Whispers of hair: Untangling the narratives of Tenali and Bandhu in Sony SAB’s Tenali Rama

Abstract

The folk stories of Tenali Rama (1480-1528), believed to be a courtier and poet in Vijayanagar king Krishna Deva Raya’s court, have inspired many adaptations in India. This study examines the Sony SAB adaptation Tenali Rama (2017-2020), arguing that by dovetailing Tenali’s voice with his shikha’s (the lock of hair named Bandhu), it highlights Hinduism’s tension between ascetic self-sacrifice and the pragmatic desires of a householder’s psyche. Working with the performance studies framework, the study investigates Tenali Rama’s garhasthya or householder identity. The first part draws on the critical investigation of David Shulman’s literary adaptation of Tenali Rama’s poetry to contend that the voices of Tenali and Bandhu in SAB’s adaptation are articulated through the dramatic devices of jester and vidhushaka. The second part engages with three scenes from the series to explain how Bandhu’s privileging of himself over Tenali’s ascetic quest provides a more complex version of Hinduism.