in order to rehearse and perform RamleelardquoIn one troop there are at least 15 to 20 male artistes who perform different roles including that of a female character ldquoWe dont have female artistes in the troop All the characters are performed by male artistes onlyrdquo specified SiddharthTaking the help of digital mediaSpeaking about whether the troops take advantage of digital media in order to gain viewers Siddharth explained ldquoDuring offseason we keep on posting pictures and videos from the scene of the skits in order to engage the viewers and attract a new audience to see art formrdquo