India’s most popular TV show ever, Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan, has recently started re-telecasting on Doordarshan. In an era of early days of television in India, the popularity of the TV show is still remembered and talked about by the audience, young and old. We bring you a few unknown facts about the TV show which will make you feel nostalgic about the show.
1) The makers of the show were unsure about launching it and hence tested the audience with same actors in a different TV show called Vikram Betaal.
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2) During its telecast in 1985, the TV show was watched by one and all with their families watching the epic tale of Lord Rama together. The actors were considered real life Gods and wherever they met people in real life, they were always treated in a Godly manner.
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3) The actors were offered large amounts to pose for magazines and sometime in sensuous shoots but the actors had to turn them down due to the larger than life image that they had created for themselves.
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4) The show holds a Limca Book record for the viewership of 650 million and the show being launched simultaneously in 55 countries.
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5) Arun Govil, who was a chain smoker before the show was telecast, had to give up smoking to maintain the sanctity of the role that he was playing on-screen.
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6) Not only in India, even abroad the cast of Ramayan was treated as Gods. While on a trip to Mauritius, Arun Govil was spotted walking on the road and people stopped on the road, got out of their cars and went down in his feet. This is a true story narrated by Arun Govil at various events.
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7) Ravana was played by Arvind Trivedi, who had been selected through an audition but it is believed that the producer of the show, Ramanand Sagar, selected him immediately after he delivered his first dialogue and he couldn’t even complete his audition.
Source: jagran.com