''Sita Sings the Blues'' is a 2008 American

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

musical romantic comedy-drama film written, directed, produced and animated by American artist

Nina Paley Nina Carolyn Paley (born May 3, 1968) is an American cartoonist, animator, and free culture movement, free culture activist. She was the artist and often the writer of the comic strips ''Nina's Adventures'' and ''Fluff'', after which she worked ...

. It intersperses events from the ''

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

'', light-hearted but knowledgeable discussion of historical background by a trio of Indian shadow puppets, musical interludes voiced with tracks by

Annette Hanshaw Catherine Annette Hanshaw (October 18, 1901 – March 13, 1985) was an American Jazz Age singer. She was one of the most popular radio stars of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Over four million of her records had been sold by 1934. In her ten-y ...

and scenes from the artist's own life. The ancient mythological and modern biographical plot are parallel tales, sharing numerous themes.

Plot

The ''Ramayana''

The film uses a pared-down adaptation of the legend that retains many of its finer details while adopting a perspective sympathetic towards

Sita Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...

; in the director's words, the film is "a tale of truth, justice and a woman's cry for equal treatment."Director Nina Paley'
long synopsis
from the press section a
SitaSingstheBlues.com
retrieved May 4, 2008 The plot joins the legend at the exile of the prince

Rama Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...

from the kingdom of Ayodhya, at the behest of king

Dasharatha Dasharatha (Sanskrit: दशरथ, IAST: Daśaratha; born Nemi) was the king of the Kosala kingdom and a scion of the Suryavamsha dynasty in Hinduism. He ruled from this capital at Ayodhya. Dasharatha was the son of Aja and Indumati. He h ...

's favorite queen,

Kaikeyi Kaikeyi (Sanskrit: कैकेयी, IAST: Kaikeyī) is the second consort of King Dasharatha, and a queen of Ayodhya in the Hindu epic Ramayana. Out of Dasharatha's three wives, Kaikeyi exerts the most influence. Formerly the princess of Kek ...

. Having earned the right to any single favor by saving the Dasharatha's life, Kaikeyi attempts to secure her own son's inheritance over the eldest and favorite, Rama, by ordering him banished from the court. Sita, Rama's wife, determines to accompany her beloved husband, although the woods are dangerous and overrun with demons and evil spirits. The demon king

Ravana Ravana (; , , ) is a rakshasa king of the island of Lanka, and the chief antagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' and its adaptations. In the ''Ramayana'', Ravana is described to be the eldest son of sage Vishrava and rakshasi Kaikesi. ...

, encouraged by his spiteful ogress sister,

Shurpanakha Shurpanakha ( Sanskrit: शूर्पणखा, , ), also known as Meenakshi, is a ''rakshasi'' (demoness) in Hindu Mythology. Her legends are mainly narrated in the epic '' Ramayana'' and its other versions. She was the sister of Lanka's k ...

, hears of Sita's beauty and determines to kidnap her. He sends a golden hind,

Maricha In the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'', Maricha, or Mareecha (Sanskrit: मारीच, IAST: ) is a demon, who was killed by Rama, the hero of the epic and an avatar of Lord Vishnu. He is mentioned as an ally of Ravana, the antagonist of the epic. Hi ...

, past their dwelling to distract Rama, who tries to impress Sita by hunting the hind into the woods. In his absence, Ravana abducts Sita and demands that she submit to him on pain of death. Sita remains staunchly devoted to Rama and refuses to entertain the idea; Ravana sets a deadline for the ultimatum and Sita waits faithfully for Rama to rescue her. Aided by the monkey prince

Hanuman Hanuman (; sa, हनुमान, ), also called Anjaneya (), is a Hindu god and a divine '' vanara'' companion of the god Rama. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is an ardent devotee of Rama and on ...

, Rama eventually discovers Sita's location and brings the monkey army to assist in her rescue. Ravana is slain and Sita is restored to her husband, although he expresses serious doubts concerning her fidelity during her confinement. She submits to a trial by fire, a test of her purity; upon throwing herself into the flames, she is immediately rescued by the gods, who all proclaim her devotion and fidelity. She accompanies Rama back to the palace and soon falls pregnant. Rama overhearing one of his subjects beating and ejecting an unfaithful consort (claiming he is no Rama to accept and forgive her unfaithfulness), he reluctantly orders his brother

Lakshman Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He bears the epithets of Saumitra () and Ramanuja (). ...

to abandon Sita in the forest. In the company of ascetics owned by the Sage

Valmiki Valmiki (; Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि, ) is celebrated as the harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature. The epic ''Ramayana'', dated variously from the 5th century BCE to first century BCE, is attributed to him, based on the attributio ...

