SITA SINGS THE BLUES
04-04-05
OPENING (TITLE) SEQUENCE:
From a blank screen erupts the Big Bang, Hindu-style. A dancing Shiva zooms out from the blast as the field fills with stars. As planets form in space, various Hindu gods appear as super-imposed glowing white outlines. From reclining Vishnu’s navel springs a lotus containing Brahma. The 3 major gods are coupled off: Brahma with Sarasvati, Vishnu with Lakshmi, and Shiva with Parvati. The sun appears super-imposed with Surya on a horse-drawn chariot; the moon is depicted as Soma, whose chariot is pulled by antelopes. Finally the Earth forms, enclosed in the heavenly body of Mother Earth. Earth grows closer, filling the screen; its center point is India. Zoom into India and dissolve to Ayodhya Palace.
ACT I
Scene 1
Rama's coronation festival. KING DASHARATHA is about to place the crown on PRINCE RAMA's head. Suddenly DASHARATHA's wife KAIKEYI whispers something into his ear. DASHARATHA hesitates; music stops; RAMA wonders what's going on.
DASHARATHA: Rama, my son! Today I wished to crown you king of Ayodhya. But my evil scheming wife KAIKEYI just reminded me of an ancient vow I made. To honor this vow, instead of crowning you king, I must banish you to the forest for 14 years!
RAMA (and assembled onlookers): GASP!
DASHARATHA: Goodbye, dear boy. You are noble and good, the embodiment of righteousness, a brave warrior-prince, joy of heaven and Earth, the ideal man. May the gods be with you.
KAIKEYI: Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
Rama and his devoted wife SITA retreat to their chambers to pack up and prepare for exile. Rama is sad, but Sita cheers him up with:
Song 1: Here We Are
Showing Sita and Rama in love. They move from the Palace to Dandaka forest, which is under attack from demons (rakshasas). The Rakshasas harass the resident Rishis (wise forest sages) and desecrate their ritual fires. Fortunately, the heroic Rama repels the invaders with his bow and arrows, saving the Rishis and enchanting his swooning wife.
Scene 2
SURPHANAKA, a rakshasi (demoness) flees the forest following Rama's slaughter of her brethren. She flies over the sea to Lanka, entering the chamber of her brother RAVANA, king of the demons. There Ravana is consulting with Mareecha, a wiser, older demon.
SURPHANAKA: Ravana! Rama has slaughtered your rakshasas in the forest.
RAVANA: Ho-hum.
SURPHANAKA: But brother! You must take revenge!
MAREECHA: Don't do it, master - Rama is powerful.
RAVANA: Sister, don't bother me with your petty concerns.
SURPHANAKA seethes quietly, then gets an idea, tries a different tack.
SURPHANAKA: Dear brother Ravana, have you seen Rama's wife Sita? She is the most beautiful woman in the world!
A voice balloon emerges from Surphanaka's mouth, containing an image of Sita. Ravana is captivated.
SURPHANAKA: Her skin is fair like the lotus blossom...her eyes are like lotus pools...her hands are like, um, lotuses....her breasts, like big, round, firm, juicy....lotuses!
RAVANA (enticed, lustful) hmmmm...
SURPHANAKA: Make Sita your wife, Ravana! Steal her from Rama!
MAREECHA: Don't do it, master!
RAVANA: I'll hear no arguments from you, Mareecha. You must help me at once. Transform yourself into a beautiful golden deer to distract Rama. While Sita is unguarded, I'll grab her!
MAREECHA looks troubled, SURPHANAKA triumphant. Zoom in on RAVANA, looking evil and determined.
RAVANA: Sita WILL be mine! Hahahahahahahahahaha!
(laughter trails off into echoes, as scene dissolves to...)
Scene 3
Exterior of Rama and Sita's peaceful forest hut. A beautiful golden deer enters the garden, prancing seductively. Sita watches it, becoming ever more enchanted.
SITA: What a beautiful golden deer! Oh Rama, won't you capture it for me?
RAMA: I don't know, Sita. It could be a trick.
SITA: Oh Rama, pleeeease?
