Before Ramayana Hits Cinemas: The Novels That Gave Sita, Kaikeyi, Shurpanakha Their Own Voices On the eve of her wedding in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s 'The Forest of Enchantments', Sita receives a single word of advice from her mother, Queen Sunaina: “Endure.” The scene appears nowhere in the Ramayana. Divakaruni invented it, then spent the rest of the novel showing her heroine working out when to obey that word and when to refuse it. Nitesh Tiwari’s 'Ramayana' opens in cinemas on 6 November, with Sai Pallavi as Sita, Lara Dutta as Kaikeyi and Rakul Preet Singh as Shurpanakha. All three women reach the screen carrying centuries of fixed reputation as the faithful wife, the scheming stepmother and the wanton demoness. Novelists have already handed each of them the narration and asked how the epic looks from where she stands. Divakaruni’s 2019 novel keeps every event of the epic in place. Sita writes her own account on palm leaves, moving from exile through captivity in Lanka to a second exile. Divakaruni has called it the most challenging project of her life, and has said she wanted to free Sita from the rigid, revered mould that tradition had built around her. The Forest of Enchantments (Picture Credit - Pinterest) The sharpest moment comes after the war, when Ram declares his wife impure, and Sita answers with a question: “Is that dharma?” Divakaruni has described that question as an important one for the #MeToo era, since Sita refuses to accept that a woman is to blame for violence done to her. This Sita even sees Ravan’s abduction as a kind of dark justice, because it follows the brothers’ treatment of Soorpanakha. Vaishnavi Patel’s debut, 'Kaikeyi', published by Orbit in 2022, takes on the queen remembered in countless retellings as the woman who sent Ram into the forest. Patel gives her a childhood outside the gods’ favour and a quiet power to sense and pull on the bonds between people. Kaikeyi marries Dasharath on the condition that her son will inherit the throne, serves as his charioteer and sits on his council, long before she uses his boons to secure Ram’s exile and Bharat’s regency. American critics welcomed the novel as both political and openly feminist. Others were less persuaded, warning that it could offend people who regard the epic as sacred, or arguing that the narrative keeps excusing the harm Kaikeyi causes. Patel has said she had to tread carefully around religious sensitivities, insisting that no element of the actual story was changed. Kavita Kané opens 'Lanka’s Princess' with a naming. The girl born to the sage Vishravas is Meenakshi, and her mother renames her Surpanakha for her long, sharp nails and an equally sharp temper. Tradition remembers her for a single scene, in which Ram and Lakshman spurn her advances and she is mutilated. Kané traces everything around that moment: a childhood in her father’s hermitage, repeated failed attempts at happiness, and a long revenge that follows the royal family all the way to Ayodhya. Lanka's Princess (Picture Credit - Rupa Publications) For centuries, she has been blamed as the woman whose humiliation set off the war that destroyed Lanka. Kané lets her carry that weight without excusing it, and the revenge is finally left unfinished, undone by the way her intended victims respond. By the end, she has begun to understand the patterns that shaped her life. Also Read: 10 Versions of Different Ramayana You Didn't Know Existed The novel carries Surpanakha far beyond the war. In its final pages, she is an old woman in Mathura, where Krishna meets her, comforts her and sees what remains of her future. On 6 November, cinema audiences will meet her at the opposite end of that life, in the forest scene the epic has always used to define her. Seasoned Editor and Author with over a decade of experience in literary journalism, author interviews, and publishing trends. Known for curating impac... View More