, she gives birth to her twin sons,

Lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

and

Kusha Kusha was a Suryavansha The Solar dynasty ( IAST: Suryavaṃśa or Ravivaṃśa in Sanskrit) or the Ikshvaku dynasty was founded by the legendary king Ikshvaku.Geography of Rigvedic India, M.L. Bhargava, Lucknow 1964, pp. 15-18, 46-49, 92-98 ...

, and raises them to love and praise their absent father. Years later, Rama overhears their hymns of adoration to their father and locates their dwelling. Distressed and disappointed by Rama's actions during her reunion with Rama, Sita prays to the earth goddess, Bhumi-Devi, to swallow her as final proof of her purity and devotion, and the prayer is duly answered, despite the pleas of Rama and Lakshman.

Contemporary parallel

In an episode taken from the director's own life, animator Nina Paley starts the film living happily in a

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

apartment with her husband and cat. Her husband then accepts the offer of a six-month contract working in

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populatio ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, and moves there alone to take up the position. After a month of no contact, he calls to inform his wife that the contract has been extended another year. Bewildered by his callous indifference to their separation, Nina sublets their apartment, leaves their beloved cat behind, and joins her husband in India. Upon her arrival, he appears deeply unenthusiastic to be reunited and demonstrates neither affection nor sexual interest. A while later, Nina flies to a meeting in New York, where she receives a brief e-mail from her husband telling her that their relationship is over. Sad and alone, she stays in New York, finding comfort in a new cat and her study of the ''Ramayana''.

Cast

* Sanjiv Jhaveri as Dave,

, Dhobi, and

as Nina * Aseem Chhabra as Shadow Puppet 1 (Hanuman) * Bhavana Nagulapally as Shadow Puppet 2 (Sita) * Manish Acharya as Shadow Puppet 3 (Rama) * Deepti Gupta as

* Debargo Sanyal as

* Reena Shah as

(Speaking) *

as Sita (Singing) (archived recordings) *

Pooja Kumar Pooja Kumar is an American actress of Indian descent who works in Tamil, Hindi, and English-language Indian films. After winning Miss India USA in 1995, she pursued a career as an actress and producer. She has appeared in a number of American f ...

* Aladdin Ullah as

and

Nitya Vidyasagar Nitya Vidyasagar (born 1983) is an American actress best known for her role as "Leela" on ''Sesame Street'' from 2008 to 2015. Early life and education Vidyasagar was born in Muscat, Oman to Indian Telugu parents and grew up in India at Kolka ...

and

Style and narrative

The film uses several different styles of animation to separate and identify the parallel narratives. RavanaSitaPainting

Episodes from the ''Ramayana''

Episodes with dialogue from the

are enacted using painted figures of the characters in profile, which strongly resemble the 18th-century Indian tradition of ''Rajput'' painting. The ''Rajput'' style of brush painting was principally enacted on manuscripts and commonly employed in the telling of epics such as the ''Ramayana''. In the film, they serve as a more traditional style of dramatic narrative, although the dialogue is frequently ironic, inappropriately modern, or otherwise humorous. The background in each scene is usually static and the poses of each character are kept minimal, with movement achieved by simply transporting the character across the screen in its set position. Speech is enacted by alternating the set pose of the face with a slightly liquified version where the jaw is lower. BhavanaSitaContaminated

Narration and discourse on the ''Ramayana''

Aseem Chhabra, Bhavana Nagulapally, and Manish Acharya provided the voices for three silhouettes, traditional Indian shadow puppets. They link episodes of the Ramayana with a lively, unscripted discussion of their personal impressions and knowledge of the epic. They provide context and commentary for the story, which has innumerable incarnations and regional variations.Analysis of different variations of the Ramayana
from the book ''Ramayana in the Arts of Asia'' by Garrett Kam, published by Asia Book, Bangkok in 2000, page retrieved May 4, 2008. The voices are clearly contemporary and somewhat irreverent, unlike their visualisations, which further establishes the theme of contrast between "ancient tragedy and modern comedy";Front page
of the official website, SitaSingstheBlues.com Chhaya Natak shadow theatre, for example, was commonly used in retellings of the Ramayana.PuppetIndia
feature on shadow puppetry, retrieved May 4, 2008. During these sections, the ideas and contradictions raised over the course of the puppets' discussions are visualized in animated photographic compositions in the background. SitaCriesARiver

