Review-essay: Documenting Ramayan: Leela in Kheriya and In the shadow of time

Abstract

This review-article focuses on two documentary films on the Ramayan performance tradition in India-Leela in Kheriya (2016), directed by Molly Kaushal, which focuses on a Ramlila performance in the village of Kheria Patiwara in Uttar Pradesh, where the role of Ram is played by a Muslim in the larger context of inter-community harmony, and In the Shadow of Time (2016), directed try Shankhajeel De, which documents the cultural appropriation of Havana Chhaya, a shadow-puppet tradition from Odisha, by Indian stale agencies and urban cultural entrepreneurs. Both films are linked through the affinities of the filmmakers to subaltern communities and the ways in which the Ramayan narrative continues to resonate within the everyday life struggles of local communities.