The film in which Raavan is the hero rather than the villain

Some of the box office success of Ramayana: Part 1 can safely be attributed to its characterisation of Raavan, played by Yash. Nitesh Tiwari’s visual effects-heavy film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Ram and Sai Pallavi as Sita. But it is Yash, as a ripped and raging Raavan, who steals the show from the saintly leads.

Ramayana: Part 1 gives Raavan’s back story as much importance as Ram’s formative years. Most faithful adaptations of the Ramayana epic have always been mindful of Raavan’s exalted status.

In Ramanand Sagar’s popular television serial Ramayan, the Lankan ruler who triggers a war with Ram after abducting Sita gets a proper farewell. In the episode about Raavan’s defeat and demise, the lyrics of a dirge observe that the wise king was laid low by his hubris.

Raavan has always been a colourful character. The animated Japanese-Indian film Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama (1993), directed by Ram Mohan, Yugo Sako and Koichi Sasaki, imagines Raavan with vampiric teeth and grey whiskers, ruling over a palace crawling with lizards and packed with occupants who resemble monsters.

In Mani Ratnam’s Raavanan (2010), the villain is the hero.

Ratnam has dipped into Indian epics and mythology in several of his films. The crime drama Thalapathi (1991) stars Rajinikanth as a contemporary version of Karna from the...

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