Skip to main content

Book Review: The Rise of Rama by Vijay Singh Sodhi

There is a difference between reading a story and watching a story. What if you got a chance to read the timeless epic Ramayana the way you have seen ‘The Lord of the Rings’ or ‘Game of Thrones’ movies. Vijay Sodhi, the writer of The Rise of Rama, has put in cinematic techniques to make this retelling of the Ramayana a great thrilling experience for the people of today. The Rise of Rama by Vijay Sodhi is the first book in the Ramayana trilogy. It is written in a screenplay style which makes it easy to grasp and enjoy. With the help of terms like INT, EXT, FADE UP, ZOOM TO and so on, for readers it becomes clear where actually the scene is set. These cinematic techniques have added a lot of clarity in the story. It’s like you are all there – director, actor, and reader.

  
The timeless Ramayan is a long epic saga and its story frame stretches over a long period of time, thus it is divided into seven parts, in Hindi each part is called as ‘Kand’. Division into seven parts makes it a pleasurable read and the message that it serves also falls perfectly in the vistas of people. The Ramayana was originally written by the sage Valmikiji around five thousand years ago. Since then it has seen myriad versions, almost in all languages to reach to the people of the world. It just not a simple story – it is a saga echoed down the ages and encompasses deep and meaningful message for humans, as it guides them in the journey of their life.

The first part of this trilogy basically deals with the early days of Rama’s upbringing and his family history and how he got married to Sita. Parallel to him, other powerful characters of the Ramayana have also been highlighted and shown how they evolved and provided nudge to the characterization of Rama. This book consists of the Baalkand and some part of the Ayodhyakand. Vijay has done a wonderful by doing intense research and adding some cinematic techniques to the repertoire to make it a visually spectacular story.

Superheroes emanating from the Indian mythology need no introduction as their stories are universal ones. The only thing that they need from time to time, from baby boomers to millennial, is retelling without affecting the original content. The Ramayana came first, do did Rama. Rama came before anybody else. He is the original super hero.

The story of Rama appeals to people regardless of their background, ethos, and other cultural landscapes. The Ramayana explores basic human themes and virtuous like courage, love, honour and so on. The story never leaves its authenticity and credibility…it is done with elegance and at the same time relevant to the people of today.

Truly, the Ramayana is a timeless story that has echoed down the ages. No matter how many versions it passes through, its magnificence, significance, authenticity and veracity remains intact for the sake of mankind.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Poem Summary: Where The Mind Is Without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore

Poem by Rabindranath Tagore: Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Short Summary: This poem is written by Rabindranath Tagore during pre-independence days, when India was a colony of the British. The underlying theme of the poem is absolute freedom; the poet wants the citizens of his country to be living in a free state. According to the poem, we see that the poet is expressing his views there should be a country, like where people live without any sort of fear and with pure dignity…they should

Book Review: The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond

Among all Ruskin Bond books, The Blue Umbrella has, so far, gathered immense applaud from readers and critics alike.  This is a short novel, but the kind of moral lessons it teaches to us are simply overwhelming. This is a story of Binya, a poor little girl living with her mother and an elder brother, Bijju, in a small hilly village of Garhwal. One day while herding her two cows back home, she stumbles upon some city people enjoying the picnic in the valley. She is enthralled to see them well-groomed and rich. She craves to be one like them and among many other things of their, a blue frilly umbrella catches her attention. She begins craving for it. On the other hand, the city people get attracted by her innocent beauty and the pendant in her neck. The pendant consists of leopard’s claw – which is considered a mascot widely in the hills. Binya trades her pendant off with the blue umbrella. The blue umbrella is so much beautiful that soon it becomes a topic of conversation fo

Poem Summary: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ozymandias is a short poem of fourteen lines written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The concurrent theme of the poem is that nothing remains intact and same forever in this world. Even the brightest of metal, one day decays with passage of time. The throne name of Egyptian King Ramesses is Ozymandias. It was his dearest desire to preserve himself forever by building a huge statue that he thought would never tumble down. Stanza 1: I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; Summary: The poet narrates the poem through the eyes of a traveler who seems to have come back from a remote and far-away land, referring to Egypt. The traveler r