Ramayan rerun has made all of us go back to those days when watching television was a family ritual. The classic show Ramayan which acquired cult status was written, directed and produced by Ramanand Sagar. The mythological show, which originally aired in 1987 is again being telecast on Doordarshan during the ongoing lockdown. Ramayan featured Arun Govil and Dipika Chikhlia Topiwala who played Ram and Sita respectively besides Sunil Lahiri, Arvind Trivedi, Dara Singh and Lalita Pawar.
While everyone is hailing the fine performances of the starcast, Ramayan's lead artist Arun Govil has expressed his disappointment on not being felicitated by any government. Responding to a tweet, Arun wrote: "चाहे कोई राज्य सरकार हो या केंद्र सरकार, मुझे आज तक किसी सरकार ने कोई सम्मान नहीं दिया है. मैं उत्तर प्रदेश से हूँ, लेकिन उस सरकार ने भी मुझे आज तक कोई सम्मान नहीं दिया. और यहाँ तक कि मैं पचास साल से मुंबई में हूँ, लेकिन महाराष्ट्र की सरकार ने भी कोई सम्मान नहीं दिया". This roughly translates into, "Neither state government nor central government has felicitated me. I am from Uttar Pradesh but so far none of the government honoured me for my work. In fact, I have been living in Mumbai since last 50 years but even Maharashtra govt never thought of it."
Earlier in an interview, Arun Govil revealed that his career came to a standstill after the portrayal of Lord Ram. "I had started my career as a Hindi film hero and post 'Ramayan', when I wanted to return to Bollywood, producers said, ‘Your image as Ram is so strong we cannot cast you as anyone else or give you a supporting role'," he told The Times of India.
"They felt that I was not suited for commercial movies anymore. That became the biggest minus point of my career, and I realised that I could never return to showbiz the way I wanted to. I took up a few TV shows, but every time I did something, people rejected me saying, ‘Arre, Ramji kya kar rahe hain'." he said.
On Saturday, the actor shared a monochrome picture with his co-star Dipika. Along with the photo, Arun Govil wrote, "Ramayan Ki Yaadein". In the picture, both Dipika and Arun can be seen smiling with all their hearts. While the actress is wearing a saree, Arun is in a white kurta.
In a week after the show went on air, Ramayan acquired the top spot on the BARC TRP list as the highest-ever rating show for a Hindi General Entertainment Channel (GEC) program since 2015. Interestingly, even after the second week, the show yet again managed to gain the highest TRPs in both the GEC Urban and Rural segment.
In the latest trends released by Yahoo, search for Ramayan sprung up after it was re-telecast on Doordarshan during Lockdown. The Ramanand Sagar's show beat movies such as Contagion, Good Newwz, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior and hit reality show Bigg Boss.
