{"id":630429,"date":"2026-10-14T14:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T14:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/630429\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T14:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T14:06:09","slug":"from-a-little-princess-to-black-panther-how-hollywood-films-have-reimagined-the-south-asian-epic-ramayana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/630429\/","title":{"rendered":"From \u2018A Little Princess\u2019 to \u2018Black Panther,\u2019 how Hollywood films have reimagined the South Asian epic \u2018Ramayana\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

American audiences will be able to watch an English-dubbed<\/a> version of \u201cRamayana,\u201d a Hindi film based on a South Asian epic tradition<\/a>, in theaters in November 2026.<\/p>\n

The Sanskrit \u201cRamayana,\u201d or \u201cJourney of Rama,\u201d is an epic poem<\/a> that was composed sometime between 400 B.C.E. and 400 C.E<\/a>. The epic follows Rama<\/a>, an exiled prince and an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu<\/a>, as he journeys to rescue his wife, Sita<\/a>, from the demon king Ravana<\/a>. <\/p>\n

For hundreds of years, people from different religious traditions<\/a> across South Asia have retold the \u201cRamayana\u201d through dramas<\/a>, narrative poems<\/a>, shadow puppet plays<\/a>, pageants<\/a>, folk songs<\/a>, comics<\/a>, television shows<\/a> and many other mediums. Director Nitesh Tiwari\u2019s upcoming \u201cRamayana\u201d film is the latest retelling of this epic tradition. <\/p>\n

For over a decade, I have studied<\/a> how South Asian epics have been retold within and outside the Indian subcontinent. While many American moviegoers may not recognize the word \u201cRamayana,\u201d they may have already encountered its characters and stories on the big screen.<\/p>\n

Sita\u2019s struggles in \u2018A Little Princess\u2019<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

An illustration showing Rama with his wife, Sita, living in the forest during their exile.
\n The San Diego Museum of Art via Flickr<\/a>, CC BY-NC-ND<\/a><\/p>\n

A striking example is Academy Award-winning director Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n\u2019s 1995 film, \u201cA Little Princess<\/a>.\u201d Although an adaption of Frances Hodgson Burnett\u2019s well-known 1905 children\u2019s novel<\/a> of the same name, Cuar\u00f3n\u2019s movie begins<\/a> with Sara Crewe \u2013 the daughter of a wealthy British Army captain posted in colonial India \u2013 telling the story of the Ramayana. <\/p>\n

As Sara narrates the tale of Rama, the film presents scenes inspired by the epic. Actors portraying Rama and Sita are shown living in exile in a lush green forest. When Sita begs Rama to follow a demon disguised as a beautiful golden deer<\/a>, Rama draws a magical protective circle around the princess and instructs her to stay within the circle\u2019s borders. The story reaches a turning point with the demon king Ravana\u2019s abduction of Sita after she exits the circle. <\/p>\n

But the Ramayana is more than a story to Sara \u2013 it has parallels with her own life, especially after she is separated from her father when she moves to New York to attend boarding school. Cinema and media studies scholar Jyotsna Kapur<\/a> explains<\/a> that \u201cthe man cast as Rama is Sara\u2019s father and the Ramayana is the imaginative thread that binds father and daughter together through their struggles while apart.\u201d <\/p>\n

At boarding school, Sara initially lives like a princess \u2013 like Sita \u2013 thanks to her father\u2019s immense fortune. Yet after the apparent death of Captain Crewe in World War I, Sara\u2019s headmistress confines the now-penniless child in the school\u2019s attic. <\/p>\n

While mourning her father, the heartbroken Sara uses a piece of chalk to draw a circle on the floor of the attic resembling the one Rama creates to protect Sita. Like Sita, Sara is eventually rescued \u2013 by Captain Crewe, who survives the war, and they return home to India.<\/p>\n

By weaving these stories together, Cuar\u00f3n used the epic\u2019s themes of exile and separation to provide a fresh take on Hodgson Burnett\u2019s classic novel.<\/p>\n

Many cinematic Hanumans<\/p>\n

The divine monkey Hanuman<\/a> is one of the most beloved Ramayana characters. In the epic tradition, Hanuman is a loyal devotee<\/a> of Rama, and he is the one who locates where Sita is being held captive in Ravana\u2019s kingdom of Lanka. <\/p>\n

Hanuman shows up in multiple different films. Pixar animator Sanjay Patel\u2019s Academy Award-nominated 2015 short film, \u201cSanjay\u2019s Super Team<\/a>,\u201d focuses on Sanjay, an Indian American boy who would rather watch cartoons than worship Hindu deities like Hanuman, Vishnu and the goddess Durga<\/a> with his father.<\/p>\n

