Ramayan (TV series)

Infobox Television
show_name = Ramayan


caption = "Ramayan" promotional poster
format = Religious drama
runtime = 35 minutes
creator = Ramanand Sagar
starring = Arun Govil
Deepika
Sunil Lahri
Sanjay Jog
Arvind Trivedi
Dara Singh
Vijay Arora
Sameer Rajda
Mulraj Rajda
Lalita Pawar
country = IND
language = Hindi
network = Doordarshan
first_aired = January 25, 1987
last_aired = July 31, 1988
num_episodes = 78
followed_by = "Luv Kush"
imdb_id = 0268093

"Ramayan" is a highly successful [cite book |last=Lutgendorf |first=Philip |title=The Life of a Text: Performing the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas |year=1991 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, California |pages=12 |isbn=0-520-06690-1 ] Indian television series created, written, and directed by Ramanand Sagar. The 78-episode series originally aired weekly on Doordarshan from January 25, 1987, to July 31, 1988, on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. IST.Lutgendorf, Philip (1990). "Ramayan: The Video." "The Drama Review" 34, 127–176]

It is a television adaptation of the ancient Indian religious epic of the same name and is primarily based on Valmiki's "Ramayan" and Tulsidas' "Ramcharitmanas". It is also partly derived from portions of Kamban's "Kambaramayanam" and other works.

Cast

* Arun Govil as Ram
* Deepika as Sita
* Sunil Lahri as Lakshman
* Sanjay Jog as Bharat
* Arvind Trivedi as Ravan
* Dara Singh as Hanuman
* Vijay Arora as Indrajit
* Sameer Rajda as Shatrughna
* Mulraj Rajda as Janak
* Lalita Pawar as Manthara
* Jayshree Gadkar as Kaushalya
* Padma Khanna as Kaikeyi
* Rajnibala as Sumitra

Popularity and influence

During its original broadcast, "Ramayan" was enormously popular, drawing over 100 million viewers.Lutgendorf, P., "The Life of a Text," 411–412] Its popularity reached a point where the entire nation of India "came to a virtual stop as nearly everyone who could gain access to a television stopped what they were doing to watch the televised adventures of Rama." [National Endowment for the Humanities. "Lessons of the Epics: The "Ramayana". "EdSITEment Lesson Plans". Available online from [http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=599 http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=599] (18 January, 2006).] In a phenomenon that the newsmagazine "India Today" dubbed "Ramayan" fever," religious services (Hindu and non-Hindu) were rescheduled to accommodate the show's broadcast; trains, buses, and inner-city trucks stopped running when the show was on; and, in villages, hundreds of people would gather around a single television set to watch the show. [Karp, Jonathan and Williams, Michael. "Reigning Hindu TV Gods of India Have Viewers Glued to Their Sets." "The Wall Street Journal", 22 April 1998]

At the time, Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi stated, "Ramayan" has stirred the imaginations of millions of viewers. It has imbibed the great Indian culture, tradition and normal values especially in the young."

While religious-themed films had been produced since the beginning of Indian cinema, "Ramayan" was the first Indian television series based on religious stories and is widely credited with inspiring the production of many other religious television series, including "Mahabharat", "Vishwamitra", "Buddha", and Sagar's own "Luv Kush" and "Krishna", as well as inspiring the production of historical dramas such as "Chanakya" and Shyam Benegal's "Bharat Ek Khoj".

"Ramayan" was listed in the Limca Book of Records as the world's "most viewed mythological serial" until June 2003. [ [http://www.sagartv.com/Serial_ramayan3.asp Limca Book of Records certificate on official website of Sagar Arts] ]

pin-offs

Within weeks of the end of the original run of "Ramayan," the spin-off "Uttar Ramayan" (later renamed "Luv Kush") premiered on Doordarshan, starring the same cast and production team as "Ramayan" and continuing the "Ramayana" story into the events following Ram's coronation.

In 2008, a re-make of "Ramayan" produced by Sagar Arts begain airing on NDTV Imagine.

Footnotes

References

* Karp, Jonathan and Williams, Michael. "Reigning Hindu TV Gods of India Have Viewers Glued to Their Sets." "The Wall Street Journal", 22 April 1998
*
* Lutgendorf, Philip (1990). "Ramayan: The Video." "The Drama Review" 34, 127–176
* National Endowment for the Humanities. "Lessons of the Epics: The "Ramayana". "EdSITEment Lesson Plans". Available online from [http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=599 http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=599] (18 January, 2006).
* [http://www.sagartv.com/Serial_ramayan3.asp Limca Book of Records certificate on official website of Sagar Arts]

External links

*imdb title|id=0268093|title=Ramayan