Ramayan is a mega epic that Indians have been holding on to for lessons, inspirations and life’s teachings and learning’s, for many years. People in India have learnt about the ideal way of living their relationships and understanding how vices like pride can take you down. Ramayan states that no matter what the truth always triumphs and darkness is always taken down by enlightenment.
Ramayan created the theatre of mind where people listened to imagine, though everyone knows the story of Ramayan, but their interpretation, the characters, their faces, their images and visions were left for the listeners to create. Fever’s Ramayan created the basis for the theatre of mind.
Mega stars from the film, theatre and audio mediums came together to turn the characters of Ramayan into something that would live and grow in the minds of their listener.
Naseeruddin Shah, brought the proud, Ravan drenched in the intoxication of his own power and strength back to life, he portrayed Ravan as the representation of a man who had great knowledge but his pride had made him lose everything to his vices.
Kaal, the times, Samay as we would refer to him was played by Om Puri, who in his voice narrated how he witnessed Ramayan, travelling through the events one by one.
Hanuman, the humble follower, Devotee of Ram, who would do any thing for Ram, the mischievous but brave one who brought Sanjeevani for Lakshman when he fainted in Battle and burnt the entire Lanka for his Lord Ram. Javed Jaffrey played the role of Hanuman with conviction and made everyone dote Hanuman .
Anupam Kher, veteran film and theatre actor and Ramayan’s king Dashrath brought the character of a father who loved his son and loved his honor, kept his word but couldn’t bear the pain it brought convincingly. The scene where Dashrath dies of the pain of separation from his son Ram brought tears to the eyes of those who listened to Ramayan .
Manthra and Kaikeyi, played by film actor Ratna Pathak Shah and Televison actor Jayati Bhatia respectively, amazed the listener by portraying the human characters who were worried about their own interests and convinced the listener about the normal insecurities that human beings face.
In the great epic of Ramayan, the humble and full of devotion , the woman with a heart full of motherhood and love ‘Shabri’ was brought to life by television actor Sudha Shivpuri, her gentle voice reminded many of their sons and loved ones.
The production of Ramayan was a mammoth task, very detailed, very precise, it involved the re creation of every scene in a special way, the music was all composed, designed and recorded at the fever studios and stock music was not even considered an option for designing even a single speck of productions. The war weaponry had sounds of primitive weapons like the Talwar and gadda and their sounds were recorded in the studios to add to the originality and novelty of the sound of every war scene.
Fever’s Ramayan has set up a new example in the minds of how radio can be consumed and understood and how it can make people dream and imagine, it indeed is the ‘theatre of mind’ and the way to it starts at the ear, hope you are listening to the great success of Fever 104fm’s radio play, Fever prastuti Ramayan.