| Runtime: | 35 minutes |
| Creator: | Ramanand Sagar |
| Genre: | Epic |
| Based On: | Ramayana and Ramcharit Manas |
| Executive Producer: | Subhash Sagar |
| Director: | Ramanand Sagar |
| Producer: | Ramanand Sagar Anand Sagar Moti Sagar |
| Location: | Umbergaon, Valsad, Gujarat |
| Cinematography: | Ajit Naik |
| Composer: | Ravindra Jain |
| Editor: | Subhash Sehgal |
| Camera: | Multi-Camera |
| Company: | Sagar Arts |
| Starring: | |
| Narrated: | Ashok Kumar Ramanand Sagar |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Hindi |
| Network: | DD National |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 78 |
| Related: | Luv Kush |
Ramayan (also known as Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan) is an Indian Hindi-language epic television series based on ancient Indian Sanskrit Epic Ramayana. The show was created, written, and directed by Ramanand Sagar.[1] It originally aired between 1987 and 1988 on DD National and it was narrated by Ashok Kumar and the director Ramanand Sagar. The music was composed by Ravindra Jain. During its run, the show became most watched television series in the world,[2] and it is the most watched serial in the world, it had a viewership of 82 percent.[3] The repeat telecast was aired on 20 different channels in 17 countries on all the five continents at different times. The success of the series was documented well by the media. According to BBC, the serial has been viewed by over 650 million viewers.[4] Each episode of the series reportedly earned DD National 40 lakh.[5]
The show is primarily based on Valmiki's Ramayan and Tulsidas' Ramcharitmanas. Other sources used were: Tamil Kamb Ramayan, Marathi Bhavarath Ramayan, Bengali Krutivas Ramayan, Telugu Shri Rangnath Ramayan, Kannada Ramchandra Charit Puranam, Malayalam Adhyatma Ramayan, Urdu Ramayan by Chakbast. Ramayan was the most expensive TV show produced during at the time with a budget of ₹9 lakhs per episode.[6]
When the series was telecast every Sunday morning, BBC recalled, "streets would be deserted, shops would be closed and people would bathe and garland their TV sets before the serial began."[7] The series was re-aired during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown and broke several viewership records globally; the show became the most watched TV show in the world with 77 million viewership on 16 April 2020.[8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Adapted and based on the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana, the series follows the journey of Ram who goes to an exile of 14 years along with Sita and Lakshman.
Lord Vishnu decides to incarnate on earth as Ram, the son of King Dasharath and Queen Kaushalya of Ayodhya to kill Ravan, the evil king of Lanka and establish dharma whereas Goddess Lakshmi would incarnate as his wife Sita. In Ayodhya, a childless Dashrath conducts a putrakameshthi yagna for children and as a result, his three wives gives birth to 4 sons. Kaushalya to Ram, Kaikeyi to Bharat and Sumitra to Lakshman and Shatrughan. The 4 boys grow up to be excellent warriors under Guru Vashista's training. Shri Ram is an ideal and perfect son and brother and is a role model to his three younger brothers and always respects his parents and their affection towards him.
After the brothers return after completing their education, Rishi Vishvamitra arrives at Ayodhya for help as his yagna is disturbed by some demons and asks Dashrath to send Ram to him to kill those demons. Dashrath reluctantly agrees and Lakshman also accompanies Ram. Shri Ram succeeds in killing Taraka and her son Subahu and also protects the yagnas. Rishi Vishvamitra later teaches him about many things required for future.
Later, he takes the two brothers to Mithila to seek the blessings of Lord Shiva's bow at the swayamvar of Princess Sita. Rishi Vishvamitra tells them about the birth of Sita from earth. On their way Ram frees Ahalya of her curse by her husband Rishi Gautama. They reach Mithila where preparation for the swayamvar was in full swing. Ram and Sita meet at Pushp vatika and fall in love at first sight. Sita prays to Goddess Gauri for Ram to be her husband. Next day, Shri Ram wins the swayamvar by breaking Lord Shiva's bow and marriage is fixed. His family at Ayodhya is also informed of the same and Dashrath, along with Bharat and Shatrughna arrive Mithila and Lakshman's marriage is fixed with Urmila, Sita's younger sister whereas Bharat and Shatrughna are married to Mandavi and Shrutakirti, Sita's cousin. King Janak and his family bid a tearful goodbye to their daughters and here ends the Bala Kanda.
