Late Ramanand Sagar's mythological serial "Ramayan", which is over three-decade-old, made a historic comeback on the small screen by garnering highest ratings for a Hindi GEC show since 2015.
Arun Govil, who continues to be synonymous with the character of Ram, feels the re-telecast is a great way to teach the young generation about the "morals, teachings and values of Ramayan". However, in a recent interaction on Twitter, the actor revealed that he stopped receiving commercial films after his god stint. “There are negative-positive aspects of everything”, he added.
Another question asked was about not receiving any award for the show despite its popularity worldwide. Govil asserted that no government, be it state or central felicitated him with any award or appreciation.
"Ramayan" is an Indian historical-drama epic television series, which aired during 1987-1988, created, written, and directed by Ramanand Sagar. The show was a television adaptation of the ancient Indian Hindu epic of the same name.
Amid the ongoing nationwide lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic, the evergreen series was re-telecast on Doordarshan on public demand.
Talking about why it is important to watch the eighties tele-epic once again, Arun Govil told IANS: "The new generation will get a chance to watch it. They will get to understand the morals, teachings and values of Ramayan. If they will watch it with the family, they can interact also. If they have queries then their family members of the older generation can explain things. It is a family show. How relationships should be...has been shown in the show. Positivity is there. Right now there is a lockdown, you can't go anywhere. So watching it will be a good way to use the time."
The show was a game-changer for Indian television, hooking the nation to the show. Sunday mornings were never the same for families in India after the first episode of "Ramayan" aired on television. The impact was such that the actors associated with the show, continue to live under the shadow of their characters, with people remembering them for the roles they played in the show, which narrated the life story of Lord Rama and Sita.
The role of Sita was essayed by Dipika Chikhlia, Lakshman was played by Sunil Lahiri, Hanuman by late Dara Singh, and Ravan by Arvind Trivedi. It also featured Sanjay Jog, late Vijay Arora, Sameer Rajda, late Mulraj Rajda and late Lalita Pawar.
