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Zee to explore other side of 'dreaded' Ravan

Beginning this weekend, Zee TV is all set to turn into another mythological venture with their new series Ravan, but it is not an ordinary epic tale.

Ravan is projected as an evil in Ramayana but Zee TV's Ravan, in which Narendra Jha plays the main lead, will bring forth the other facet of his personality.

"So far, we've only seen Ravan as the ultimate villain. There was a motive and a design behind everything that Ravan did. The serial will attempt to expose the other hitherto - unknown side of Ravan's personality," Ashish Kaul of Zee told IANS.

However, there is a risk of turning the ultimate villain into a hero.

"We are aware of this. But surely the audience is now ready for revisionist interpretations of the scriptures. We don't mean to disrespect any of our icons. But many Hindus believe that Ravan is thoroughly misunderstood," said Kaul.

"Do you remember the time when the roads used to be deserted during the telecast of Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan? We can't hope for the same impact. But we do hope to revive the era of the mythologicals on television," he added.

Narendra is excited at the opportunity to portray one of Hindu religion's most dreaded antagonists.

Ravan, a wronged villain?

New Delhi: A new television series called Ravan, on Zee TV, has for the first time, begun providing a sympathetic view of the life of mythological figure Ravan in popular entertainment.


The serial focuses on the different aspects of Ravan's life and his personality.


Ravan has always been the villain in the popular consciousness - the flawed polar opposite of Maryada Purushottom or Lord Ram.


However, in Tamil Nadu, Ravan has been seen as a symbol of Dravidian pride and Southern non-Sanskritic hero as compared to the northern Hindi-speaking Ram. There are several Ravan temples in the South and the first in north India is already being built in Rajasthan.


The topic of discussion on Face the Nation this time was - Is it wrong to see Ravan as a villain?


On the panel were the actor who plays Ravan in the TV series Ravan, Naren Jha, the producer of Ravan, Gulshan Sachdev, professor of history, A R Venkatachalapati and historian, Puroshottom Agarwal.


Does Ravan need an image makeover?


Ravan is a hero (or a villain) who has an image problem. He is essentially an epic gangster. So what motivated Gulshan Sachdev to produce the serial?


"Actually the Ravan war itself is very exciting. If you mention the word to any Indian they will get excited. I never thought that I would make a serial on Ravan. I got a message from Zee TV one day where Aswhini was programming with a business head and he asked me whether I was interested to make a serial on Ravan. I was excited and after thinking for all of 10 seconds I said, 'why not?'," said Gulshan Sachdev.


So how does Naren Jha feel when he plays Ravan? Is there an inner Ravan within within him?


"I really don't think that there is a Ravan within me for I don't think that I am that strong and that big. I always considered Ravan to have a larger than life image and he was really a scholarly man. He has so many qualities that I don't have. And definitely making an attempt to play his character gives me a lot of pleasure and excitement," said Jha.


So how is Ravan being presented in the serial? Is he a a sympathetic character or is he a kind of a mythological don from Ramayan?


"The serial is about the normal life journey of Ravan, about how he comes from nowhere when he started his initial journey of life. Being a person from an ordinary family, he chalked out his strategy to become the great man that he was," explained Jha.


Jha added that he was not wearing all the ten heads that symboilise Ravan in the serial. He explained that there was in fact an interesting story behind the 10 heads. "He used to wear a mani ki mala which reflected his 10 heads and people used to think that he has 10 heads. It was the reflection of the mala that made him a Scandhar (ten-headed man.

Raving about Ravan

Delhiite Narendra Jha talks about his role in the newest Zee TV series, "Ravan"

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EVIL Narendra Jha as Ravan Call up Narendra Jha and his baritone response at once makes you ask the actor whether the show producers have zeroed in on him to play Ravan only because of his voice. Such a deep voice with a resounding effect is now increasingly getting scarce among actors. The one and only instance that comes to your mind has been that of Big Bachchan's. Jha responds to the query with an equally booming laugh: "Maybe the producers of the tele-serial thought of me because they needed someone with a good voice, clear diction in Hindi and a bit educated to play Ravan." This post-graduate in history from New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University says he first thought of rejecting the role. "I was a little reluctant initially because I thought it would be another mythological serial but when I heard the story and the hard work put into it I couldn't say no." Having started this past Saturday at 9 p.m., this one-hour weekly series is written and researched by Chandan Singh. Jha's get-up as Ravan has been done by Varsha Jain. Besides Jha, the serial features actors like Mansi Salve, Diwakar Pundir, Ravee Gupta and Rajendra Gupta among others. Jha says he has read a lot of books on Ravan including Valmiki's Ramayana as the series aims to show Ravan's journey as a man from mahamanav to mahadanav. "The idea is to see the man as a whole, the journey of his life. What were the wrongs that he actually committed? Except that he kidnapped Sita ji, he had no other major blunder against his name. Looking at his angry sister who had lost her nose, every brother would think of avenging it. Even though he kidnapped Sita ji, he left her in the custody of his wives," explains Jha. Appreciated for his role in serials like Shanti, and films like Fun2tosh, Kacchi Sadak and as Baji Rao in the Telugu film, Chakrapathi, Jha though got into acting just by chance. Student of history "I was a history student, I could have ended up teaching somewhere but one fine day I thought I should become an actor. So my father said I should get a bit of training in acting and that led me to Sri Ram Centre in Delhi before leaving for Mumbai," he states. In Mumbai, he did a couple of advertisement films before roles started coming in. A bit of a choosy actor, he says he doesn't want to be seen doing anything and everything. "My next film is Ek Dastak. It is being made by an income tax officer based in Kalyan, Mumbai." The film, he feels, "is a very realistic portrayal of life." While he plays the lead, Vasundhara Das is his co-actor. Also in his kitty is a Hollywood film which he is not ready to talk about yet.

SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY

Ravana' returns

Narendra Jha talks about his role in the TV series, "Ravan"

THE OTHER SIDE OF EVIL Narendra Jha as Ravan Call up Narendra Jha and his baritone response at once makes you ask the actor whether the show producers have zeroed in on him to play Ravan only because of his voice. "Maybe the producers of the tele-serial thought of me because they needed someone with a good voice and clear diction to play Ravan." This post-graduate in history from New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University says he first thought of rejecting the role. "I was a little reluctant initially because I thought it would be another mythological serial but when I heard the story and the hard work put into it I couldn't say no." Having started last Saturday at 9 p.m. (ZEE TV), this one-hour weekly serial is written and researched by Chandan Singh. Jha says he has read a lot of books on Ravan including Valmiki's Ramayana as the series aims to show Ravan's journey as a man from mahamanav to mahadanav. "The idea is to see the man as a whole, the journey of his life," explains Jha. Appreciated for his role in serials like Shanti, and films like Fun2tosh, Kacchi Sadak and as Baji Rao in the Telugu film, Chakrapathi, Jha though got into acting just by chance. "I was a history student, I could have ended up teaching somewhere but one fine day I thought I should become an actor."

SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY

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