In due time, Bharat and Shatrughna leave for Kekeya to meet their grandfather and meanwhile, Dashrath decides to announce Ram as his heir. This decision is happily accepted by all the family members as well as the citizens. However, Kaikeyi's maid Manthara is not happy with the coronation and manipulates Kaikeyi to make Bharat as king. Kaikeyi asks two boons from Dashrath about which he promised years ago. She asks the throne for Bharat and 14 years exile for Ram much to the latter's shock. However, he is compelled to keep his promise.
Ram readily agrees and everyone, including the citizens, are shocked with the turn of events. Sita and Lakshman decides to accompany him. Urmila also wanted to accompany them but Lakshman stops her to take care of the family. Later, the three leave for vanvas after taking the blessings of elders,much to the dismay of Dashrath who breaks all ties with Kaikeyi for what she did. He asks his trusted minister Sumant to accompany Ram. The citizens also does not want to leave him. Ram is helped by his childhood friend Nishad Raj on the first day of vanvas and crosses Sarayu River with his help and decides to reside in Chitrakoot.
Meanwhile in Ayodhya, everyone starts blaming Kaikeyi and Manthara and even Bharat as they doubt him to be involved in the conspiracy. Unable to bear the pain of separation from his son, Dashrath dies of grief due to a curse he got earlier. Ram in Chitrakoot and Bharat in Kekeya sense bad omen concurrently much to their worry. Bharat and Shatrughna return to Ayodhya and are shattered on hearing about their father's death and their brother's exile. Bharat despises Kaikeyi and decides to get back Ram. Kaikeyi later starts regretting her deeds. Bharat completes his father's final rites and along with whole Ayodhya, leaves to bring back Ram and Sita.
At Chitrakoot, Lakshman sees Bharat approaching them and doubts him, ready to kill him but is stopped by Ram. Later, Bharat arrives and the brothers share a reunion. Lakshman feels guilty for doubting Bharat. They are informed of Dashrath's death and feel depressed about it and reconcile with their mothers. Bharat tries to persuade Ram to return but he refuses owing to his father's promise. Janak arrives and suggests that Bharat rule Ayodhya on Ram's behalf. Everyone agrees to the decision. Bharat asks for Shri Ram's sandals and places it on the throne and leaves for Nandigram to live the life of an ascetic for 14 years. He rules the kingdom from there with Guru Vashisht's help. Everyone supports his decision. Ayodhya Kand ends at this moment and begins Aranya Kand.
Meanwhile, Ram decides to move from Chitrakoot to fulfill his purpose. On their way, they meet Mata Anasuya who give Sita lessons on wife's duty and also gifts her a divine saree whose colour never fades and some jewellery which she got from Gods as a result of her devotion towards her husband. In the vanvas period the trio comes across many demons which are killed by Ram and Lakshman. They meet Rishi Agastya who give them never-ending arrows for future purpose. Ram,Sita and Lakshman decides to stay in Panchvati for the last year of exile. They also meet a vulture,Jatayu, an old acquaintance of their father who guides them.
One day, Shurpnakha, Ravan's sister comes to their hut with a marriage proposal which is rejected by both Ram and Lakshman. Furious at the rejection, she attacks Sita in an attempt to kill her but Lakshman cuts her nose while defending his sister in law. Insulted, she seeks help from her cousins Khara and Dushan whom she lies about her actual intentions of approaching the trio. They go to Panchvati with their army and in the battle that follows, Ram kills the whole army along with the demon brothers. Shurpnakha then decides to approach Ravan, the king of Lanka and convince him into killing the two brothers for Sita.
