Sita Was Never A Warrior: Mukesh Khanna Slams Modern Twist To Sai Pallavi’s Character In Ramayana

Mukesh Khanna wears his heart on his sleeve when it comes to speaking his mind. Having said that, the veteran actor is unhappy with the portrayal of Sita (played by Sai Pallavi) in Ramayana. In his vlog, he questioned the makers and argued that Valmiki's Ramayana doesn't present Sita wielding weapons. The veteran actor slammed the filmmaker for taking liberties with the revered text and adding their own interpretations.

Mukesh Khanna slams filmmakers for portraying Sita as a warrior

In his vlog, he can be heard saying in Hindi, which we loosely translated to English, "The biggest issue is that if I start recounting people's comments one by one, one person raised a very serious objection. He asked whether one could imagine Sita fighting in the Ramayana like Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi or like modern-day heroines who are shown as macho fighters."

"Sita is shown fighting two or three demons, engaging in combat, striking them, and kicking them. All of this is being done by Sita. I was also astonished by this. The person who wrote about it seemed even more shocked than I was. I looked into what he said and saw that Sita was indeed shown fighting them," he continued.

Khanna argued, "I checked. Nothing like this exists in Valmiki's Ramayana. As far as I know and from everything I have read, Sita never fought anyone. She was the wife of Maryada Purushottam Ram, who exemplified devotion and willingly accompanied her husband into exile for 14 years. Not because of any fault of her own, but because Ram wished to fulfil the promise his father had made to Kaikeyi. This is the story of Maryada Purushottam Ram, and Sita chose to stay by his side. She never asked for royal comforts or privileges."

"You are changing Sita's character and portraying her as a fighter? Sir, she was not a fighter. And when Ravana abducted her, if she had been a fighter, she could have fought him then as well. How would she have been taken away so easily?" he added.

He concluded by saying, "You should be ashamed of doing this. By portraying Sita as a fighter, you are trying to appeal to modern women. Some people have even called it feminism. I do not know much about feminism, but from what I understand, it seeks to portray women as strong. They may well be strong, and I am not disputing that. However, in the Ramayan, Sita was Sita, and she should not be used to represent a modern agenda. That is wrong."

Ramayana is performing well at the box office in India and overseas, and by the end of the fifth day, the movie has surpassed the ₹600 crore mark globally.

Also Read: Ramayana Box Office Collection Day 5: Ranbir Kapoor-Yash Starrer Creates History On First Monday, Scores Century Beating Dhurandhar 2