Life, at times, is stranger than fiction. When Rajendra Kashyap, a former village pradhan who was playing the role of King Dashrath, collapsed on stage after pronouncing 14-year-old exile for his son Ram, people clapped and cheered him for his excellent 'acting'.

When Kashyap, 62, did not get up even after the audience had stopped clapping, his co-actors sensed that something was amiss. They tried to make him get up and realised that he was dead. The incident took place on Friday.