a ramayana on air. 155
nessed a seven-evening performance by the Banaras expounder Shrinath Mishra based
on one line from book 7 (see Lutgendorf 1989, 1991).
- See Schechner and Hess 1977.
- Hein 1972, 17–30.
- He was not the first director of a religious film to assume this responsibility; cf.
Cecil B. DeMille ’s opening speech, before a golden curtain, at the start ofThe Ten Com-
mandments (1956). - Cited in Melwani 1988, 56.
- Melwani 1988, 56.
- Cited in De 1988, 5.
- All such details have a long history and reflect an ongoing controversy over the
precise nature of Ram’s vanar allies, who as incarnations of deities in simian guise both
are and are not “monkeys.” - Bhargava 1987, 70.
- American movies and television in recent years have favored constant visual
stimulation, often at the expense of dialogue and extended character development. The
trend is especially striking if one compares films of the 1920s and 1930s with those of the
past two decades; in the latter, camera angles constantly shift, scenes often last only sec-
onds, and character is conveyed through a few expressive close-ups and terse exchanges;
the style has become such a convention that we may no longer notice it. According to
Neil Postman (1985, 86), the average length of time during which a single image remains
on the American television screen is only three and a half seconds. The commercial suc-
cess of MTV in recent years, with its numbing flood of decontextualized images, has fur-
ther upped the ante on visual stimulation throughout the media.
WORKS CITED
Aj. 1988a. “ ‘Ramayan’ke dauran pariksae ̃na ho” [Exams not to be held during “Ra-
mayan”]. May 26: 4.
———. 1988b. “Alvida‘Durdarfan ramayan’ ” [Farewell to “Doordarshan Ra-
mayan”]. July 31: 6.
Bakker, Hans. 1986. Ayodhya. Groningen: Egbert Forsten.
Barnouw, Erik, and S. Krishnaswamy. 1980. Indian Film. New York: Oxford University
Press.
Bhargava, Simran. 1987. “Ramayan: Divine Sensation.” India Today, April 30: 70.
Dainik Jagaran.1988a. “ ‘Ramayan’ ke mauke par bijlijane se upakendra par patharav,
agjani” [Stoning and arson at electrical substation due to power failure during “Ra-
mayan”]. March 21: 3.