Musical episodes from the ''Ramayana''

Episodes set to certain songs performed by jazz singer

are visualized, with Sita as the singing performer, using the strikingly modern technique of

vector graphic Vector graphics is a form of computer graphics in which visual images are created directly from geometric shapes defined on a Cartesian plane, such as points, lines, curves and polygons. The associated mechanisms may include vector display a ...

animation. The slick, bold style – driven by digital animation software – is at odds with the somewhat rustic quality of the old musical recordings but allows close synchronization with the vocals. The smooth, repetitive, side-scrolling movement affects assists in suspending the musical episode from the more consistent narrative plot. NinaDanSexless

Contemporary parallel

The modern, more personal element to the contemporary part of the story is narrated using the rough, energetic

Squigglevision Squigglevision is a method of computer animation in which the outlines of shapes are made to wiggle and undulate, emulating the effect of sketchily hand-drawn animation. Tom Snyder of Tom Snyder Productions invented the technique, which his ani ...

technique of traditional animation. It conveys the kind of restlessness inherent in the story and achieves a more light-hearted, universal tone with its simple, highly stylized renderings of character and environments.

Production

The production was largely completed by Paley, with support from Jake Friedman in the "Battle of Lanka" scene, primarily using 2D computer graphics and

Flash Animation Adobe Flash animation or Adobe Flash cartoon (formerly Macromedia Flash animation, Macromedia Flash cartoon, FutureSplash animation, and FutureSplash cartoon) is an animation that is created with the Adobe Animate (formerly Flash Professional) p ...

. In addition to the central numbers recorded by Hanshaw, music was provided by Rohan,

Rudresh Mahanthappa Rudresh Mahanthappa (born May 4, 1971) is a New York-based jazz alto saxophonist and composer. Biography Mahanthappa is the son of Indian emigrants to the U.S. He was born in Trieste, Italy as a result of his father's job in academia, but spent ...

, Nik Phelps, Todd Michaelsen, and Reena Shah of the duo My Pet Dragon and by Pierre-Jean Duffour, composer and musician for the band Masaladosa. Reena Shah contributed the voice of the

character, in addition to choreographing and performing the dance sequences

rotoscoped Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, animators projected photographed live-action movie images onto a glass panel and traced o ...

by Paley for the animation. Paley estimated her total hours of work on the film to 9,360 and calculated she needed 6,240 people to see the 1.5-hour long film to make an " attention profit".

Copyright problems

The film uses a number of 1920s

recordings. Although the filmmaker initially made sure these recordings were not covered by US copyright law, a number of other copyright issues surfaced, including state laws prior to US federal copyright law on recordings, rights to the compositions and the right to synchronize the recordings with images. These recordings were protected by state commerce and business laws passed at the time in the absence of applicable federal laws and were never truly "

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

". Without a distributor, Paley was unable to pay the approximately $220,000 that the copyright holders originally demanded. Eventually, a fee of $50,000 was negotiated. Paley took out a loan to license the music in early 2009. In July 2011, Paley made a protest video regarding the film's deletion from

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

due to what she regards as fraudulent take-down notice under the aegis of GEMA, Germany's major music and performance rights organization, but which may be an instance of a larger on-going conflict regarding copyright and royalties between YouTube and GEMA. On January 18, 2013, Paley announced that she has changed the

Creative Commons license A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyric ...

for the film from "CC-BY-SA" (the Creative Commons Attribution-

Share-alike Share-alike (🄎) is a copyright licensing term, originally used by the Creative Commons project, to describe works or licenses that require copies or adaptations of the work to be released under the same or similar license as the original. Cop ...

3.0 Unported license) to "CC-0" (public domain); she made the ownership rights change in response to the continual red tape of rights procurement, even under the share-alike license.

