Amid the coronavirus scare that has engulfed the country, telly viewers have got something to cheer. National broadcaster Doordarshan is back with re-telecast of Ramayana, Mahabharata and other 90s era iconic TV serials. First episode of Ramayana was run today at 9am. It will be followed by others like Rajat Kapur starrer Vyomkesh Bakshi at 11am, B.R Chopra's Mahabharata at 12 noon and Shahrukh Khan starrer Circus at 8pm
Telly viewers across the country have cheered the decision. Since PM Narendra Modi had declared an all-India lockdown to combat coronavirus (COVID-19) there were frequent requests from the citizens to re-run these iconic shows. Prasar Bharti recently accepted the public demand and confirmed the return of Ramayana and Mahabharata on the small screen. Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javdekar on Friday had announced the timings of the programmes.
“Happy to announce that on public demand, we are starting re-telecast of 'Ramayana' from tomorrow, Saturday March 28 on DD National. One episode in morning 9 am to 10 am, another in the evening 9 pm to 10 pm," Union minister said in a Twitter post
People took to Facebook and Twitter to express their gratitude towards Doordarshan and Prasar Bharati for accepting the public demand. A nostalgic user tweeted, "Remembered watching Ramayana with whole family and neighbours who didn't have TV also used to gather. TV room used to get full. Never seen such excitement for any serial those days. Another user wrote, "Full attendance in front of the TV @ 9am. We are reliving our childhood (I was 7 years old and my parents bought a Bush TV for me to see this show)... my kids might never understand but I’m happy they are watching with me."
Ramanand Sagar directed Ramayana featured Arun Govil as Ram, Deepika Chikhalia as Sita, Sunil Lahri as Lakshman, Arvind Trivedi as Ravana and Late Dara Singh as Hanuman. The show was originally broadcast from 25 January to 31 July 1988. While BR Chopra directed Mahabharat featured Gajendra Chauhan, Praveen Kumar, Arjun, Sameer Chitre and Sanjeev Chitre as the Pandavas, Roopa Ganguly playing the role of Draupadi, Nitish Bharadwaj as Krishna, Mukesh Khanna as Bhishma Pitamah and Punit Issar portrayed the role of Duryodhan. It was originally telecast from 2 October 1988 to 24 June 1990. They were hugely appreciated and have become cult classic since then. They were a treat to the audience and widely enjoyed by all on Sundays.
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