RAMA: All right, Sita. You ask for so little and give me so much. But promise you won't leave the hut while I'm gone! The forest is dangerous.
SITA: I promise! Oh Rama, I love you!
RAMA: I love YOU, Sita! (they kiss)
Bow in hand, Rama stalks after the deer, who prances playfully away from the hut. As Sita's eyes wistfully follow Rama, music begins:
Song 2: What Wouldn't I Do For That Man?
Sita sings her love and devotion to Rama, while RAVANA stalks closer. During the interlude, he grabs Sita through the window, carrying her off in his chariot. Meanwhile, Rama shoots the deer, who transforms into MAREECHA, to Rama's horror.
By the song's final lines, Ravana's chariot is flying over the sea to Lanka, as the sun sets.
RAMA runs through the forest, searching frantically.
RAMA: SITA! SEEEETAAAA! Oh Sita, what has become of you?
Rama breaks down weeping.
Scene 4
Enter HANUMAN, who quietly offers RAMA a kleenex. Rama blows nose.
RAMA: She's gone....I told her not to leave the hut! Oh, how will I ever find her?
HANUMAN: I will help you.
RAMA: Who are you?
HANUMAN: I am HANUMAN, the monkey warrior! Son of the wind!
RAMA: I am Rama, Prince of Ayodhya. Let us be allies!
They embrace.
HANUMAN: I shall be your servant forever.
RAMA: (tearfully) Now go, find Sita!
Scene 5
HANUMAN bounds away. He arrives at the seashore, where he roars and enlarges to 100 times his size. Then he leaps over the ocean in a single bound, arriving in Lanka. There, he shrinks down to normal size, and spies Sita in the palace garden, rejecting RAVANA.
RAVANA: I love you, Sita. Be my wife.
SITA: Never! I love only RAMA.
(Ravana exits)
Song 3: Daddy Won't You Please Come Home
Sita sings wistfully for Rama. At the interlude, Hanuman reveals himself to her. She gives him a jewel, then he leaps back over the sea to RAMA. As the instrumental interlude winds up, Hanuman opens his mouth and a voice balloon containing Sita emerges, singing the remaining verses. Rama stares at the image of Sita and weeps.
Following the song, RAMA embraces HANUMAN.
RAMA: We march at once!
Scene 6
RAMA, HANUMAN, and hundreds of MONKEY WARRIORS begin their armed march toward Lanka. Music, number of troops, and tension builds as they approach. They mass outside the palace gates, and Rama knocks--
Song 4: Who's That Knockin'?
Sita sings with glee as monkeys club and dismember demons. Rama punches Ravana's 10 heads off, one at a time.
Scene 7
After the battle, SITA emerges. Romantic music swells as she approaches RAMA. Zoom in to each of their faces. As Sita reaches out to embrace Rama, the music stops abruptly (sound of record needle scratch) and Rama suddenly, petulantly turns his back on her.
RAMA: You have lived in another man's house, so you are unfit to be my wife.
SITA: What?
RAMA: I have done my duty and reclaimed my honor. Now go.
SITA: (tearful, hurt, angry) A wife without a husband is not fit to live. (To HANUMAN and the monkeys): Build me a funeral pyre! Like any self-respecting widow, I shall enter the flames!
Song 5: Mean to Me
Sita reproaches Rama and enters the fire. But she is spared by the flames and emerges unscathed.
RAMA: Whoops! I guess you were pure after all. Will you forgive me?
SITA: Of course, Rama. I live only for you. (They kiss)
Music swells (Possible music number, "If You Want a Rainbow You Must Have the Rain") and Sita, Rama, and Hanuman board a beautiful swan-shaped flying chariot. They fly over the forest to Ayodhya, where Rama is crowned king.
*****
INTERMISSION
*****
INTERMISSION
*****
ACT II
Scene 1
Morning, Ayodhya palace interior.
SITA: Rama, darling, I'm pregnant!
Rama looks at Sita's belly. He imagines a little baby Rama inside.
IMAGINARY RAMA-BABY: Da-da!
RAMA: (to SITA) That's wonderful, darling.
