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. Amid the ongoing nationwide lockdown, the evergreen series was re-telecast on Doordarshan on public demand.
The impact of the show was also reported by The Wall Street Journal. However, the headline and articulation of the same has left desi Twitter enraged. Titled as, “Coronavirus Lockdown Creates Captive Audience for ’80s Show”, netizens have called out the daily and it's author Eric Bellman for a ‘racist’ interpretation and belittling an ancient mythology to just an ‘80s show’ that gained popularity due to COVID-19 lockdown.
Here’s what the author tweeted.
Here’s how Twitter reacted.
"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.
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 Ram was played by Arun Govil, Sita played by Deepika Chikhalia, 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.
