Ravana – The Untold Story of the 11th head is a 40-minute solo- dance and drama performance by Surya N Rao. He has had this story in mind for over eight years. He wanted the audience to grasp the knowledge of incarnations of Ravana and portray the fact that Rama is the ultimate. He is the artiste, director and has written the story with the help of Keerthi Kumar and several books which interested him. This play will be staged on June 29 at Ada Ranga Mandira.
“With thousands of interpretations of the Ramayana, the concept of prathinayaka attracted me. I wanted to showcase the aspect of the anti-hero to the audience. I show that if there is no Ravana, there is no Rama as well. Rama is of course the ultimate. Rama is Vishnu’s avatar and Ravana chose the evil form to say that he is waiting to go back to his life after the accomplishment of his life as Ravana.”
Describing the storyline, Surya shares, “I begin the story with Ravana standing at the threshold of his incarnations. He takes a trip down the memory lane recollecting his deeds. As a Brahmin, he performs puja for Rama’s victory, creates the veena from his intestine to please Lord Shiva and his encounter with the frog-turned-lady Mandodari who he marries her. Ravana meets Rama after 64 generations after his sister Shurpanakha was humiliated by him. He reminisces these events the night before the battle with Rama.”
Surya says, “With some beautiful interpretations in Ramayana, my performance shows that Ravana has the thinking power of 10 people and the eleventh head is his own perspective of doing things.”
Talking about the elements and the focal attraction of the performance, “I have included multiple elements. I inculcated Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Yakshaganga, Kalari. I have incorporated pre-recorded dialogues in five languages – Kannada, Sanskrit, Malyalam, and Sinhala, a language spoken by Ravana. Praveen D Rao is responsible for the beautiful and pleasing music pieces that he added in accordance with the script.”
This performance is targeted at varied audiences. Surya adds, “One is for those who are mesmerised by this narrative. Also for the people who know about the scriptures, its sacred writings and interpretations.”
Surya has made a few corrections in the way he uses the stage. The performance has appealing visuals, pleasant music and multi-lingual dialect.
