By placing women at the centre of the story and allowing their voices, feelings and silences to shape the narrative, Gowri Ramnarayan’s What She Said offers an engaging re-reading of the Ramayana. To examine grief, desire, resistance and agency within the epic framework, the play combines spoken word, live music and skilfully constructed stillness. Gowri treats the Ramayana as living literature — open, inclusive and always changing. She discusses her artistic decisions, the difficulties of adapting the epic for the stage and the enduring appeal of old tales to modern audiences.
What made you want to tell the Ramayana through the voices of these six women?
We are living in a time of multiple crises and women are often the first to be affected. There is a clear global regression in women’s freedoms. I wanted to revisit the Ramayana as a work of literature, reverse its male gaze and imagine the inner lives of women whose voices are barely heard.
As a director, how did you decide what to keep unchanged and what to present in a new way?
I am writing my own version of Ramayana. I am bound by the episodes, the names and the situations of the characters, but their inner worlds are mine to imagine. I claim the Ramayana as my literary heritage.
Was there any one character whose story was especially difficult to work with?
Yes, Shanta was the most difficult. There is very little written about her, so I imagined a conversation between her and Rama after Sita disappears into the earth. Compressing such an intense emotional exchange into a short stage segment was challenging.
Were you thinking about today’s women while writing this?
Yes. I wanted to see how issues women face now have existed since the dawn of literature. We can only write from our own experience and I hope that honesty allows the past and present to speak to each other.
INR 499. February 7 & 8, 7 pm. At Medai — The Stage, Bengaluru, Koramangala.
Written by: Sanjeevani Sinha
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