Ramayan (2008 TV series)

Ramayan is an Indian television historical series depicting the story of Rama and based on stories from classic Indian literature. The 2008 release is a remake of the 1987 Ramayan television series of the same name.[1][2] The plot derives from Valmiki's Ramayan, Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas and Chakbasta's Urdu Ramayan with aspects of other works.[2] The television series was produced by Sagar Arts and aired on NDTV Imagine.

For the 1987 DD National series produced by Ramanand Sagar, see Ramayan (1987 TV series).
Ramayan
GenreReligious
Epic
Created byAnand Sagar
Based onRamayana by Valmiki
Written byUmesh Chandra Upadhyay
Directed byAnand Sagar
StarringGurmeet Choudhary
Debina Bonnerjee
Ankit Arora
Akhilendra Mishra
Opening themeJai Shri Ram By Suresh Wadkar and Kavita Krishnamurthy
Composer(s)Ravindra Jain
Country of originIndia
Original language(s)Hindi
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes300
Production
Executive producer(s)Rakesh Jain
Producer(s)Subhash Sagar
Prem Sagar
Moti Sagar
Editor(s)Pappu Trivedi
Running time20 minutes
Production company(s)Sagar Films
Release
Original networkImagine TV
Picture format
Original releaseJanuary 21, 2008 –
June 26, 2009
Chronology
Related showsRamayan (1987)
External links
Production website

Synopsis

Ramayan tells the story of Rama, the eldest son of Dasharatha, the King of Ayodhya. Rama is due to become king after his father's retirement, but his stepmother, Kaikeyi wants her son Bharat to take the throne.

As King Dashratha had earlier promised to fulfill any two wishes for her, Kaikeyi demands that Rama should be banished to the forest for fourteen years and that Bharat should be crowned as king. Dasharatha keeps his word and with a heavy heart asks Rama to leave for the forest. Rama accepts the exile and is accompanied by his wife Mata Sita and younger brother Lakshmana. When Bharat learns that his mother is responsible for Rama's exile he renounces her and beseeches Rama to return to Ayodhya. Rama declines, whereupon Bharat places Rama's paduka on the throne as a symbol that Rama is the true king.

Bharat served Ayodhya for the next fourteen years keeping charan paduka of Rama on the throne. Ravan, the evil King of Lanka, abducts Mata Sita, prompting Rama, Lakshmana, Hanuman and his army of apes, the Vanara Sena , to rescue her and Rama to kill Ravan.

Season 2 focuses on Ram-Sita's life after returning from exile, the birth of Luv-Kush and their reunion with the royal family and final departure of Sita and Ram from the earth.

