::Personal Testimonials From The Fans::
This post will begin with testimonials of the show's impact from the creators of this thread - our recollection of how and when we first started watching it, the fond memories we have from those days, the feelings it evokes in us and the effects it left with us. As more members begin to share the same, we will add excerpts from their posts into this one.
By Lola610
It is difficult for me to try and remember what my thoughts were when I first started watching Ramayan. I was not born while it was on air, but the VHS set that and several Doordarshan recordings converted to NTSC format were in my house since before I was born. My grandparents brought them over from India while it was on air and my elder brother was a baby, and he loved it so much that they bought the full set of tapes. I grew up with it as if it were a childhood favorite cartoon, insisting on watching scenes like Kumbhkaran being awakened and Hanuman flying to Lanka while I was fed lunch and dinner 😆 So... for many years, I cherished it the same way as I did Mickey Mouse, Sesame Street, Power Rangers, etc. and had no idea why something so "fun" would make my elders get all reverent and teary eyed from time to time. That too, during the serious and action-free scenes that I neither understood nor cared to pay attention to 😕 After all, wasn't this all about princes, princesses, magical powers, and escapism? What was the appeal of these crying scenes with long dialogues that I didn't understand?
But as I grew older and more understanding, and as and the show did me the favor of teaching me Hindi (not always a favor because it made me the nerdy kid who spoke in kintu-parantu style when her Mumbaiya aunties and uncles were like "arre kya hua tere ko? aisa kaaye ko bolti?" 😆) I began to understand what the show was really about. In those emotional scenes with their devotion-filled dialogues, I started to see the relationship between the epic's timeless messages and the lessons my family's Guruji imparts unto us. The importance of faith in God and ourselves because that is what gave Hanumanji his strength; gratitude for whatever situations we find ourselves in because they couldn't get any worse than what Sita Maiya and Shri Ram went through for our sake; love for fellow creatures in spite of any superficial differences because that's how Shri Ram accepted Shabri, Sugreev, and Vibhishan; acceptance of God's will as Bharat learned from Maharaj Janak in Chitrakoot; the dangers of pride as Ravan demonstrated over and over again; resistance of peer pressure as Vibhishan's conduct taught us all... among many other such priceless lessons. Soon enough, for almost every doubt that came to mind or minor difficulty I experienced, I could think of an example from our scriptures to set it all right. Scriptures I would probably have no interest in if it wasn't for my early exposure to Ramayan. Yes, the actors and the music and the screenwriting and the dialogues were all golden, as I was later able to observe, but the foremost reason I so deeply love it is that it was among the first inspirations behind my interest in spirituality from a very young age... an interest so full of benefits and so devoid of drawbacks that I am proud to let it alone define me. Thank you, Ramayan, for aiding in the process of making me the person I am today.
By Janaki Raghunath
Though I was not one of those fortunate people who saw Ramayan during its first airing (I wasn't even born yet, lol!), or even grew up with it throughout my childhood like a bunch of my IF buddies, I first became acquainted with it when I went to the house of one of my family friends and saw their grandmother watching it (I remember clearly that it was the RamSita wedding sequence). My friends were not much interested in the show, but since Hindu religious epics have always been close to my heart since a young age, I joined their grandmother and watched the episode. I immediately felt attracted to it, especially with the actress who played Sita (who I later found out was Deepika Chikhalia Topiwala) whom I considered divinely beautiful and elegant. I asked to borrow the show, and the overly eager grandmother immediately gave me the first eight DVDs to watch in my leisure time!😆
My family thought I was crazy if I thought I would finish those DVDs anytime soon, but much to their utter astonishment (and my own), I completed 1-2 DVDs per day (each of which held four 1-hour episodes) and was done with all eight DVDs before the end of the week. Eager to see more, for the eighth DVD introduced Kishkindha Kand and stopped at a very suspenseful place, I visited my friend's house soon after and borrowed the remaining eight DVDs, which I completed just as quickly. After the end of the show, I was left feeling empty for so long because I was not satisfied with just Yudh Kand. Where was Uttar Kand, I wondered? Ramayan is not Ramayan without showing the complete story of Lord Ram, and I was absolutely devastated that the story of Ram, Sita, and Luv Kush was not taken by the genius director. I then went online and searched for information on the serial, and much to my sheer pleasure, I found out that there was Uttar Kand after all! Though I wondered why it was not included in the main show, I was simply eager to watch it at the earliest possible moment and begged my dad to get it for me.
