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| Moradabad artists rule Delhi Ram Lilas | | | SANT KUMAR SHARMA | 9/25/2009 12:22:38 AM |
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New Delhi, Sept 24: Moradabad town was once known for top quality brass utensils alone, till Robert Vadra became Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law. Priyanka Gandhi nee Vadra, as the Bahu Number 1, has conferred on Moradabad an identity second to none.
During Navratras, it is another talent of Moradabadi citizens that rules the national capital. Three dozen teams from Moradabad are these days in Delhi to organize Ram Lilas.
Almost the entire cast of the Ramlila at Ramlila Ground here comprises artists from Moradabad. The director, Dr Pradeep Sharma, has been participating in the Ram Lila here for the last 42 years.
He explained that in the 70s, the Ramlilas in Delhi were organized in Awadhi and Brijbhasa, two languages few Delhiites understood. It was then that artists from Moradabad, fluent in Hindi or rather Hindustani, first performed the Ram Lila in Delhi. Soon thereafter, more teams from Moradabad started arriving in Delhi every year.
These days, it is an established tradition to have Moradabadi artists performing not only in Delhi but also in other nearby towns.
The manager at Lal Kila maidan, Mr Ratnesh, also hailing from Moradabad, has also been involved in Ram Lila for the last 50 years. He says that for at least two months before Navratras, the artists prepare day and night for the Ram Lila.
One interesting aspect of these Ram Lilas is that women participate in large numbers. The roles of Sita, Mandodari and Dasrath’s queens like Kaikeyi, Kaushalya and Sumitra are all assayed by women artists. A good number of these artists are also students who bunk their classes in colleges to earn some pocket money.
The Lav Kush Ram Lila organized at the Lal Kila maidan is being telecast live from this year. The organizers have created a website www.lavkush.comand taken 10 broadband connections. Each connection has cost them an amount of Rs 25,000 and a couple of days ago, no less than 14,000 people logged on to the website to watch the webcast of the Ram Lila.
The idea behind the website is to spread the message of Shri Ram across the world, according to Arjun Kumar, one of the organizers. In the years to come, the website will become more user-friendly with the addition of better features, he added.
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