Actor Arun Govil, who did the role of Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan, also watched the return of the 90s mythological serial with his family amid the current nationwide lockdown to control the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.
In a picture Arun sitting on a couch with his entire family and watching Ramayan is going viral online.
The epic show, which also featured Deepika Chikhalia as Goddess Sita, is being telecast again on Doordarshan and the show began Saturday. The s comes at a time when the whole country is under the 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Based on Valmiki’s Ramayan and Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas, the series had originally aired in 1987-88. The serial has given success to both Govil and Chikhalia, along with Sunil Lahri, who roled Lakshman, were catapulted to idolatry status.
Talking about the demands for serial of the show and its popularity, Arun had told, “The fact that it is coming in its entirety again is making us feel wonderful. It will make viewers feel happy. People have a lot of time at hand right now, and they can use it fruitfully to watch Ramayan, which can give them new learning.
At this time, it is very important for us to abide by the rules. Our Prime Minister used two very important words sanyam and sankalp which come under maryada. So, don’t go out unnecessarily, follow the lockdown. We should spend our time with our families and keep the house clean.”
About being typecast due to the serial, Arun had recently told PTI, “After Ramayan, my film career was almost over. I was doing films before. But the image was so strong that the films didn’t happen. I tried working in serials and tried to come out of the image but it didn’t work… “I realised later that maybe God wanted me to be ‘Ram’, how many have been given this rare chance? People don’t call me Arun Govil, they call me ‘Ram’ and it is a big thing.”