Sanjay, however, gains a new appreciation for his family\u2019s religious traditions when he reimagines Hanuman, Vishnu and Durga as superheroes<\/a> resembling the three protagonists of his favorite animated television show, \u201cSuper Team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan Coogler\u2019s massively popular Marvel movies \u201cBlack Panther<\/a>\u201d and \u201cBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever<\/a>\u201d are set in the fictional African country of Wakanda<\/a>. In both films, a character called M’Baku proclaims \u201cGlory to Hanuman!\u201d M’Baku is the leader of the Jabari tribe, a Wakandan community that worships a gigantic white gorilla deity. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

An illustrated manuscript of the \u2018Ramayana\u2019 from 1725 shows devotee Hanuman standing before Rama and Sita.
\n Mandi Pahari school via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/p>\n

In the original \u201cBlack Panther\u201d comics, this gorilla god is known as Ghekre<\/a> and is based on a deity of the same name revered by the Akan Baoule people of the Ivory Coast. But in the \u201cBlack Panther\u201d movies, the Jabari\u2019s gorilla god is referred<\/a> to as Hanuman. <\/p>\n

Hanuman is at the heart of Dev Patel\u2019s 2024 critically acclaimed action-thriller \u201cMonkey Man.\u201d The unnamed hero of this movie is an Adivasi<\/a> belonging to one of India\u2019s many Indigenous groups. Hanuman inspires<\/a> him to avenge the rape of his mother by a corrupt policeman working for a deceitful Hindu nationalist spiritual leader. <\/p>\n

My current book project<\/a> is about cinematic adaptations of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata<\/a>, a South Asian epic tradition about a catastrophic war. I argue that \u201cMonkey Man\u201d draws from a variety of different narratives, including the Ramayana tradition and popular American revenge films<\/a> like \u201cJohn Wick\u201d to shed light on key social justice issues in India, including sexual violence<\/a> and Hindu nationalism<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Rama and Hindu nationalism in \u201cSlumdog Millionaire\u201d<\/p>\n

Hindu nationalist interpretations of the Ramayana in modern India surface in the 2008 Oscar winner for Best Picture: Danny Boyle\u2019s \u201cSlumdog Millionaire<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

While many Hindus worship<\/a> Rama, Sita and Hanuman as deities, Hindu nationalists have also presented Rama as a historical figure \u2013 the legendary ruler of the ancient kingdom of Ayodhya<\/a>. <\/p>\n

On Dec. 6, 1992, a mob of Hindu nationalists demolished the Babri Masjid<\/a> \u2013 a 16th-century mosque in the city of Ayodhya in northern India. They claimed that the mosque had been built<\/a> by first destroying a Hindu temple that marked the location of Rama\u2019s birth. Following the Babri Masjid demolition, more than 2,000 people<\/a> were murdered in riots across South Asia in 1992 and 1993. <\/p>\n

\u201cSlumdog Millionaire\u201d follows<\/a> Jamal Malik, an impoverished Muslim contestant on the Indian version of \u201cWho Wants to Be a Millionaire?\u201d When asked \u201cIn depictions of God Rama, he is famously holding what in his right hand?\u201d Jamal has a flashback to the violent riots<\/a> in the city of Mumbai after the destruction of the Babri Masjid. <\/p>\n

As a 5-year-old, as Jamal flees the Hindu nationalist mob that had just killed his mother, he encounters a boy dressed as Rama holding a bow and arrow. The adult Jamal then states: \u201cI wake up every morning wishing I didn\u2019t know the answer to that question. If it weren\u2019t for Rama and Allah, I\u2019d still have a mother.\u201d <\/p>\n

The new Ramayana film<\/p>\n

The newest Ramayana movie\u2019s tagline, \u201cOur Truth, Our History,\u201d seems to suggest that there is just one \u201caccurate\u201d and \u201chistorical\u201d way to tell the Ramayana. This reflects a prominent Hindu nationalist ideology<\/a> that the Sanskrit \u201cRamayana,\u201d along with retellings that closely follow the ancient epic, are the only legitimate versions of Rama\u2019s story. <\/p>\n

Yet as indicated by Hollywood films like \u201cA Little Princess,\u201d \u201cSlumdog Millionaire,\u201d \u201cSanjay\u2019s Super Team,\u201d the \u201cBlack Panther\u201d movies and \u201cMonkey Man,\u201d there is no single way to depict or understand this immensely diverse epic tradition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"American audiences will be able to watch an English-dubbed version of \u201cRamayana,\u201d a Hindi film based on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,409,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-630429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}