Revamping Shakespeare: Filmic Adaptation of Romeo and Juliet into Goliyon ki Rasleela Ram-Leela

Abstract

Sanjay Leela Bhansali gives a regional flavour to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet by placing it in Gujarat. He looks at it from a local perspective. There are, however, many subtexts in Bhansali’s movie: importance given to festivals, mythologizing the original text, depiction of women and their oppression at the hands of the patriarchal society. Widows presented in the movie do not find any counterparts in the Shakespearean play. Then, there are women who have minds of their own and resist: Dhankor Baa reminds the audience of Lady Capulet while parallels can be drawn between Leela and Juliet. Some women show ‘signs of agency’ at the end of the ‘adaptation.’ Local politics and national tensions make their way into Ram-Leela, clearly indicating that the movie is not merely an ‘adaptation’ but also a ‘masala Bollywood film,’ with its share of song and dance sequences, item number, ‘violent skirmishes’ between the two clans and the plotting to kill innocent people under the aegis of enmity. This makes it a unique combination. Ram-Leela gives a peep into modern India with its share of uncertainties, complications and the entangled weave of hatreds, jealousies and misunderstandings. The present paper looks at Ram-Leela as a modern day adaptation of Romeo and Juliet in the Indian context.

Keywords

• race
• inter-personal conflicts
• social construct