~~Anand Sagar's 'RAMAYAN' AT#1~~ - Page 53

Ramayan (2008 TV series)

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This article is about the 2008 Ramayan television series on NDTV Imagine. For 1987-88 Ramayan series directed by Ramanand Sagar, see Ramayan (TV series). For 2012 remake, see Ramayan (2012 Television Series).

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2012)

Ramayan
Format	Historical Fiction
Created by	Sagar Arts
Directed by	Anand Sagar
Starring	See Below
Opening theme	Jai Shri Ram By Suresh Wadkar and Kavita Krishnamurthy
Composer(s)	Ravindra Jain
Country of origin	India
Language(s)	Hindi Telugu Tamil Malayalam Gujarati.
No. of episodes	300
Production
Executive producer(s)	Rakesh Jain
Producer(s)	Subhash Sagar Prem Sagar Moti Sagar
Editor(s)	Pappu Trivedi
Running time	20 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NDTV Imagine
Original run	January 21, 2008 – June 26, 2009
External links
Website

Ramayan, based on Valmiki's Ramayan and Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas, as well as Chakbasta's Urdu Ramayan, is an Indian television series produced by Sagar Arts which aired on NDTV Imagine. It is also partly derived from portions of Kambar's Kambaramayanam, Bhavarth Ramayan (Ramayana in Marathi), Krittivasi Ramayan (Ramayana in Bengali) by Krittibas Ojha, Shree Rangnath Ramayana (Ramayana in Telugu) by Gona Budda Reddy, Ramchandra Charit Puranam (in Kannad) by Abhinavpamp Nagchandra, Adhyatama Ramayanam (in Malyalam) by Tunjat Eluchan, Shree Anand Ramayan by Pt. Ramlagna Pandey.

It is a remake of the highly successful Ramayan that was created, written, and directed by Ramanand Sagar and which aired on Doordarshan from 1987 to 1988.

The show won the "Most Promising New Show of the Year" award at the Indiantelevision.com's New Talent Awards. In addition to this, Gurmeet Choudhary, who played the lead role of Lord Rama won the "Most Promising New Talent of Tomorrow" Award.

Contents [hide] 1 Historical Synopsis 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Music 4.1 Dubbed versions 4.1.1 Malayalam version 4.1.2 Tamil version 4.1.3 Telugu version 4.1.4 Kannada version 4.1.5 Gujarati version 4.2 References 4.3 External links

[edit] Historical Synopsis

Gurmeet Choudhary as Lord Ram (left) and Debina Bonnerjee as Mata Sita (right).

Ramayan tells the story of Lord Ram who was the eldest of the four sons of Dasharatha, the King of Ayodhya. Ram was to become the King of Ayodhya after his father's retirement. But his stepmother, Kaikeyi, whose mind was poisoned by Manthara, wanted her son Bharat to become the king.

Remembering that Dasharatha had once promised to grant her any two boons she demanded Dasharatha that Lord Ram should be banished to the forest for fourteen years and Bharat should be crowned as the king. The helpless and heartbroken Dasharatha had to keep his word. So, he asks Ram to leave for the forest by keeping a heart on his stone. Lord Ram happily accepts the exile and leaves for the forest and is accompanied by his dutiful wife, Mata Sita and younger brother Lakshman. When Bharat learns that his mother is responsible for Lord Ram's exile, he requests Lord Ram to return to Ayodhya. But, when Lord Ram refuses to do so Bharat obtains Lord Ram's charan paduka and places them on the throne as a gesture that Lord Ram is the true king.

Bharat then rules Ayodhya as a representative of Lord Ram for the next fourteen years. Later, Ravan, the evil King of Lanka, abducts Mata Sita. How Lord Ram and Lakshman along with Lord Hanuman and his vanar sena rescues Mata Sita, and how Lord Ram slays Ravan forms the rest of the story.

