'Mhari Ramleela' strikes a chord with people

JAIPUR: In order to promote Rajasthani language, the organisers of Ramleela at Suratgarh town of Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan used Ramleela as the medium. Artistes of the Ramleela were given the script and dialogues in Rajasthani language and they performed it on the inaugural day. After this success, the artistes and locals have now consented to continue this art during the Navratras for all nine days, from next year onwards.
It was an altogether different experience for the audiences at Hanuman Khejri area of the Surajgarh town where artistes playing the characters of Dashrath, Narad and others, delivered their dialogues in Marwari/Rajasthani language. Even the bhajans sung in between the sequences were penned in Rajasthani language.
"It was difficult to write the dialogues in our native language. But since we had discussed the concept with the organisers, after a few rehearsals we managed to execute it on the inaugural day. From next year, with the help of other writers, we will have the entire nine-day Ramleela in pure Rajasthani language," Manoj Swami, the writer of the sequences staged on the first day, said on Saturday.
Swami said that many things have been said about Rajasthani language but people just talk, failing to actually do something constructive in this regard. "I think Ramleela in villages is still a strong medium of communication. We just wanted to convey a clear and loud message that we should not forget our language and put in desperate efforts to give it proper recognition," he added.
Meanwhile, Lal Chand, who played the character of Narad Muni, said, "The best thing about a play is that you get instant reaction from the audiences. The audience looked excited and urged us to continue the format for the next nine days. Hopefully, from next year, we will get our dialogues in Rajasthani."