Page - 31 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/02

Validating Demons | 31www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/2, 31–53 Genoveva Castro Validating Demons Recasting Rāvaṇa as a Leader of the Oppressed in Mani Ratnam’s Film Version of the Rāmāyaṇa Abstract This article focuses on Mani Ratnam’s adaptation of the Rāmāyaṇa and analyzes the ways in which the film rewrites the epic. The movie criticizes the traditional notion of a sharp opposition between the hero and the villain: Rāma is questioned and Rāvaṇa validated. A contemporary setting is used to comment on ongoing conflicts between the police and oppressed communities. The struggle in remote and poor areas encour- ages the celebration of the outlaw in the form of a present-day Rāvaṇa. Gender and sexuality also play an important role in the transformation of the demonic other into a more sympathetic character. The vilification and resistance to the demonization of Rāvaṇa are part of a longer history in India’s literary culture which is explored and contrasted with the movie in this contribution. Keywords Rāmāyaṇa Adaptation, Mani Ratnam, Raavan, Raavanan Biography Genoveva Castro received her PhD from the Department of Asian Languages and Liter- ature at the University of Washington, USA. Her research focuses on literary exchang- es between Hindus and Muslims and adaptations in South Asian drama. She teaches at Southern Connecticut State University. Introduction This article examines Mani Ratnam’s reading of the Rāmāyaṇa in Raavan (Mani Ratnam, IN 2010). As Robert Stam points out, a film adaptation am- plifies, ignores, subverts, critiques, and transforms its literary source.1 In 1 Stam 2000, 69. DOI: 10.25364/05.7:2021.2.3