However, I had to wait for about 6-8 months till my dad went to India and found the 5-DVD set for Uttar Ramayan, but as soon as I got my hands on it, I watched it very quickly and fell in love with the show all over again. This time, despite feeling saddened upon the completion of the final episode, I also felt my desire fulfilled and thanked Lord Ram that I got to view his entire life story through this magnificent and memorable show. I will never forget it for as long as I live, and all I have to say on this celebratory day is that every single actor of Ramayan did complete justice to their role, whether it be Arun Govil as Lord Ram, Deepikaji as Devi Sita, Sunil Lahri as Lakshman, Dara Singh as Hanuman, Arvind Trivedi as Ravan, and so on. It is truly difficult choosing a favorite actor from that show, because every single person from the cast worked extremely hard in their roles and it would be an insult to their hard work and dedication to say one acted better than the other. I hope this show will always receive the love, respect, and dedication that it deserves and no matter how many years pass, it will be remembered just like the epic Ramayan itself.
Originally posted by: visrom
Wow...it's 25 years since this was aired!!!! 😍I remember seeing it as a kid. For me I wouldn't have known so much about Ramayan if it were not for the RS Ramayan. The first and only version
of Ramayan I know is the RS-Ramayan.
I owe a lot to RS
Ramayan...it taught me to love my parents, it taught me that future is
unpredictable and we need to be prepared for any eventuality. It taught
me that good prevails over evil in the end. It taught me devotion to
God. And to this day if I think of Lord Ram, the smiling face of Arun
Govil comes to my mind. 😊
~~~Jai Shri Ram~~~
Originally posted by: Urmila11
=
Each & every single part of this divine serial is very dear to me. If
anyone asks me about my favorite scene/song/actor from Ramayan I feel very
confused as I can not eliminate even a little glance of characters or a single
dialog/music from my list of favorites! This show creates such a mohini maya on
me that I forget everything except it while watching! I feel that the Treta
Yug's characters are in front of me, I can never think them as actors! I feel
each moment of the scenes, even the small & silent emotional parts too.
Each silent expression of actors tells me lots of words, on which I think after
watching it, & write in my own words what do I think about the unspoken
feelings of that character. It is my usual routine to think on Ramayan. No
other TV show has so much impact on me so far.
Originally posted by: aalochak
RSR has really
been the background score to my life. Its teachings and memories are
just so sublime. I feel indebted to Ramanand Sagar and Ravindra Jain who I regard as my Gurus. RSR has guided me and molded me almost as
significantly as any living family member or friend. I have so many
personal memories where RSR provided the background "music" in my life.
When I had my first school crush😳, I drew inspiration from the Garden scene in Mithila. Whenever I had
tiffs with my parents, I recalled Ram's line to Kaikeyi about making
shoes out his skin for her, and reconciled with my parents. Whenever I
sat to pray at our home shrine, "Lakshmi ramanam, niraja nayam" became
my mantra with which to perform Abhishek. When I started driving and
drove on the freeways at speed for the first time, it wasn't some heavy
metal refrain that crossed my mind😈, it was "Sita sanga viman chale..." ! When my granddad was ill, and I
had to miss my grade 10 excursion to visit him in another city, It was
Sita Vanvaas and her sacrifice that comforted me 😭 I could go on and on. ...
And lest I forget, thank you also for teaching me Hindi, albeit a sanskritised version :-) I too (like Lola610) was getting odd stares from family when they heard my very shuddh, pandito-wali gujarati and Hindi.
Thank you Ramanandji and team. I sometimes feel I have to add Sagar -Rin to the other 3 Rins (debts) I was born with as a Hindu.
Originally posted by: Shruti_HR
I'm proud of my Indian mythology and it was a great
step taken by Ramanand Sagar sir to start a show which truly reflected
our incredible India. There is everything to learn from the great
Ramayana and I'm really feeling proud today, on it's 25th year.
Originally posted by: Naina2127
The Ramayan remains to this day my most favorite epic,
and most of the credit goes to the RS Ramayan for portraying the story
so well! And of course, the actors as well, who to this day I picture as Ram and Sita, etc.
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