Rama hears arguing through his window. He moves closer to the window and espies a LAUNDERER in the street hitting his wife.
LAUNDERER: I'm not like RAMA, who will take a woman who's been in another man's house! (slap!)
WIFE: Sob! Sob!
RAMA, looking shaken, turns back to SITA. Now he imagines a little baby Ravana inside her belly.
IMAGINARY RAVANA-BABY: (Bronx cheer) Phhhppbbtthhhht!
RAMA looks horrified.
RAMA: Say, Sita, would you like to take a trip?
SITA: But we just got here -
RAMA (ushering her out the door): Great, get packing.
Rama slams the door behind her. Through another door enters LAXMAN, Rama's brother.
RAMA: Brother, drive Sita to the forest and abandon her there. I cannot have her in my kingdom!
Pull-out to Sita, ear towards Rama's chamber, overhearing.
Begin Song 6: Moanin' Low
Rama throws Sita and her luggage into a chariot; Laxman drives her to the
forest, abandoning her as she sadly sings, "He's the kind of man who
needs a woman....just like me."
SITA: What sin did I commit in a previous life to deserve such suffering?
Sun sets on weeping Sita.
Scene 2
Next morning:
Sun rises over weeping Sita. VALMIKI nears, hearing her sobs.
SITA to VALMIKI: Song 7, Am I Blue.
As Sita sings, Valmiki gently escorts her to his Ashram and helps her deliver twin boys, LUV and KUSH, who look just like miniature Ramas.
Scene 3
14 YEARS LATER...
Luv and Kush are now 14-year olds. Valmiki is teaching them to recite the heroic exploits of Rama. Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Valmiki's Ashram. Sita sings song 8, Lover Come Back to Me.
As Sita concludes the song, Rama and his entourage pass through the ashram. Rama identifies Luv and Kush as his sons.
RAMA: My sons!
LUV & KUSH: Dad?
RAMA: Return to Ayodhya Palace to rule with me for eternity!
Luv and Kush run to their father, Rama. The three embrace.
VALMIKI: What about Sita?
Sita stands alone, looking hopefully at Rama.
LUV & KUSH: Yes, what about Sita?
EVERYONE IN ASHRAM in unison: YES, WHAT ABOUT SITA??
Rama hesitates, looks uncomfortable. Long Pause. Finally:
RAMA: Sita, well, yes, of course, Sita...
Sita looks hopeful.
RAMA: All Sita has to do is prove her purity again. Another trial by fire, perhaps...
Sita's countenance of hope turns to hurt, then anger.
RAMA: Or we could try trial by water, you know, see if she sinks or floats....If she sinks, she's pure, if she floats - no wait, if she floats, she's -
SITA: I shall prove my purity to you!
Rama stands in shocked silence.
Act III
SITA: If I have always been true to Rama, if I have never thought of another, if I am completely pure in body and soul...
Sky darkens, wind whips, lightning flashes, thunder crashes. Sita's voice becomes a booming echo:
SITA: ...Then may the Earth open before me and swallow me up!
Earth shakes as a fissure opens before SITA. Light shoots up; the giant spectre of Mother Earth rises from the crack. All are shocked and frightened except SITA, who runs toward the light. She leaps in a giant arc as suddenly Rama, Luv, Kush, and Valmiki run after to stop her (too late, of course). Just as SITA descends from the arc's zenith, the scene freezes. Rama, Luv, Kush and Valmiki are captured in horrified mid-run, arms outstretched toward SITA. Then SITA, upside-down, begins dancing and singing
Song 8, I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling.
During this number, only Sita and the attendant gods (Mother Earth, Brahma, and Shiva) dance and move, while everyone else remains frozen. At the song's conclusion, SITA continues her descent into the Earth, and the scene comes alive again: Rama, Luv, Kush and Valmiki resume their run towards Sita as she descends with Mother Earth and the fissure seals after them. In a final farewell, Sita's voice echoes from underground:
SITA: That's all!
Tragic and shocked reaction shot of Rama, et al. Then zoom out of Ashram, to planet Earth, to space, with heavenly figures of various gods in the heavens, as per OPENING SEQUENCE.
THE END