14 Oct Special effects to mesmerise spectators at Patharchatti Ramleela

Prayagraj: In a bid to make the staging of Ramleela more appealing for the audience, a five-member technical team appointed by the Patharchatti Ramleela committee is giving their best effort to make the various episodes from Ramleela staged more technically sound by employing special effects.
Interestingly, the technical team has prepared a huge effigy of Ravan’s brother Kumbhakaran whose bhujas (arms) and neck would be detached from his main body and the effigy would get folded once Lord Ram shoots the arrow to kill the Kumbhakaran on the ninth day of Ramleela.
Once the arrow hits the neck portion, the tall effigy would collapse at once on the ground with electric motors.
“We are making sincere efforts to represent the scene as mentioned in the scriptures with the help of technology before the spectators as it would make the Ramleela more special and attractive,” said Ram Chandra Patel, an octogenarian who heads the technical team. He also said that the technical team has made arrangements for effigies of certain characters who will be shown flying to make the episodes from the Ramleela more lively and captivating for the audience.
Patel said, “The technical team is working tirelessly to give an energetic space and an animated platform to all the artists during the Ramleela episodes.”
This year too, the technical team has managed to build an effigy of “Kumbhakaran” which will be 25-foot-high, made of fibre and iron shutters through mechanical support devices.
The 81-year-old Ram Chandra Patel, who retired from the education department close to two decades ago, has been associated with the Patharchatti Ramleela committee since 1998, providing technical support to the Ramleela. He is credited with introducing several new elements in the oldest Ramleela in the city.
“We are also presenting each episode of the Ramleela with special effects to audiences which they have not witnessed earlier,” said Patel. “Appreciation on the part of the audiences is the real prize for the team,” he added.
He also admitted that it is the hard work of the entire team including artists playing different characters who coordinate and cooperate for every scene before it is finally staged.