Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana released on November 5.
Sai Pallavi's casting as Sita attracted ample controversy.
Criticism began right from the teaser's glimpse of Sita as a warrior.
Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana has got the cash registers ringing at the box office. The film showcases the story of Ayodhya’s Lord Ram and his exile of 14 years along with his wife Sita and younger brother Laxman. While the audience is smitten with the grandeur of storytelling, they are also divided on the portrayal of Sita, played by actor Sai Pallavi. While many text versions have presented her as the sword yielding daughter of King Janak, a section of audience feels offended by seeing the princess in a rather aggressive fashion. There are also debates around Sita's casting, replete with slurs on Pallavi's physical characteristics, ironically puts in clear view every trial, prejudice and judgment facing a woman has to deal with, till this day. While celebrities like Mukesh Khanna and Annu Kapoor have criticized the portrayal, some celebrities have defended it.
Did Casting Controversy Become A Test Of Sai Pallavi's Portrayal?
As the casting controversy over Pallavi raged on, Tamil star Dhanush publicly stepped in to defend her during a promotional pre-release event. At an event for Om Chapter 1: Udhiram, where he stars along side Pallavi, he countered the online backlash surrounding her casting as Sita by directly calling out the uncalled-for noise and expressing bewilderment at critics judging her based on superficial glamour standards. Emphasizing her character over cosmetic expectations, he drew attention to her spiritual grounding, grace, and "profound devotion to God," noting that she would spend breaks between shots in prayer and describing her as someone with a genuinely pure heart. On the promotional tour, her co-star Ranbir Kapoor kept stressing in interviews that she embodied purity and spirituality. Somehow and yet unsurprisingly, the defence of the casting relied on affirming Pallavi's intrinsic devout character. Centuries on, a woman's character is still put under the scanner in debates of assessing what she's capable of.
The film tries to cover as much as it can in 3 hours 15 min, showcasing the great war between Ram and Lanka ruler Ravana. However, let us zoom into the character of Sita whose abduction sets off the great war in Ramayana: Rise Of A Legend. In a country where sentiments over religious texts are easily vulnerable, Sai Pallavi's casting as Sita became an immediate target. The trolling of her casting is deeply entrenched in a racist imagination that ignores the beautiful, brilliant possibilities Sita contains.
In Valmiki’s original Sanskrit text, she challenges patriarchal authority instead of blind submission. When Rama attempts to leave her in Ayodhya under the guise of protection, Sita scoffs at his patronizing logic and delivers a sermon on marital equality. But the Valmiki version omits any warrior angle to Sita. Beyond Valmiki, regional and subaltern traditions radically dismantle the trope of the submissive heroine. The Valmiki version omits any warrior angle to Sita.
Tiwari does little, given the vast, rich territory at his disposal. When we meet his Sita (Sai Pallavi), her staggering luminous beauty jumps out. Rama is dazzled. Tiwari's film is always eager and hasty to get through the motions of the epic. In its anxiety to rattle through the various events, it ends up skipping through the building blocks of central dynamics, be it between Rama (Ranbir Kapoor) and his brothers or the Rama-Sita blossoming love. Sita is instantly set up as the model of Sarva guna sampanna (blessed with every virtue). She is as agile with wielding swords as gifted in scholarship and tethered to what brings the best harvest. It constantly appears that Tiwari and his co-writer Shridhar Raghavan are racing instead to ensure every plot development is tracked and covered.
Why Is Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana So Cautious?
At its core, there's a mildness, a wariness given India's touchiness with sacred texts. Tiwari's rendition is almost terrified of edges, disruptive scope. In its cautiousness, it forgets to exhibit any personality, take away Sita's voice yet again. Even the scraps of supposedly bold interruption have received backlash. Tiwari's depiction of Sita as a warrior princess dovetails directly into major interpretations like the Adbhut Ramayana. That he deviated from the Valmiki version, the conventional account, attracted criticism. Swathes of social media users expressed their shock at seeing a departure in what they have been used to, thanks to the Doordarshan adaptation. Wasn't Sita demure? How is she taking on all these demons? It was as if a culture is threatened by a woman seizing on the mantel of action and joining the 'heroes' on the battlefield.
Rather than establishing her inner resilience or distinct worldview prior to the forest and captivity, Tiwari's narrative rushes toward the Sita Haran (abduction) sequence. She is sidelined to the precious prize whose capture sets up the conflict and commercial cliffhanger for the sequel that's two years away. The sole twinge of rationality and foresight Tiwari is willing to grant her comes in the Surpanakha scene, where she fears the mistreatment could unleash major consequences. She calls out Lakshman for disfiguring Surpanakha, "You have no right to disfigure a woman."
Rather than establishing her inner resilience or distinct worldview prior to the forest and captivity, Tiwari's narrative rushes toward the Sita Haran (abduction) sequence. She is sidelined to the precious prize whose capture sets up the conflict and commercial cliffhanger for the sequel that's two years away. The sole twinge of rationality and foresight Tiwari is willing to grant her comes in the Surpanakha scene, where she fears the mistreatment could unleash major consequences. She calls out Lakshman for disfiguring Surpanakha, "You have no right to disfigure a woman."
Otherwise, Tiwari's Sita has little to do other than look noble and be a vision of unshakable integrity. Sita's true power, though, reached far beyond physical combat. It burned through her sharp intellect, deep unity with the natural world, unwavering moral clarity, and the courage to own her own destiny. Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana lacks this.