Ravan plots to kidnap Sita with the help of Mareech disguised as a deer and lure Ram and Lakshman into going out of the hut leaving Sita alone.The vicious plan is successful and Ravan kidnaps Sita but is seen by Jatayu who loses his life while saving her. On his deathbed, he informs Ram of Ravan's deeds.
Ram completes Jatayu's final rites and leaves Panchvati with determination to search for Sita. Later, he comes across his devotee Shabri who guides him towards Rishyamukh Parvat to meet Sugriva and Hanuman.
Ramayan was regarded as the most expensive TV show produced during the time with a budget ₹9 lakhs per episode.[6]
Writing for the Indian Express upon completion of the airing of the series' final episode, former bureaucrat S. S. Gill wrote that it was during his tenure as the secretary with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in September 1985 that he contacted Ramanand Sagar in association with the project. He added that in a letter to Sagar, he had written about the Ramayana as a subject for the television series was ideal in that it was "a repository of moral and social values" and that its message was "secular and universal". He further wrote that he had noted in the letter that Sagar's "real challenge would lie in seeing the epic "with the eyes of a modern man and relating its message to the spiritual and emotional needs of our age". Gill recalled that he had written a similar letter to B. R. Chopra over the production of the series Mahabharat based on another epic of the same name, and mentioned that both Sagar and he accepted his suggestions and constituted panels of experts and scholars to conceptualize the production.[19]
The series was initially conceptualized to run for 52 episodes of 45 minutes each. But, owing to popular demand it had to be extended thrice, eventually ending after 78 episodes.[20]
Initially, Both Ramayan and Mahabharat was planned to air together, but later it was decided to air Ramayan first which was followed by Mahabharat after its end.[21]
Govil expressed his desire to play Rama and appeared for a screen test. Initially, he was considered to be inappropriate for the role. He then appeared for the screen test again wearing a smile on his face and got finalized for the role.[22] Since Govil's collaboration with Debashree Roy in Kanak Mishra's Jiyo To Aise Jiyo (1981) was adulated, the actress was approached to play Sita but due to her hectic schedule in Bengali cinema, she failed to appear for the screen test.[23]
Several other famous actresses were approached as well but all of them backed off due to the prevalent premonition that playing the role of Lady Sita would blemish their romantic appeal resulting doom to their on-screen career. Deepika Chikhalia was then summoned to appear for the screen test. She had to undergo rigorous screen tests and was finalized then.[24]
Sanjay Jog was originally approached for the role of Lakshmana but he refused since he was unable to give bulk dates. Sagar then urged him to play Bharata since the role would not require bulk dates. The role of Lakshmana then went to Sunil Lahiri.[25]
Arvind Trivedi went to audition for the role of a boatman where Ramanand Sagar chose him as Ravan.[26] However, when Trivedi rejected the offer, Paresh Rawal convinced him for playing the role.[27] Vijay Kavish played three roles in the series which were Shiva, Valmiki and Mayasura.
In India, the series was originally broadcast on DD National from 25 January 1987 to 31 July 1988 with widespread acclaim.[2] BBC recorded that it had a viewership of 82 percent, highest viewership in the world.[3]
Reruns of the series aired on Star Plus and Star Utsav in 2000s.[28] [29] It was re-telecast again between March and April 2020 during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown in India on DD National and broke all records for viewership globally for any TV show.[30] [31] Hundreds of millions of viewers have watched the series during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown in India.[32]
DD National said on 16 April 2020 the show created a world record: 77 million people watched the show in one day. It was again telecasted on StarPlus from 4 May 2020.[33] The show is dubbed in Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil which aired on Star Suvarna, Star Pravah, Star Jalsha, Star Maa and Star Vijay respectively.[34] [35] [36] [37]
After just few episodes had been released, the show received widespread critical acclaim for Ramanand Sagar's writing and direction as well as its casting and Ravindra Jain's music.
D. K. Bose, the media director of Hindustan Thompson Associates, remarked, "The unique thing about the Ramayana was its consistency. Other programs like Buniyaad and even Hum Log did achieve viewership of around 80 percent and more, on occasion. In the case of Ramayana, that figure had been maintained almost from the beginning."
