New avatar: Ravan on the throne; (below) Mandodari, queen of Lanka

In an age of regressive saas-bahu drama, this is a gale of fresh air on television. A teleserial, on Zee TV, has taken up the brief for the original anti-hero in Indian folklore — Ravan. “Ravan is such a great character. Bina jane log putla jalate hain,” script-writer Chandan Singh frets on phone. “You mention Ravan and people say dusht, ahankari. But give me one instance where Ravana has erred other than his capture of Sita,” challenges Narein Jhaa, playing the Lanka ruler.

The serial promises to show the “human face of Ravan” described in myriad mythological tracts as diverse as Michael Madhusudan Dutt’s Meghnadbodh Kavya (on the ploy to kill Ravana’s unarmed son outside battle) and a Javanese Ramayana (showing how Meghnad’s wife Sulochana fought with Laxman to seek revenge and got killed, which is the starting point of Zee TV’s saga). “In Tulsi’s Ramcharitmanas, when Ravan is struck by Brahmastra, Rama asks Laxman to go and seek knowledge from the dying king. He is an encyclopedia,” contends Singh.

Adds Jhaa: “Ravan was a reformist and was liked by his subjects. Haven’t you heard of the term ‘sone ki Lanka’? We revere Sita mata so much that whoever raises a finger at her becomes a villain. But no one considers that he was taking revenge for his sister Surpanakha’s humiliation.”

Director Ranjan Singh goes a step further: “Shree Ram puja ghar mein achhey lagtey hain, par aaj ke din mein unko apna lena mushkil hain. Common people will find it easier to connect to Ravan, who is black and white like us.”

Think Ramayana and you think Ramanand Sagar. But to connect to the 21st century, the loud drama of the 80s’ Doordarshan presentation has been cut out. Ravan speaks human. There is no thigh-slapping, foot-stomping swearing of a bigmouth. He is younger and leaner. Rama looks like a conscientious leader not given to lengthy discourse and beatific smiles, which may win him less devotees than Arun Govil, but helps to keep the storyline taut.

The serial is also raising a toast to scientific progress of the age. “The sages, like Agastya Rishi, were actually great scientists. Why speak of only Ravan’s Pushpak rath? There were nine types of aircraft in vogue then, including fighter planes. The Brahmastra itself was a missile. It is well-known that centuries later Leonardo da Vinci was influenced by military accounts in Ramayana,” Chandan Singh explains.

The serial also dispels popular myths like Ravan having 10 heads. “It was actually the reflections from a many-faced gemstone on Ravan’s necklace that gave that effect,” the director clarifies.

Shooting is on at full throttle on the Rs 2-crore set in Umargaon, Gujarat, where the earlier Ramayana team had also camped. The third episode has just been aired this Saturday at 9 pm (repeat at 10 am on Sunday). Rama has picked up the Brahmastra and taken aim, but Ravana has desisted from countering with an equally destructive weapon from his arsenal. “I cannot let Creation come to end,” he thinks and embraces his own death.