Ram Leela sequence is an integral part of Delhi-6

From the promos of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's forthcoming film Delhi 6, one can't help but notice the brilliant visuals of the 'Ram Leela' sequence. For the uninitiated, Ram Leela is an age-old theatrical play that starts on first day of Durga puja and ends on Dussehra with the 'killing of Raavan'.

In Delhi 6, Abhishek Bachchan's character is traveling to India for the first time and his grandmother takes him to watch the Ram Leela to familiarize him with his culture. When Rakeysh Mehra wanted to showcase a few scenes of the popular Ram Leela in the narrative of Delhi 6, he started his hunt for a Ram Leela group. To Rakeysh Mehra's surprise there were no groups that were actually carrying the art of Ram Leela any more.

In his quest for finding some actors to stage the Ram Leela, Rakeysh found his 'Ram' in Sagar University, 'Sita' in Allahabad, 'Laxman' in Ujjain and 'Hanuman' in Varanasi. All of them then got together and rehearsed for almost 3 months to put up jhalkis of Ram Leela.

Talking about the Ram Leela shooting experience, Rakeysh says, "Ram Leela is an important part of our narrative and we wanted to show particular jhalkis that Abhishek Bachchan is surprised to see. But when we set out to find these 'Ram Leela' groups we realized how difficult it was to find a group. Only in the heartland of India did we find some actors familiar with the age-old play ". Must say that it's sad that Ram Leela as an art is almost breathing its last in our country.