Can I get an om
We watched a fabulous animated film last night called, Sita Sings the Blues, which I highly recommend. You can get it on Netflix, but you can even see it free here.
The animation is so original and imaginative that it draws you into this parallel life, the modern one and the historical one (Ramayana). But the film itself was not made without turmoil. The artist Nina Paley used her own life trials for the modern version. Paley gives great sympathy to Sita who is treated like a used up pebble by Ram, but who never gives up her unconditional love for him.
Meanwhile, a neoconservative faction in India has denounced the film saying that it betrays and perverts the Hindu story.
The strong outcry from a few in India reminded me of what Obama said recently when he responded to the angry mob that sprang up over the YouTube trailer – “Let us never forget that for every angry mob, there are millions who yearn for the freedom and dignity, and hope that our flag represents,” he said.
Similarly for those in India not happy with the revisionist version of the Ramayana, there are many who also saw the film and said, “Yeah.”