years after entertaining us all with his portrayal of duryodhan in br chopras mahabharat actor puneet issar played another epic antihero in the play titled raavan ki ramayan which was staged in delhi recently written and directed by atul satya koushik the play showed ramayan from the perspective of raavanarrogant but chivalrous raavanthe play begins with a conversation between raavan and shiv where the former is proud of his bhakti for the latter and latter suggests the former not be so conceited raavan who is the antagonist in the epic saga is shown to be arrogant and vengeful but not without a reason initially raavan a half brahmin and half asura complains about how his clan has been cheated and spited by the devas later when his sister surpanakha is insulted and disfigured by lakshman because of her marriage proposal to ram raavan gets hopping mad and vows to teach ram and laxman a lesson despite being warned by his wellwishers that surpanakha might just be telling a halftruth raavan says he would abduct rams wife sita to send them a message humiliating a woman was a crimeat this juncture comes a dialogue that got the maximum applause raavan says kiya kya kritya ram ne surpanakha ke saath mujhe gyaat nahin asamman kare nari ka raavan ki woh jaat nahin the scene shows the love raavan has for his siblings and his chivalry towards women also it shows the possibility of a conspiracy hatched by surpanakha to get raavan killed as he had murdered her husband surpanakha also makes a pivotal point about men being known to choose beauty over character thats why ugly surpnakhas will always be jealous of beautiful sitas its a mythological play but it has contemporary issues embedded in it an audience member opinedwon by a loaylist and lost by a traitorraavans wife mandodaris helplessness is depicted in a scene where she pleads with raavan to either forcefully marry sita or return her to ram and put an end to her mandodaris trauma here raavan also tells sita that she is a trophy wife who was won in a competition and yet again ram is coming to win a fight and not herthe play also shows two very surprising elements raavan to fulfill his brahman dharam accepts rams invitation to conduct shiv puja for him the play ends with a dying raavan telling his brother vibhishan that this war was not won by ram and lost by raavan it was won by loyal laxman and lost by traitor vibhishantip to be an antagonistissar as raavan impressed the delhi theatre audience with his debut stage performance especially with his ability to memorize rhyming dialogues which would have filled more than a hundred pages actor raza murad used his baritone to play the narrator veteran bjp leader lk advani came with his daughter pratibha to watch the play advani said i always had a keen interest in plays and cinema and though this one was a