He added, “Starting at around 50 percent the 80 percent figure was reached within a few months and never went down. The viewership was more than 50 percent even in the predominantly non-Hindi speaking southern Indian States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. The show's popularity spanned across religions and people of the Islam faith watched in high numbers as well. It was common among people threatening to burn down the local electricity board headquarters during a power outage."
The success of the series was documented well by the media. Soutik Biswas of BBC recalled that when the series was telecast every Sunday morning, "streets would be deserted, shops would be closed and people would bathe and garland their TV sets before the serial began."[7]
Writing for the Telegraph, William Dalrymple noted, "In villages across south Asia, hundreds of people would gather around a single set to watch the gods and demons play out their destinies. In the noisiest and most bustling cities, trains, buses and cars came to a sudden halt, and a strange hush fell over the bazaars. In Delhi, government meetings had to be rescheduled after the entire cabinet failed to turn up for an urgent briefing."[38]
Regarding initial apprehensions about the series being aired by a government-owned broadcaster, it's hitherto producer Sharad Dutt said that "a lot of people within the channel's office weren't supportive of the idea, to begin with. But it had no motivation with what was going on politically. The Congress was in power and it had no agenda of the sort.". Sharma noted that the political clout the series held could be adjudged by the fact that Sagar and Arun Govil (who played Rama) "were repeatedly courted by both the Congress and the BJP to campaign for them", and that Deepika Chikhalia (Sita) and Arvind Trivedi (Ravana) went on to become members of parliament.
Arvind Rajagopal in his book Politics After Television: Hindu Nationalism and the Reshaping of the Public in India (2000) wrote that with the series, the government "violated a decades-old taboo on religious partisanship, and Hindu nationalists made the most of the opportunity." It confirmed to the idea of Hindu awakening and the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party capitalizing on this.[39] "
Manik Sharma of Hindustan Times voiced similar views in that the series "played in the backdrop of a Hindutva shift in Indian politics, under the aegis of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its political outfit, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While the media and cultural commentators struggled to consider Sagar's epic one way or the other, there were some who saw it as a catalyst, even if unintended, to the turmoil that the movement resulted in."
The series was re-telecast from 28 March 2020 with one hour episode during the morning and one hour episode during the night during the lockdown of 21 days due to coronavirus on DD National.[40] [41]
| Week and year | BARC viewership (Hindi GEC overall) | BARC viewership (Hindi GEC free) | BARC viewership (Hindi GEC pay) | BARC viewership (Hindi GEC rural) | BARC viewership (Hindi GEC urban) | Ref. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Impressions (millions) | Ranking | Impressions (millions) | Ranking | Impressions (millions) | Ranking | Impressions (millions) | Ranking | Impressions (millions) | Ranking | |||
| Week 14 of 2020 | 61397 | 1 | 27169 | 1 | 34228 | 1 | [42] | |||||
| Week 15 of 2020 | 67473 | 1 | 30619 | 1 | 36854 | 1 | [43] | |||||
| Week 16 of 2020 | 68687 | 1 | 17693 | 1 | 50994 | 1 | 30887 | 1 | 37800 | 1 | [44] | |
The viewership during lockdown garnered record highest ratings for a Hindi GEC (general entertainment channel) show since 2015 making DD National as the most watched Indian channel since its premiere.[47]
Ramayan garnered a total of 170 million viewers in first 4 shows during which DD National became the most watched Indian television channel after many years.[48] [49] [50] The following week it garnered 580 million impressions in morning slot and 835 million impressions in night slot.[51]
During week 14 of 2020, it garnered 61.397 million impressions and the following week it got 67.4 million impressions.[52] [53] [54]
See main article: Luv Kush. A follow-up series Luv Kush based on the last chapter of Ramayana Uttara Kanda, aired in October 1988 on DD National.[55] [56] A remake series Ramayan produced by Sagar Arts aired on NDTV Imagine in 2008.[57] [58]