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    ASURAS: A Tale of The Ill-Famed Incarnate

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    Ashwini rajani

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    ASURAS: A Tale of The Ill-Famed Incarnate

    Uploaded by

    Ashwini rajani
    21 views1 page

    Original Title

    ASURAS

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    © © All Rights Reserved

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    21 views1 page

    ASURAS: A Tale of The Ill-Famed Incarnate

    Uploaded by

    Ashwini rajani

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    ASURAS: A tale of the ill-famed incarnate

    The Indian myths and the traditional style of its narratives play an important role in the revival
    of culture and in acting as a unifying force within the society. “Asuras” – by Theatrekaran – a
    small yet ambitious Tamil theatre family – takes a different dimension on the age-old Indian
    mythology – Ramayana and help us derive unexplored meanings from a contemporary
    perspective. Now, will this perspective make Ravana – a hero? Or will the core of it remain the
    same?
    In this day and age, the 21 st century as we call it, definitions, disclaimers and derivatives, all of
    them have changed manifold. Let bygones be bygones cannot work anymore, and our epics say
    enough about this. The good and the evil, like science and feelings can take up countless forms.
    If mere hashtags can make our country rise from ashes, aren’t we all much more than what we
    are perceived to be; And if a normal being could be much more, do you think we have the hold
    to the right perspective of the most powerful king – Ravana?
    Ravana – often referred to as the demonic king of Lanka, is a symbol of evil and the antagonist
    of the Indian epic Ramayana who had innumerable super powers that enabled him to launch
    over thousand arrows, create fire and rain, or even go invisible. However, this devout follower
    of Lord Shiva and connoisseur of arts was also endowed with several positive qualities. The
    serious flaws he possessed had insatiably neutralized the numerous divine qualities of him;
    making him the classic example to show that a mighty could hold high excellence but a single
    frailty in character would drag him down.
    With that put forth, “Asuras” does not change the classic narrative of Ramayana; the good and
    the evil remains the same and so does the victory of the good over the evil. Howbeit, it gives us
    a deviance from the image that we have always built in our minds by making us witness the
    most egotistic person break into tears as well as how the epitome of calmness can have its
    limits. It shows us how demons too had emotions.
    Apart from the well-chosen plot and structure, the most distinguishing factor of the play was
    the dominance of the devotion held by its actors towards it. The potentiality of the genre was
    fully utilized by every actor, be it a major or minor role, and gave full justice infusing both the
    mythical character and the significant script.
    This highly contemporary play by Theatrekaran was not only a fine instance of bold
    appropriation of both Hindu and Indian mythology but also of the total secularization of
    mythological drama. Not to reveal the essence of the script, but Asuras sure did touch the
    audience and hit their heart in a strange way as they knew Ravana did deserved his death, yet
    they couldn’t stop empathizing for him.

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