Appalling Denigration of Ramayana by Nina Paley!

[TatTvamAsi]

Namaste,

I came across an article about a short-film about Ramayana called "Sita Sings the Blues". It was masterminded by a mleccha (who else? ) in the US called Nina Paley.

In summary, this movie is highly deprecating of Rama, Sita, and Hinduism in general. To top it off, the movie begins with a fellow, with an Indian accent too, saying, "The Ramayana is NOT a true story like the bible is!"

This is a clear attempt by another christian filth denigrating Hindus and Hinduism. The funny thing is that this female lived in Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala) with her husband and was dumped soon after! LOL...

She then decided to do this film and portrays many of the characters disrespectfully and with disdain towards Hindus.

Those of you too disgusted to watch the entire thing, a few of the shockers are well described here: http://forumforhinduawakening.org/ar...ings-the-blues

(For example, she shows Rama trampling on Sita's stomach while she is pregnant! )

Anyway, here is the link to the full movie on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzTg7YXuy34

I am especially keen on hearing your comments regarding this. Is this movie safe-guarded under 'free speech'/'freedom of expression' and consequently should it be allowed? Do you consider protest against such denigration "fundamentalist" or "threatening" as Nina Paley herself considers? Contrarily, why should it be removed and/or banned?

This is a similar situation to that loser MF Husain who was booted out of India for denigrating Hindu Gods and Goddesses.

In my opinion, Hindus should be educated enough about our philosophy, history, and scriptures that they would NOT be perturbed by such transgressions of mlecchas but would be wise enough to ignore it completely. The counterargument is that despite the fact that these "films" etc. are derogatory towards Hindus, they impel non-Hindus to research more about Hindus/Hinduism or the subject in this case, Ramayana.

Obviously, I am perturbed by it and cannot ignore such blatant denigrations of India/Hinduism.

JAI HIND!

Namaskar.

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam:

You can officially protest this from this site. Add your signature.

http://www.hindujagruti.org/denigrat...asingstheblues

Apparently some 7000 + people already have.

TTA: Every country has unique laws. In Canada we have a more or less vague law against totally free speech called 'hate crimes'. There have been very few but some successful trials, mostly against anti-Jewish hate. A teacher in my province lost his license and was fined I believe for teaching his students the holocaust was a myth. Of course the Jewish anti-defamation group has some decent lawyers.

Hindus have been getting bashed now for a long time. I believe it was certainly worse during British rule era. Of course we still have your Anne Coulters and Pat Robertsons. I think that in a way they are good, because they let ordinary Christians see how stupid fundamentalism is. It also follows the idea tha any publicity is good publicity. I personally know that decent behaviour goes a very long way in dispelling myths about Hinduism. My Hinduism was never at the forefront on my teaching career although by happenstance it did come out. I was always lead to believe others thought Hinduism must be a good thing by my example.

But America always has and will for a long time yet take great pride in its free speech laws. I think the best we can do is protest. That's exercising the right as well.

HAF (I think), Hinduism Today (the magazine) and a bunch of vegetarian groups did successfully sue McDonald's over the false advertising about french fries. But that is more provable.

Some of your own tone and rhetoric towards Islam and Christianity would be construed as hate by some people in my country. A good lawyer might take on Satay over publishing that on HDF. So it all varies.

Personally, I am not easily offended, but will sign the letter because I don't like to see others getting offended, and understand their reasons.

(Remember the Ganesha statues debate in my city?)


Aum Namasivaya

[Sahasranama]

I agree with you a 100%.

I have watched Nina Paley's comments on this film and I can tell you that she is welcoming angry reactions from people who have some degree of respect for the Ramayana. That way she can play the victim role against so called terrorists AND the artist hero who goes against the so called religious fundamentalist. She is blowing the critisism she is recieving and a bunch of youtube reactions out of proportion. Somehow any form of protest is only getting her off, it's a stroke to her ego.

[NayaSurya]

I watched the video.

One, of the sickening filthy things wrong with this to me, is the fact she has made beautiful modest Sita look like a tramp. All the women in this are half clothed. It's an afront to every woman on the planet.

How can on one hand this women's liber' speak of how weak Sita was, yet this woman has created half clothed women in shameful depictions?