[edit] Cast

Portrayed By	Character	Role
Gurmeet Choudhary	Lord Rama	Male Protagonist. Eldest Son of Kaushalya and Dasharatha. King of Ayodhya and also an avatar of Lord Vishnu.
Lord Vishnu	Parallel Male Protagonist and of which Lord Ram is a part of (Ram is an avatar of Lord Vishnu).
Debina Bonnerjee	Sita	Female Protagonist. Wife of Lord Ram and daughter of the earth goddess Bhumi and the adopted daughter of King Janaka of Mithila.
Ankit Arora	Lakshman	Brother and close companion of Rama. He is the twin brother of Shatrughna, born to Sumitra, the second wife of Dasharatha, his father. Thus, Lakshman is the third eldest son of Dashratha.
Vikram Sharma	Hanuman	Hanuman is an ardent devotee of Rama and a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana. A general among the vanaras, Hanuman is a disciple of Lord Rama in the war against the demon king Ravan.
Akhilendra Mishra	Ravan	Primary Antagonist. King of Lanka and brother of Surpanakha.
Ashok Banthia	Viswamitra	A Sage who takes Rama and Lakshman to protect his rituals, in the course of time he took both of them to Janakpuri, to attend Sita swayamvar.
Punkaj Kalraa	Dasharatha	Father of Ram and his brothers.
Vijay Bhatia	Bharat	Brother of Rama, and the son of Dasaratha and Kaikeyi. He is the second eldest son of Dasharatha.
Lalit Negi	Shatrughna	Brother of Rama and son of Dasaratha, and his third wife, Sumitra. He is the youngest son of Dasharatha.
Rajni Chandra	Kaushalya	The eldest of King Dasaratha's three wives, she was the daughter of the King of the Kosala Kingdom. She was the mother of Rama. A queen of Ayodhya.
Jaya Ojha	Mandodari	Queen Consort of Ravana.
Hemakshi Ujjain	Kaikeyi	One of the three wives of Dasharatha and mother of Bharata. A queen of Ayodhya.
Vinood Kapoor	Vibhishan	He was the younger half brother of the Rakshasa (demon) king Ravana of Lanka. Though a Rakshasa himself, Vibhishana was of a noble character and advised Ravana, who kidnapped and abducted Sita, to return her to her husband Rama in an orderly fashion and promptly. When his brother did not listen to his advice, Vibhishana joined Rama's army. Later, when Rama defeated Ravana, Rama crowned Vibhishana as the king of Lanka.
Praphulla Pandey	Meghnad	A warrior mentioned in the Indian epic Ramayana, was the son of the Lankan king Ravana.
Rakesh Deewana	Kumbhakarna	He is a demon and brother of Ravana in the Indian Ramayana epic. Despite his monstrous size and great hunger, he was described to be of good character, though he killed and ate many Hindu monks just to show his power.
Rishabh Sharma	Kush	One of the twin sons of Rama and Sita. Twin brother of Luv.
Perin Monish Malde	Luv	One of the twin sons of Rama and Sita. Twin brother of Kush.
Sangeeta Kapure	Sumitra	One of the three wives of Dasharatha and mother of twins, Shatrughna and Lakshmana. A queen of Ayodhya.

[edit] Production

Omang Kumar designed the sets and Nisha Sagar designed the costumes. Anand Sagar, son of late Ramanand Sagar, directed the series having worked on the script for about six months with this team. The series was shot at "Sagar Film City" in Baroda.

[edit] Music

Ravindra Jain, who composed music for the original series, Ramayan (1987-88) TV Series returned as composer with Kavita Subramaniam, Suresh Wadkar, and others as playback singers. An audio CD with 17 bhajans from the series was released in 2009 with lyrics/music by Jain and voice talents of singers Suresh Wadkar, Kavita Subramaniam, Sadhana Sargam, Satish Dehra, Pamela Jain, Ravi Tripathi, Amaye Daate, Rekha Rao, Prem Prakash, Kuldeep, Subhash Srivastav, Sanket, and the composer himself.

[edit] Dubbed versions

This section does not cite any references or sources. (August 2012)

NDTV Imagine which originally airs Ramayan has struck a syndication deal with UTV Software Communications which allows it to air Dubbed versions of Ramayan on Sun TV Network.

As part of the deal, NDTV Imagine will also get a revenue share from UTV after the earnings reach a particular level. UTV has paid a telecast fee to Sun for acquiring the prime time slot on the network channels. It will have the rights to sell air time.

[edit] Malayalam version

The Malayalam version of Ramayan was a daily which aired on Surya TV from Monday to Friday at 6.30 pm. Unni Menon sang the songs in the Malayalam version along with various other female artists.

