Sita sings the Blues

All the recent Diwali hullabaloo got me thinking about the reason Indians celebrate it, which of course brings me to the great Indian epic, The Ramayana! There have been many many versions of this story, but I think none as controversial as this one by animator Nina Paley, called "Sita Sings The Blues". SSTB is a musical, animated personal interpretation of the Ramayana. Nina's marriage to her husband Dave fell apart, and retelling the story of Rama and Sita was a sort of cathrsis for her. The aspect she has focussed on is the relationship between Rama and Sita, and Nina is very clear about emphasizing that this is HER Ramayana and not THE Ramayana!

This is a brief synopsis:

"Sita is a Hindu goddess, the leading lady of India’s epic the Ramayana and a dutiful wife who follows her husband Rama on a 14 year exile to a forest, only to be kidnapped by an evil king from Sri Lanka.  Despite remaining faithful to her husband, Sita is put through many tests. Nina (the filmmaker Nina Paley herself) is an artist who finds parallels in Sita’s life when her husband – in India on a work project - decides to break up the marriage and dump her via email. Three hilarious Indonesian shadow puppets with Indian accents – linking the popularity of the Ramayana from India all the way to the Far East - narrate both the ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the epic."

In her first feature length film, Paley juxtaposes multiple narrative and visual styles to create a highly entertaining yet moving vision of the Ramayana. Musical numbers choreographed to the 1920's jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw feature a cast of hundreds: flying monkeys, evil monsters, gods, goddesses, warriors, sages, and winged eyeballs. A tale of truth, justice and a woman’s cry for equal treatment. Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as "The Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told."

Interestingly Nina Paley has not copyrighted any of her material, the film, the prints, the images and has made them all freely available. So if you have the interest and the time - 1hr 21mins 32 secs - to watch it, you can do so here! I have only watched the trailer and that was enough to pique my curiosity. I will be watching the entire film one day. But be warned - this film is so different from any version of Ramayana you may have read - many have found it irreverent and bawdy, some have criticized it as lacking in any kind of authenticity, while others have found it funny, beautiful, clever and touching! You can decide for yourself. 

Here are some stills from the movie:

Ram, Hanuman and Sita

 Blue landscape

 Hanuman burns Lanka

 Rama and his army

 Rama exiles Sita

 Ram shoots demons

 Ram, Sita and the Gods

 Ravana and Sita in the chariot

 Rishis

 Sita and Laxman with the chariot

 Ram and Sita in the forest

I have always been a fan of animation, and whatever emotions the movie may stir up in its viewers, good or bad, I have to admire the vivid imagery and color of the animated movie.