Be it Sita, Dhraupadi, Ahalya or Madhavi, most venerated women in our epics are often depicted as the epitome of selflessness who suffer silently and sacrifice their life for others. In fact they even bear the injustice done to them by the men in their lives without complaining. But what if Sita was more than the helpless ‘Shresht Nari’ who took the Agnipariksha to prove her chastity to the world? Well, that was the crux of a unique production, Vaidehi — The Untold Story of Sita and Ravana , which was staged on Saturday. The audience at Lamakaan was treated to an unconventional interpretation of Ramayana — where Sita is not secondary to Rama, but a central figure who makes her own choices and is the master of her fate.

Conceptualised and staged by Anuradha Venkataraman — who carried off the roles of Ravana, Brahma, Mandodari, Sita, Rama and Janaka with ease — was a delight to watch. Based on the Adbhuta Ramayana , the hour-and-a-half long production was set in small parts, depicting various episodes of Ramayana with unusual twists making the audience wonder and question their knowledge of Ramayana.

It was Anuradha’s performance that really brought the show to life. She was splendid with her nrittya and abhinaya as she switched roles effortlessly and conveyed the bhava with intensity. Towards the crescendo, her act of Sita in Mahakali avatar, riding a chariot and severing the heads of Sahastra Ravana was impressive. Expressions of anger, anguish, and wrath flashed across her demeanour, enhancing the experience for the audience who gave her a thundering applause at the end of the act.

After the stellar performance, we caught up with the woman behind the unique production, Anuradha Venkataraman. Talking about how she got inspired to put together the dance performance, she says, “One day I picked up this version of Ramayana, the Adbhuta Ramayana and was intrigued to find Sita as the central character. Though attributed to Valmiki, lots of episodes that we see in the popular versions of Ramayana are not mentioned here. In this version of Ramayana, Sita is the daughter of Ravana. He also asked Brahma to kill him if he made advances toward his own daughter. After his great tapasya when Brahma refused him immortality, Ravana asked him to make him invulnerable to the devatas, rakshasas, yakshas and other celestial beings, but he’ll perish should he make advances towards his own daughter. The story ends where Sita takes Mahakali form seeing Rama fall unconscious while fighting Sahastra Ravana (Ravana’s brother). Enraged she severes Sahastra’s 1,000 heads. Rama then appeases her to calm her down and revert to her form as Sita.”

It was the fiery side of Sita that really caught the Bangalore-based dancer’s fascination. “Sita is usually portrayed as the ideal wife for whom her husband comes first. But in this version, Sita is portrayed as Shakti. Reading between the lines, I felt, she must have a strong feminist past. So I tried to portray Sita as a powerful woman,” she says. Talking about how she re-interpreted Sita, Anuradha says, “During Sita’s swayamwar, I wanted to show that she was not looking for a man who would protect her, but one who is her equal. To portray that, I made her pick up Shiva’s bow in a playful mood and set the challenge for the men who wanted to woo her. In the scenes of Ashoka Vatika, I didn’t portray her as a damsel in distress waiting to be rescued by Rama. I depicted her as a fiery woman who rejects Ravana’s lustful advances boldly and challenges him. I wanted to portray her as a woman with a mind of her own who makes her own choices.”