Cast
Portrayed ByCharacterRole
Gurmeet ChoudharyRamEldest Son of Kaushalya and Dasharatha. King of Ayodhya Sita's husband and also an avatar of Vishnu.
Vishnu/NarayanaRam is an avatar of Vishnu.
Debina BonnerjeeSita Janki/Vandevi (Season 2)Wife of Ram and daughter of the earth goddess Bhūmi and the adopted daughter of King Janaka of Mithila. and Queen Sunaina
Mahalakshmi/LakshmiWife of Narayana and Sita is her avatar.
Rishabh SharmaKushOne of the twin sons of Ram and Sita.Twin brother of Luv.
Perin Monish MaldeLuvOne of the twin sons of Ram and Sita. Twin brother of Kush.
Ankit AroraLakshmanaBrother and close companion of Ram. He is the twin brother of Shatrughna, born to Sumitra, the third wife of Dasharatha, his father. Thus, Lakshmana is the third eldest son of Dashratha.
Meenakshi AryaUrmilareal daughter of King Janaka of Mithila and Queen Sunaina, sister of Sita, wife of Laskshmana.
Vikram SharmaHanumanHanuman is an ardent devotee of Ram and a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana. A general among the vanaras, Hanuman is a disciple of Ram in the war against the demon king Ravan.
Akhilendra MishraRavanKing of Lanka and brother of Surpanakha.
Jaya OjhaMandodariQueen Consort of Ravana.
Ashok BanthiaViswamitraA sage who takes Ram and Lakshman to protect his rituals, in the course of time he took both of them to Janakpuri, to attend Sita swayamvar.
Pankaj KalraDasharathaFather of Ram and his brothers.
Vije BhatiaBharataBrother of Ram, and the son of Dasaratha and Kaikeyi. He is the second eldest son of Dasharatha.
Lalit NegiShatrughnaHe is the twin brother of Lakshmana and son of Dasaratha and his third wife, Sumitra. He is the youngest son of Dasharatha.
Rajni ChandraKaushalyaThe eldest of King Daśaratha's three wives, she was the daughter of the King of the Kosala Kingdom. She was the mother of Ram. A queen of Ayodhya.
Hemakshi UjjainKaikeyiOne of the three wives of Dasharatha and mother of Bharat. A queen of Ayodhya.
Sangeeta KapureSumitraOne of the three wives of Dasharatha and mother of twins, Shatrughna and Lakshman. A queen of Ayodhya.
Vinod KapoorVibhishanHe 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 Ram in an orderly fashion and promptly. When his brother did not listen to his advice, Vibhishana joined Ram's army. Later, when Ram defeated Ravana, Ram crowned Vibhishana as the king of Lanka.
Praphulla PandeyIndrajitA warrior mentioned in the Indian epic Ramayana, was the son of the Lankan king Ravana.
Rakesh DeewanaKumbhakarnaHe 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.
Paras AroraYoung RamEldest son of Kaushalya and Dasharatha, King of Ayodhya. Also an avatar of Vishnu.

Additional Cast

Kaikasi as *******

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 (now Vadodara).[3]

Speaking about getting the role of Sita Deblina Bonnerjee said, " I auditioned for a television show but, after that, I didn't want to do it. After some time, I auditioned for a mythological show for Sagar productions but I didn't know it was for Ramayan. I was selected and realised, during the mock rehearsals, that I was playing Sita."[4]

Speaking about his training, Gurmeet Choudhary said, "I had to build six-pack abs and do strength training. Also, since the producers didn’t want the next-gen Ram to sport a wig – that would have looked too cosmetic in today’s day and age – I grew my hair for one-and-a-half years."[5]

About 100 kg (220 lb) of flowers were brought from Mumbai to the sets at Baroda daily for the sequence of Ram and Sita's marriage.[6]

Music

Ravindra Jain, who composed music for the 1980s series returned as a composer. Playback singers included Kavita Subramaniam and Suresh Wadkar. An audio CD with 17 bhajans from the series was released in 2009 with lyrics/music by Jain and the voices of singers Suresh Wadkar, Kavita Subramaniam, Sadhana Sargam, Satish Dehra, Pamela Jain, Ravi Tripathi, Amaya Daate, Rekha Rao, Prem Prakash, Kuldeep, Subhash Srivastav, Sanket, and the composer himself.

Reception

The show had an average rating of 1.5 TVR in its opening week.[7]

Dubbed versions

The series was dubbed in Malayalam on Surya TV, featuring songs sung by Unni Menon, in Tamil on Sun TV from 2009 to 2010, in Telugu on Gemini TV.[8] The Gujarati version aired on ETV Gujarati.

References
  1. "Gurmeet Choudhary & Debina Bonnerjee talk about their 2008 'Ramayan' amidst 1978's re-runs". Republic World.
  2. "Five best shows on Ramayana". Republic World.
  3. "Repackaged Ramayana looks at Sita's perspective, green issues". Live Mint.
  4. "Meet the Sita of New Ramayan". Rediff.
  5. "The six-pack Ram: Gurmeet Choudhary". Hindustan Times.
  6. "For Ramayan's 'Swayamvar' episode, daily 10 kgs flowers were flown in from Mumbai-Baroda". Republic World.
  7. "Mythology reigns TV screens". The Financial Express.
  8. "Channels focus on content syndication". Daily News and Analysis.
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