02/10/2026
Today, I had the privilege of watching the 573rd show of Humare Ram at Kamani Auditorium in Delhi, and what struck me first was how alive our epics still are when they are presented with sincerity, scale and soul.
The hall was packed, the energy was electric, and for nearly three hours the audience remained completely immersed in a story we have all known for generations.
That, in itself, felt deeply significant in a time when attention has become fragmented and everything competes to be consumed in seconds. *Humare Ram* reminds us that the great epics were never merely stories of gods, kings and battles; they were mirrors held up to human nature, speaking of dharma, relationships, sacrifice, ego, power, wisdom and choice.
The production brings those questions alive with extraordinary performances, music, dialogue and a sense of devotion that can only come from immense collective tapasya. What moved me most was the realization that these stories are not relics of the past — they are perhaps even more necessary today, because they compel us to pause, reflect and look within.
To see hundreds of people sitting spellbound, listening to Ramayana not as history but as a living conversation, was profoundly reassuring. **Some stories survive centuries not because we preserve them, but because every generation discovers that it still needs them.**
And then there is Ashutosh Rana ji.
Before I speak of the actor, I want to speak of the man.
I had the opportunity to spend some time with him before the performance, and what stayed with me was the sheer depth of his mind — his intelligence, his thought, the way he looks beneath the obvious and reaches for the essence of an idea. There are people who possess knowledge, and then there are those who have contemplated knowledge so deeply that it begins to shape their presence. I found in him not just scholarship, but a rare combination of strength, warmth, grace and intellectual depth.
And then, a little later, I watched that same man become Ravan.
His Ravan is powerful because he is not reduced to a villain. He is learned, formidable, wounded, proud, brilliant and deeply complex — and perhaps it is this complexity that makes the greatness of Shri Ram shine even more clearly.
Sometimes the greatest actors do not play the hero. They play the contrast against which the greatness of the hero is revealed.
One thought from the play stayed with me very deeply — that perhaps a person is not known only by the friends they keep, but also by the stature of their enemies. A worthy adversary can reveal dimensions of us that comfort never will, and there is immense grace in being able to honour even the one who stood against you.
Another thought I carried back was the distinction between **विद्वान** and **विद्यावान**.
A *विद्वान* may know the scriptures. He may possess enormous knowledge.
But a *विद्यावान* knows what to do with that knowledge.
ज्ञान होना एक बात है।
उस ज्ञान को जीवन में कैसे उतारना है — यह जानना दूसरी बात है।
And perhaps that is where wisdom truly begins.
Ashutosh Rana ji is unquestionably a brilliant actor. But after meeting him before the show, I came away equally moved by the thinker, the seeker and the human being behind the performer.
I returned home feeling deeply enriched.
Because some performances entertain you.
Some impress you.
And some stay with you because they change the way you see something you thought you already knew.
Humare Ram did that for me today.