The only thing that brought me peace out of all of this. This woman has been given ill fate since she did it, and still doesn't understand why.

Her husband went to India on business, and instead found his true home.

She insisted on following him halfway across the planet and when she got there she was completely disgusted. But, her husband had become quite infected with the truth and light which is Sanatana Dharma.

Nina Paley is a bitter, ignorant anglo who was dumped by email by her husband while she was peddling this movie to producers in New York.

She was also sued for using the jazz music (it was still under copyright) and had to take out a loan to pay the 50,000 fine.

If someone could figure out the artist for the Indian music in this film...they just might be able to sue her and force her completely to withdraw the movie?

Edit:
I went back and read through the entire credits, it seems she hired certain people to perform those parts of music. But it wouldn't hurt to comb over the whole thing to make sure there isn't anything which could be used to stop her.

[Kumar_Das]

LOL old stuff. Its a hilarious movie. I like the music score and the narration. The narrations especially were absolutely hilarious.

[sanjaya]

I'm not sure I get it. Who is this woman, and what's the source of her disdain for Hinduism that motivates her to produce something like this?

I found an interview with her on YouTube, in which she likens Hindus to terrorists. In all liklihood, she won't find herself at the forefront of any terrorist attacks. I would suggest that she try doing the same thing with Islam, but we already know about the fiasco with the Mohammad cartoonists. I have no idea why she would attack a peaceful religion which doesn't sanction attacks against its denigrators. But seeing as how there will be no retaliatory attacks that end her life, hopefully she'll someday realize her mistake.

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakam Sanjaya:

Some westerners are so naive that they put Islam and Hinduism as brother/sister religions because of geography alone. I know of one Hindu temple that suffered vandalism after 9 - 11. Maybe she is that naive. Your average westerner isn't the brightest light on the street.

Aum Namasivaya

[Kumar_Das]

I'm not sure I get it. Who is this woman, and what's the source of her disdain for Hinduism that motivates her to produce something like this?

I found an interview with her on YouTube, in which she likens Hindus to terrorists. In all liklihood, she won't find herself at the forefront of any terrorist attacks. I would suggest that she try doing the same thing with Islam, but we already know about the fiasco with the Mohammad cartoonists. I have no idea why she would attack a peaceful religion which doesn't sanction attacks against its denigrators. But seeing as how there will be no retaliatory attacks that end her life, hopefully she'll someday realize her mistake.

Amen.

Vannakam Sanjaya:

Some westerners are so naive that they put Islam and Hinduism as brother/sister religions because of geography alone. I know of one Hindu temple that suffered vandalism after 9 - 11. Maybe she is that naive. Your average westerner isn't the brightest light on the street.

Aum Namasivaya

*facepalm*

If there are two religions who hate each other the most and whose followers are contenders that strangle at each other it cant be any other than Islam vs Hinduism.

Hindus would be deeply offended that anyone would mistake their religion for Islam.

[BryonMorrigan]

I'm more interested in finding out more about this:

http://blog.beliefnet.com/omsweetom/...na-in-3-d.html

[Odion]

I'm more interested in finding out more about this:

http://blog.beliefnet.com/omsweetom/...na-in-3-d.html

Tim Burton, eh? Hmmm.
If it's by him, he'll probably make it weird. I find him kind of creepy!

Your average westerner isn't the brightest light on the street.

Hmmm, I get what you're saying but I personally don't think it's about intelligence or anything, just ignorance. Most Westerners are ignorant of what a Hindu is. They usually see an Indian as someone who has brown skin, and may or may not be a Muslim fanatic. Sometimes those who know of Hinduism usually know so little about it or only have a superficial understanding of it.

I wouldn't say it's their fault, with the Western media obsessing over Islam and Hinduism or even Sikhism almost never coming up on TV, it's no wonder most Westerners have a shoddy understanding or knowledge of Sanatana Dharma's existence. We should try and educate them, as well as let them know: Hindus are not Muslims.

From a friend, I know that you can't say "Hindu" in Spanish because it means Indian. To say "I am Hindu" you also say "I am Indian". That must make it difficult to explain other Dharmic paths.