{"id":171391698,"date":"2025-11-20T06:20:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T11:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediamax.design\/gia\/?post_type=review&p=171391698"},"modified":"2025-11-20T06:20:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T11:20:32","slug":"memory-myth-and-the-timeless-sita-within-a-review-of-anita-ratnams-a-million-sitas","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/mediamax.design\/gia\/review\/memory-myth-and-the-timeless-sita-within-a-review-of-anita-ratnams-a-million-sitas\/","title":{"rendered":"Memory, Myth, and the Timeless Sita Within. A Review of Anita Ratnam\u2019s A Million Sitas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written and directed by Ratnam, and delivered in a voice that is warm, authentic, and assured, the performance finds her at ease as cultural commentator and keen observer, weaving personal childhood memories into the narrative with relatable candor.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo Credit: Aswin Vijay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Through S\u012bt\u0101, Mandodar\u012b, \u015a\u016brpa\u1e47akh\u0101, Manthar\u0101, and Ahaly\u0101, Ratnam exposes the ironies surrounding women in myth\u2014revered, feared, judged, misremembered. With humor and quiet provocation, she reframes the narrative as one of personal justice: \u015a\u016brpa\u1e47akh\u0101 punished for honesty and desire, Manthar\u0101 for being the spark that set the R\u0101ma story in motion, yet forever reduced to the trope of the conniving hunchback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The production blends classical movement, theatre, and spoken word with elegant restraint. Three suspended fabric panels\u2014gold for R\u0101va\u1e47a, blue for R\u0101ma, peach for S\u012bt\u0101\u2014anchor the stage. The lotus returns as motif: S\u012bt\u0101\u2019s birth, Lak\u1e63ma\u1e47a\u2019s blade, Bharata\u2019s sandals. The Ahaly\u0101 episode, rendered through unfolding folds of white and gold, becomes a striking visual of entrapment and redemption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equally compelling are Ratnam\u2019s co-performers. Uma Satyanarayana moves fluidly between song, character, and narration, embodying multiple roles with emotional depth and precision. Multi-percussionist Ashwini Srinivasan shapes the sonic landscape with acute sensitivity, responding to movement and mood alike. Together, the trio performs in remarkable sync\u2014no small feat given the seamless interweaving of live and recorded sound.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo Credit: Aswin Vijay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The production\u2019s visual texture is enriched by its objects. Props devised by Rex and Anita Ratnam form an eclectic, transnational archive\u2014green gloves, a Malaysian headdress, Thai golden nails, South African Xhosa ornaments, and a MoMA book light\u2014each a travelled witness within this ever-evolving work. Lighting design by Victor Paulraj keeps pace with the unfolding narrative, while the costumes and minimalist fabric panels by Sandhya Raman maintain a mood that is simple and elegant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What gives A Million Sitas<\/em> its force is restraint. Ratnam avoids rhetoric, allowing contradictions to surface on their own\u2014between myth and memory, reverence and erasure, ideal and individual. In retelling S\u012bt\u0101\u2019s story, she invites each viewer to locate the S\u012bt\u0101 within\u2014the one who questions, chooses, endures, and ultimately redefines what it means to be a woman, then, now, and in the times to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Presented at the MAHAL Dance and Dialogue Festival, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai, on October 31, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":171391703,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"review-category":[14],"class_list":["post-171391698","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","review-category-south-asian-performance"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediamax.design\/gia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/171391698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediamax.design\/gia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediamax.design\/gia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mediamax.design\/gia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/171391698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171391704,"href":"https:\/\/mediamax.design\/gia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/171391698\/revisions\/171391704"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediamax.design\/gia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171391703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediamax.design\/gia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171391698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"review-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediamax.design\/gia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review-category?post=171391698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}