Ramlila, backstage

The actors’ backstories: The people who portray these characters, their lives are sinewed with usual jobs and routines

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

Ramlila, backstage

As is the custom every year around Dusshera, hundreds of Ramlilas are being staged in Delhi-NCR. 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 — not the characters per se, but the actors who portray these characters, their lives sinewed with the usual jobs and routines.

Sitting backstage during the third of the 10 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 theatre group, they all are from that UP city unless mentioned. (Oh look, the lady playing Sita ji is snacking on crispy spicy kurkure!).

Unluckily, the actor who is playing Ram, Ramlila’s protagonist, is busy on the stage, not available for a chat.

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

Sita, Ramlila’s female protagonist (Jyoti Thakur, “freestyle” dance instructor to children)

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, class 12 student preparing for medical entrance exams)

Kaushalya, Ayodhya’s queen, Ram’s mother (Anushka Rawat, class 12 student, aspiring makeup artist)

Sumitra, Dashrath’s third queen-consort (Suman, second year college student)