‘Humare Ram’: Ashutosh Rana lauds poet Aalok Shrivastav’s writing; says, ‘His language has emotions’

‘Humare Ram,’ the title in itself evokes so many emotions that are hard to put into words. However, poet and lyricist Aalok Shritvastav, over the years, has been able to convey this emotion and every other sentiment and chapter of the Ramayana beautifully through his creations in the theatrical play ‘Humare Raam.’ Staged in more than 20 cities, the play has been performed over 200 times, and to date, it continues to captivate the audience. Speaking about it, Ashutosh Rana, a Bollywood actor and author who plays Ravan in the play, shared that Aalok Shrivastav is among those rare writers who can convey emotions with their words.During a conversation with Dainik Bhaskar, Ashutosh Rana lauded Aalok Shrivastav’s work and creative flair. He said, “Aalok bht adbhudh hai! Kyuki agar ap dekhe to 'Humare Ram' me jo ‘Shiv Tandav Stotram’ hai, jo Hindi bhavanuvad hai, vo Alok ne kiya hai. (Alok is truly extraordinary. If you look at ‘Humare Ram,’ the Hindi poetic adaptation of ‘Shiv Tandav Stotram’ has been written by Aalok.)”He continued, “Aalok vartaman ke un shahitykaro me se hai, jo bhav likhta hai, jiski bhasha me bhav hota hai. (Alok is among those rare contemporary writers who pen emotions. His language has emotions.)”In the same conversation, actor Rahull R Bhuchar, who plays Lord Ram in the play, talked about the making of Ravan’s song ‘Dashanan’ penned by Aalok Shrivastav. He said, “Ashutosh Rana ji agar Ravan kr rhe hai, to hume ek geet chahiye tha jo Ravan ko suit kre. To maine Aalok Bhai ko pucha, aur ussi rat unhone 4 lines likh di. (When Ashutosh Rana ji was playing Ravan, we needed a song that would truly suit the character. So I approached Aalok Shrivastav. That very night, he wrote four lines.)”He added, “Jese hi unhone vo rap sunaya, mene kaha ye hi gana hai dashanan ka. Mene kaha kon gayega, bole Kailash Kher ji gayenge. (The moment he recited that rap, I said, this is the song for Dashanan. Then I asked, who will sing it? He said, Kailash Kher, will sing it.)”Bringing the tale and essence of Ramayana in a theatrical play, ‘Humare Ram’ features Ashutosh Rana as Ravan and Rahull Bhuchar as Lord Ram. In addition to these stars, the play has Danish Akhtar as Hanuman, Tarun Khanna as Shiva, Harrleen Kaur Rekhi as Sita, and Karan Sharma as Surya Deva.