Relationships in the Ramayana: Styles Brainstorm

Topic. My Storybook will involve the various relationships in the Ramayana. My aim is to have a few different couples'/duo's stories being told through a modern-reality show framework. I would want to focus on Sita/Rama, Rama's brothers and their wives form Janaka's family, and Dasharatha and this 3 wives. I want to include the sections of the Ramayana that talk about Rama and his brothers marrying the women from the Janaka family (in chapter 12). I also want to include the various situations involving Rama and Sita (in chapters 73, 74, and 78). Lastly, I'd like discuss the relationships with Dasharatha and his wives (in chapters 15 and 16). There are are endless amount of resources I can use to read about the scenes in the Ramayana that I want to include in my storybook. I can utilize the ever-helpful Ramayana PDE with its links and images. I can also watch the Ramayana Animated Movie if I'd like to watch the actual scenes from the Ramayana. I can also use a retelling of the Ramayana from Hathi Trust to read another version of the story and the scenes I want to focus on. I chose these specific couples and chapters because they have so much potential to be retold and revamped.

Bibliography.
1. Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India by Romesh Dutt (1899). Web Source: Ramayana PDE
2. Myths of the HIndus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914). Web Source: Ramayana PDE
3. Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913). Web Source: Ramayana PDE
4. The Ramayan of Valkimi translated to English by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1895). Web Source: Hathi Trust

Possible Styles:

Myself as a host (narrator). This is a definite option for my Storybook. Since I want to do something relating the Ramayana to a modern sort of reality show, I could write as if I were the host presenting the couples' stories to the audience. I could leave room in my story for the characters themselves to have dialogue and such. It would be a nice way to present my stories because we are all used to watching shows on TV with the host leading the show and the characters providing input every now and then. Behind the scenes interviews could also be a great way for the characters to portray their personalities to the audience.

Other characters as storytellers. This option would simply eliminate the need for a host. The Storybook could be told through the characters themselves and they could share all their own feelings and views on certain situations through "episodes." It could also be that characters not in the epic could give their own views on the Ramayana couples and how they would react if they observed the same scenes that were in the epic. This would provide the story with more varied views from characters of different backgrounds.

Therapy Session. This could be a type of style for the Storybook where all the characters of the Ramayana have free reign to vent about and discuss all that has happened to them. It is a way for all the characters' feelings to be portrayed and for the audience to see how everyone felt in the various important scenes in the epic. This is also an interesting style because it could help provide a resolution to the characters. This could provide us as readers with some closure to all the missing pieces throughout the Ramayana.

Bedtime Story. This is a slightly different style than the ones above. I could write it in a way where someone in a reality show (Kardashians, Real Housewives, etc.) is reading the epic and discussing it with their own friends or family. This would be a good way to see how others may react to reading the stories about all the couples and families in the epic. With this style, I can be super creative in imagining how a celebrity would react to reading the Ramayana and what they would comment on certain situations.

Dasharatha's sons and their brides (Wikimedia Commons).