Distribution

Due to terms of the music license, one limited DVD pressing of 4,999 copies was printed. The film was released fo
free download
starting in early March, 2009 "at all resolutions, including broadcast-quality, HD and film-quality image sequences", at the time licensed under "CC-BY-SA". The freely downloaded files counted as "promotional copies" and were exempt from payments to the copyright holders of the songs. Paley plans to make money through voluntary payments, ancillary products, sponsorships, the aforementioned limited DVD sales, and possibly other methods. A cornerstone of the distribution model is the "creator-endorsed" logo, developed by Paley in cooperation with QuestionCopyright.org. Although anyone is free to distribute the film, distributors who do so while giving a part of the profits to the artist can get the artist's endorsement and use the "creator-endorsed" logo on their promotional materials. Exclusive right to distribute 35mm and HDCam prints of the film is split between

GKIDS GKIDS is an American film distributor based in New York with, according to the ''Los Angeles Times'', a focus on "sophisticated, indie" animation. GKIDS releases critically acclaimed, mostly hand-drawn, international films—such as the works o ...

for all theaters East of the Mississippi River, and Shadow Distribution for all theaters west of the Mississippi River. The film can also be rented via DVD on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

as of March 17, 2010. When asked by a media provider on behalf of Netflix in April 2010 if she would also offer the film via the company's on-demand streaming service in exchange for a limited amount of money, Paley requested that the film be streamed either

DRM DRM may refer to: Government, military and politics * Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd * Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar * Direction du renseignement milita ...

-free or with an addendum telling viewers where the film was available for download. When the internet television service refused to meet these conditions due to a "No Bumpers" policy, Paley refused to accept their offer, citing her desire to uphold her principled opposition to DRM. Paley has qualified this distribution strategy as a financial success, citing that it earned $132,000 from March 2009 to March 2010.

Reception

Critical response

Since its release, ''Sita Sings the Blues'' has attracted limited but consistent acclaim from critics.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports that 100% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 32 reviews, with an 8.27/10 review average. The site's consensus reads: "A tour de force for filmmaker Nina Paley, ''Sita Sings the Blues'' gives the Ramayana its animated due with a visually vibrant, dazzlingly imaginative triumph". The film also holds a score of 94 on the review aggregator website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

based on 11 reviews, indicating "Universal acclaim". Film critic Roger Ebert of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'' enthused, "I am enchanted. I am swept away. I am smiling from one end of the film to the other. It is astonishingly original. It brings together four entirely separate elements and combines them into a great whimsical chord... To get any film made is a miracle. To conceive of a film like this is a greater miracle." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' also praised the film's ingenuity, commenting that " tevokes painting, collage, underground comic books, Mumbai musicals and 'Yellow Submarine' (for starters)," and praised Paley for her use of 2D animation: "A Pixar or DreamWorks extravaganza typically concludes with a phone book's worth of technical credits. Ms. Paley did everything in “Sita” — an amazingly eclectic, 82-minute tour de force — by herself." Although ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' declared the film to be "a rather rarified effort that will probably appeal more to adults than to children," it described it as "charming" and commented that, "Arriving amidst a tidal wave of overblown and frequently charmless big studio efforts, "Sita Sings the Blues" is a welcome reminder that when it comes to animation bigger isn't necessarily better." The blog ''

Sepia Mutiny Sepia Mutiny was a blog and discussion forum, initially conceived by a group of mostly second generation Indian American students and young professionals in August 2004. The site had had an exponential growth rate and according to its FAQ, as of ...

'' reviewed the film noting that it has "lovely, highly stylized characters" and that Paley stayed "reasonably faithful" to the original story.

Controversy

The film has drawn controversy from a number of sides. In April 2009, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti started a petition calling for a complete ban on the movie and initiation of legal action against all those who have been involved in its production and marketing, believing its portrayal of the Ramayana to be offensive, with some members going so far as to call it "a derogatory act against the entire Hindu community." When the

San Jose Museum of Art The San José Museum of Art (SJMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum in downtown San Jose, California, United States. Founded in 1969, the museum holds a permanent collection with an emphasis on West Coast artists of the 20th and 21st centur ...

screened the film, a protestor said: "I'm very angry about this film and feel very humiliated by the portrayal of Lord Ram in this very perverted way...negative portrayals of Hinduism cause discrimination and religious intolerance."Hindu groups protest the screening of 'Sita Sings the Blues' – The Times of India
/ref> Another protestor at the same event suggested: "Trying to promote India's rich culture in such a way is appalling." Paley expressed surprise at the adverse reaction, saying "I thought it might be a bit controversial, but I wasn't fully aware of how art and artists are major targets of some right-wing nationalist groups in India. I always imagine an audience of smart, compassionate people I'd enjoy spending time with."Kohn, Eric
"A Filmmaker's 'Blues' Prompts Traditionalists to See Red"
''The Forward''. May 29, 2009. However, in an interview with India-West, she did acknowledge that Lord Ram is not depicted well in the film. She added to the source: "No one has to like it."