[edit] Tamil version

Ramayan has been dubbed into Tamil and aired (as Ramayana) on Sun TV on all Sundays 9.30 AM to 10.30 AM in India and 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM in America.Unni Krishnan, K. S. Chithra and Chinmayee sang the songs in the Tamil version.

[edit] Telugu version

The Telugu version aired on Gemini TV.

[edit] Kannada version

Udaya TV, Sun TV's Kannada channel was unable to air the Kannada version because Karnataka does not permit dubbed content on television.

[edit] Gujarati version

The Gujarati version aired on ETV Gujarati.

Reliving an epic

With the combined audience of NDTV Imagine and three southern channels, Ramayan takes the cake in being the most viewed show in the country. Since its launch on January 21, 2008, NDTV Imagine's Ramayan, Ind ia's greatest epic, retold on an epic new scale, has received a fantastic response from audiences across the country. The show, which catapulted NDTV Imagine to the no 3 position on prime time, was the catalyst for the revival of mythological serials across television channels.

After making waves in the Hindi speaking markets, the dubbed adaptations of NDTV Imagine's Ramayan are now creating waves down south across Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The show currently airs on the Sun Network on Sun TV in Tamil Nadu, Gemini TV in Andhra Pradesh, and Surya TV in Kerala.

Since its launch across NDTV Imagine and the three Sun Network channels, Ramayan has been viewed by 80 million individuals across the country, surpassing the viewership of TV's biggest shows in the same time span. Ramayan has helped grow the time slots in which it airs on all channels.

Sacred Prime Time The all new Ram Darbar of "Ramayan"

So religion is the only way to consolidate a scattered audience? "We are not looking at it as a mythological serial. For us it is a story, which has the highest mass appeal and the ability to bring the whole family together. The point is though the number of television homes has increased from around six million in 1987 to 118 million homes, most of the these homes are still single television homes. Also 560 million Indians are below the age of 25. So a whole generation has missed out on the televised form of the epic, which teaches us to care, share and be charitable – values that we are fast losing out in the name of progress."

Anand Sagar, who is directing the new Ramayan, promises the series is being shot on an epic scale. Anand, who assisted his father, the late Ramanand Sagar on the first version, says television budgets have increased in the last few years. "Today we can afford to use high quality animation and opulent sets to bring the epic alive for a new generation."

A visit to the Sagar Film City in Vadodara shows how the Sagars are leaving no stone unturned to recreate the era in the 40 acre facility. Sources say six crores have already been spent. Interestingly, Ayodhya and Janakpuri are just across the road and Gurukul is just a stone's throw from Ayodhya.

Anand says research has been done to understand the architecture of the period and Omung Kumar (of Saawariya fame) has designed the sets accordingly. Kaikayi's peacock-adorned bedroom is a spectacular sight. "However, we have made sure that the opulence doesn't come in the way of the simplicity and honesty of the story," says Shakti Sagar, who represents the third generation of Sagars and has worked with the research team.

Talking of the contemporary touch, Anand reflects, "For today's audience we are presenting Ram more as a human being and less as a god." Echoing the sentiment producer Prem Sagar, the most articulate of the Sagars, says, "Ram was the ideal son, ideal husband and ideal human being."

Ideal husband? Many in present generation might question the ideals of a man who abandoned his wife after agnipariksha on hearsay. Says Prem. "We didn't show the episode in the first version. It was only after people's protest that we were forced to show Uttara Ramayan". Anand says he is not sure whether he will show the episode this time.

For people who still know Arun Govil and Deepika Chikalia as Ram and Sita, now the characters will be essayed by newcomers. Gurmeet Choudhary plays Lord Ram, while Debina Bonnerjee plays Sita. The three key characters – Lakshman, Bharat and Shatrughan – will be played by Ankit Arora, Vije Bhatia and Lalit Negi, respectively. But for now all of them have been kept under wraps. Another connecting link is the musical score of Ravindra Jain. "I have kept the soul of the original intact, just the words have been changed. Suresh Wadkar and Kavita Krishnamurthy have sung the title track. The effort is to show Ram as an emotional man," says Jain.

The serial is coming when the Ram setu controversy is on a high and a section is questioning the existence of Ram. Prem says they are creative people and have nothing to do with what the politicians are upto. "We are largely following Tulsi's 'Ramcharitmanas' and Ram setu is very much there." A master with words Jain plays it down. "To me Ram setu means Ram se tu (you are because of Ram) and not the other way round."