Sita Sings the Blues (2008) on Netflix
NR20081h 22mAnimationComedyFantasy
Sita follows her exiled husband Rama into a forest of demons. In San Francisco, Nina's husband takes a contract in India and moves there alone. Three shadow puppets tell the epic.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.5/105,118 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Kaikeyi saved King Dasharatha's life and holds the right to two favors. She uses them to have Rama, his eldest son, banished from the court of Ayodhya so that her own son can rule. Sita, Rama's wife, chooses to go with him into a forest said to be full of demons. Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, hears of Sita's beauty from his sister Shurpanakha and wants her for himself. Meanwhile Nina, an animator in San Francisco, stays behind when her husband takes a job in Trivandrum, India. Three shadow puppets compare the versions of the tale they learned.
Cast
- Reena Shahas Sita (voice)
- Annette Hanshawas Sita (singing) (archive sound)
- Aseem Chhabraas Narrator - Shadow Puppet 1 (voice)
- Bhavana Nagulapallyas Narrator - Shadow Puppet 2 (voice)
- Manish Acharyaas Narrator - Shadow Puppet 3 (voice)
- Sanjiv Jhaverias Dave / Dasharatha / Ravana / Dhobi / Valmiki (voice)
- Aladdin Ullahas Mareecha / Hanuman (voice)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Sita Sings the Blues (2008)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Without a distributor, Paley could not pay the approximately $220,000 the copyright holders originally demanded for the music; a fee of $50,000 was eventually negotiated, and she took out a loan to license the recordings in early 2009.
- Asked in April 2010 about streaming the film on Netflix's on-demand service for a limited amount of money, Paley asked that it be streamed DRM-free or carry an addendum telling viewers where it could be downloaded; Netflix refused, citing a "No Bumpers" policy, so she turned the offer down.
- In April 2009 the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti started a petition calling for a complete ban on the film and legal action against everyone involved in its production and marketing, with some members calling it "a derogatory act against the entire Hindu community".
- Paley estimated her total hours of work on the film at 9,360, and calculated that she needed 6,240 people to watch the 1.5-hour film to make what she called an "attention profit".
- In April 2009 the film inspired a Bangkok high fashion line designed by Roj Singhakul, which was titled "Sita Sings the Blues" after the movie.
