Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) was a celebrated Indian artist, famous for his realistic portrayal of Indian gods, goddesses and mythological characters, in scenes adapted mainly from the Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Puranas. Considered to be one of the greatest painters in the history of Indian art, Ravi Varma fused European techniques with a pure Indian sensibility. Raja Ravi Varma was the first to make prints (or lithographs) of his artworks affordable and easily available, bringing fine art to the masses.

SITA is a dance performance film, inspired by selected paintings of Raja Ravi Varma of Sita, the heroine of the Ramayana epic. The film has been created using CGI technology. SITA’s stirring music score, brings the poetry of 10th century works of Kambar in Tamil, to give life to the paintings through dance choreography in the Indian classical dance style of Bharatanatyam. Each dancer portraying Sita is adorned with replica costumes as painted by Raja Ravi Varma. Music composition by Dr Rajkumar Bharathi, vocals by Bombay Jayashri Ramnath

SITA gives importance to emotions and its expressions in dance, which is termed as “Abhinaya” and it’s the core of Bharatanatyam dance genre. SITA gives the opportunity for the audiences to savour the emotions of Sita as expressed in the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma.