Jalabala Vaidya’s claim to fame is the Ramayana which she was performing as a solo act since, reportedly, 1978. Holding shows all over the world, now this is performed at Akhsrara Theatre by their group.

Vaidya plays the narrator and snippets of other characters – Dasarath, Kaikeyi, Rama etc. And she is good. Scripted and directed by Gopal Sharman, this is neither the typical story of Ram nor is the neighbourhood Ramlila, The scriptwriter identified some parts and adopted those in a manner that formed the complete story. Praiseworthy!

However, apart from Vaidya, the remaining cast was amateur and needed more practice.  In fact the diction as well as the body language of most actors were awkward.

Nonetheless, this was a to-do on our list for long and we are happy to have seen this performance. We bow to the spirit of the veterans Vaidya and Sharman (her husband) who, despite their age, refuse to call it a day.