Returning to the stage after over two decades can be a surreal feeling. What makes it all the more fulfilling for Ashutosh Rana is that he has come back with Humare Ram, in which he plays Ravana. “Playing Ravana has been my dream role,” smiles the actor, who has been travelling with the play since last year and completed 160 shows.    

Retelling the Ramayana today is not easy as it invites intense scrutiny and controversies. But Rana believes that if one stays true to the epic, the audience will embrace it. “We feel that playing Ravana means playing a negative role. But here, you won’t see him in a negative light, and we have managed to do it without changing the story of Ramayana. We haven’t done any chhed-chhaad [alterations],” he states. The key, he believes, lies in using the “right language”. “We have to take care of the language we use. Ram has a certain language, as does Ravana. All the characters should be played with grace. We cannot play around with how we tell the story because people are emotionally connected to it. There is no room for misinterpretations,” he asserts.