Once in a year.

[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]

The crown gracing his head, the smooth folds of his dress–every inch the King Dashrath. But the Raja Dashrath sitting on this plain Jane plastic chair is also a mobile phone company’s area sales manager.

As is the custom every year around Dusshera, hundreds of Ramlilas are being staged in Delhi. Each of these theatrical representations of Bhagwan Ram’s saga revolves around characters who are as familiar to us as water and fire. But these men and women of a long-ago era happen to be people like us—the actors who portray these characters, their lives sinewed with the usual jobs and routines.

Sitting backstage during the third of the ten nights of Ramlila in Delhi’s historic Ramlila Maidan, waiting for their cue to enter the stage, some of these actors agree to reveal their everyday identity. Part of a Moradabad-based theater group, they all are from that UP city unless mentioned. (Oh look, the lady playing Sita ji is snacking on crispy spicy kurkure!).

King Dashrath—Ram’s father
Portrayed by Nilay Kaushik—area sales manager in a mobile company

Sita—Ramlila’s female protagonist
Jyoti Thakur—“free style” dance instructor

King Janak—Sita’s father
Umesh Mishra—“Thekedar” in Bareilly

Tataka—mother to Maricha and Subahu
Lal Singh—Maintenance manager in a nursing home

Ahalya—a cursed woman
Neha Kashyap—model from Model Town, Delhi

Phoolwali—unnamed flower woman
Shivani Bhatnagar—makeup artist

Subhau—brother of Maricha and Ravan’s mama
Karan Sharma—area sales manager in a textile firm

Maricha—helps Ravan abduct Sita
Surya Mishmai—“operator” in Kanpur Metro

Narad Muni—sage-musician and storyteller
Ashish Kumar—hip hop choreographer, currently interning in a car parts company in Gajraula

Manthara—Queen Kaikeyi’s attendant
Lakshmi Kashyap—12th grade student, preparing for medical entrance competitive exams

Kaushalya—Ayodhya’s queen, Ram’s mother
Anushka Rawat —12th grade student

Sumitra—Dashrath’s third queen-consort
Suman—Second year BA “science side” student

Ramlila, backstage

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