Awards

''Sita Sings the Blues'' has won a number of awards.Awards for Sita Sings the Blues
IMDB * Berlinale (

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...

), Feb. 2008
Crystal Bear - Special Mention, Gen-14+
Germany * Annecy, June 2008
Cristal grand prix for best feature film
France * Avignon, June 2008
Prix Tournage for Best American Feature Film
France * Athens International Film Festival, Sept. 2008, Best Script Award, Greece * Ottawa International Animation Festival, Sept. 2008
Honorable Mention for Best Animated Feature
Canada * Montreal's Festival du nouveau cinéma, Oct. 2008

Canada * Expotoons, Oct. 2008, ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090304182713/http://www.expotoons.com/ESP/ganadores.html "First Mention" (runner-up), Feature Films Buenos Aires, Argentina * Leeds International Film Festival, Nov. 2008, Golden Owl Competition - Special Mention, UK * Asheville Film Festival, Nov. 2008
Runner-up, Best Feature, Fiction
NC, US * Starz Denver Film Festival, Nov 2008
Fox 31 Emerging Filmmaker Award
CO, US * Gotham Independent Film Awards, Dec 2008
Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You
NYC, NY, US * Les Nuits Magiques, Dec 2008
Audience Award for Best Feature Film
Begles, France * Santa Fe Film Festival, Dec 2008
Best Animation
NM, US * Boulder International Film Festival, Feb 2009

CO, US * Film Independent's Spirit Awards, Feb 2009
Nominee, Acura Someone to Watch Award
Los Angeles, CA, US * Fargo Film Festival, March 2009
Ruth Landfield Award
an
Honorable Mention, Best Animation
ND, US * Festival Monstra, March 200

Lisbon, Portugal * Cairo International Film Festival for Children, March 2009, Jury's Special Mention, Cairo, Egypt * Tiburon International Film Festival, March 2009
Best Animation
Tiburon, CA, US * Big Cartoon Festival, March 2009
Grand Prix Sirin
Krasnoyarsk, Russia * Animabasaui5, March 2009
Jury Special Award
Bilbao, Spain * Akron Film Festival, April 2009
Best Feature Film
Akron, OH, US * Philadelphia CineFest, April 2009
Archie Award for Best First Time Director
Philadelphia, PA, US * Salem Film Festival, April 2009

Salem, OR, US * Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, April 2009
Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature
Los Angeles CA, US * Talking Pictures Festival, May 2009
Best Animated Film
Evanston, IL, US * Connecticut Film Festival, June 2009
Best Animated Film
Danbury, CT, US * Festival Internacional de Cine DerHumALC, June 2009

Buenos Aires, Argentina * Indianapolis International Film Festival, July 2009
American Spectrum, Best Feature
Indianapolis, IN, US

Cultural impact

In April 2009, the film inspired a

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

high fashion ''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became the ...

line designed by Roj Singhakul, titled "Sita Sings the Blues".Wenin, Samila
"Into the Blues"
''Bangkok Post''. April 4, 2009.

References

External links

* * under CC-0 * * * {{Metacritic film 2008 films 2008 animated films 2000s American animated films American computer-animated films Animated musical films Animated films based on Ramayana Creative Commons-licensed films Rotoscoped films American flash animated films Annecy Cristal for a Feature Film winners Articles containing video clips Hinduism-related controversies Hinduism in pop culture-related controversies Jukebox musical films Film controversies Religious controversies in animation Religious controversies in film 2000s English-language films

Plot

The ''Ramayana''

Contemporary parallel

Cast

Style and narrative

Episodes from the ''Ramayana''

Narration and discourse on the ''Ramayana''

Musical episodes from the ''Ramayana''

Contemporary parallel

Production

Copyright problems

Distribution

Reception

Critical response

Controversy

Awards

Cultural impact

See also

References

External links