In Faridabad, Ram spouts Urdu couplets

Toone bhi mere bhai chhoda pyaara vatan/Laat maari hai aish par/Jab main ab Awadh mein jaaonga is bhai bin/Kya kahunga, mar gaya Lanka mein bhai bekafan?
FARIDABAD: Ramlila is usually enacted in Sanskritized Hindi as a way of recreating the ancient past. But a couple of Ramlilas in this industrial town tell the tale differently. As is clear from the above lines — where Ram fears the worst as Laxman lies injured in the battlefield — Ram’s legend here is told in Urdu.
At the enactments of Shri Sharaddha Ramlila Committee at sector 15 and the Vijay Ramlila Committee, the tradition of Urdu poetry and the legend of Ram come together to form a unique blend.
“Attendance is usually sparse in the initial days of Ramlila at many places. But our Ramlila is packed on most days,” says Anil Chawla, a businessman who directs the sector 15 show and plays the role of Laxman. “The couplets keep the crowd engaged.”
Urdu entered the scene when refugees settled here from Pakistan. “Our script was penned in 1976 by Nand Lal Batra, who had come from Lahore and wrote in Urdu,” says Chawla.
However, over the years, Chawla has made changes in the script and replaced many Urdu words with Hindi. "Urdu is losing its charm and today's generation doesn't understand words like 'aataab' etc. So we are replacing them with Hindi." This is also the only Ramlila in Faridabad where women participate, he adds.
Lanka's lord on a Vespa
Chawla says till around seven years back, the scripts were all written in Urdu. Even today, a group of Muslims from Mathura give background score at some of these Ramlilas in Faridabad.
Chawla has also made other changes to keep interest in the show alive. For instance, in Raavan's darbar, women dance to the tunes of Beedi Jalaile (from Omkaara).
"All this is done to make it interesting and so that the youth can also relate to it," he says.
As he speaks, his brother, Shravan Chawla gets ready for his get-up as Ravan. Next to him, 'Hanuman' rehearses his lines backstage.
"Baagh ujaada hai tumhaara, darsh pane ke liye/Aur hatya ki hai apni jaan bachaane ke liye/Main gaya tha kaunsa unhe bulaane ke liye/Aap hii aaye jhagda phelaane ke liye."
There another unique feature of this Ramlila. Chawla says on the day of 'aarti', no religious song is sung. "Instead, we sing Ae maalik tere bande hum. We don't want people from just religion to attend," he adds.
Another place where Urdu couplets and poetry have replaced Hindi is the enactment by Vijay Ramlila Committee. The chairman of this committee, Vishwa Sharma, a singer and musician, is well-versed in Urdu. "I learnt music from Naushad sahib in Mumbai," he says
Here, Faridabad mayor Ashok Arora plays either Dashrath or Hanuman. The background score, being used for the past 45 years, was given by one Habib bhai. "Use of Urdu is the unique selling point of this Ramlila. Most of old Faridabad residents were refugees and their language is Urdu-Punjabi," says Sharma.
This Ramlila's script is almost 60 years old and was written by Jaswant Singh, who came from Peshawar. As 'Maricha' practices his lines, Sharma corrects his Urdu pronunciation.
"Kabr mein hain paaon, marne ke liye teyaar baetha hun/Budhapa aagaya sarkar, himmat haar baitha hun/Jawaani ki umange toh jawaani hi mein rehti hain/Magar ab main jeene se bhi khud bezaar baitha hun."