Indonesia filmmaker gives Hindu epic erotic makeover

By Adhityani Arga

JAKARTA (Reuters Life!) - Film maker Garin Nugroho, best known in Indonesia for his stark social commentaries, has turned to religion, love and power in his latest work -- a controversial adaptation of one of the great Hindu epics.

At one level, his "Opera Jawa", or Java Opera, is a modern-day version of the Ramayana, a Hindu epic that tells the story of the conquests of King Rama, and the abduction of his wife Sita by the powerful demon-king Ravana.

But Nugroho's visually stunning film has a wider appeal, even for audiences who are not familiar with the Ramayana, as it tackles the more universal subjects of feminism and sexuality.

"This movie is about rebellion, it's about breaking free from repression," Nugroho, dubbed Indonesia's Ingmar Bergman, told Reuters. "This movie aims to give a voice to the weak."

In "Opera Jawa", Nugroho takes an episode from the Ramayana about the abduction of Sinta, as Sita is known in Indonesia, and gives it a contemporary setting.

But in a departure from the epic, the woman revered by Hindus as a goddess is seduced, leading to a fight over her between her husband and lover which ends in bloodshed and death.

Nugroho's version has infuriated some Hindus in predominantly Muslim Indonesia, in part because it portrays the female lead as a strong, sexually willful woman, quite unlike the virtuous Sita.

"Such interpretations are common in the performing arts. Sinta is often portrayed as being daring and rebellious in interpretations that date back to the 1960s," said Nugroho.