Ramayan, based on Valmiki Ramayan and Tulsidas Ramcharitmanas, as well as Chakbasta's Urdu Ramayan, is an Indian television series produced by Sagar Arrts which aired on NDTV Imagine from 2008-2009. 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 Ranganatha Ramayanam (Ramayana in Telugu) by Gona Budda Reddy, Ramachandra Charita Puranam (in Kannada) 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 1986 to 1988.
This show won the "Most Promising New Show of the Year" award at 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.
Dubbed VersionsAs part of the deal, NDTV Imagine got a revenue share from UTV after the earnings reached a particular level. UTV had paid a telecast fee to Sun for acquiring the prime time slot on the network channels. It also had the rights to sell air time.
Ramayan was dubbed into Tamil and aired (as Ramayanam) 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
The Telgu version aired on Gemini TV.
The Gujrati version aired on ETV Gujrati.
Today we both are in a nostalgic mood as its been a year since Ramayan ended. We thought why not share our thoughts on these golden days with you.
Debina: I had to cry for the last scene of the last episode, my tears far from being just on-screen became quite visible off-screen. I was in pain as my character of Sita which I had played for 1.5 years was coming to an end; I had felt Sita's pain throughout the portrayal of the character and it was difficult to see this journey come to an end. After a day or so, we all sat down together to see the episode and I had to ask Guru to tell me if people around could feel Sita's pain. It was with the death of Sita that our whole team realized that the show had really come to an end. As I narrate this day to you all, my eyes are again filled with tears. Those were really the golden days and unknowingly we created history.
Gurmeet: With the end of Sita, we all came to the realization that the show as about to end. For the first time in my life, I cried loudly like a baby. Debi somehow managed to calm me down. I still remember my last scene in which I had to walk barefoot on a hot ground and then enter a river. It was really hot that day but the pain inside me was so immense that I felt no external pain. I loved living the character and eating, sleeping, drinking Ram. I thought let me drown Ram today and though I was not required to cry for that scene, my heart was shedding a thousand tears.
Even today I miss those days but Ram went into the river and Maan emerged out. Work has to go on but the satisfaction and enjoyment I felt in portraying Ram's character is unmatched. I actually never realized how effortless my days were during Ramayan with Debina on my side but it is after the end of the show I began to miss Debina's chirpiness, her voice and having her by my side. To this day, I keep calling Deb in the middle of shooting to hear her voice as that keeps me going. We both loved Ramayan and as a couple we both really created history with the show.
Love,
Gurmeet & Debina