Underplayed Gems

Ramayan (1986)

Ramayan poster
Original title
रामायण
Directed by
Ramanand Sagar
Genre
drama, action & adventure, family
Country
India
Length
1 season, 78 episodes
Rating
8.2 of 10 from 32 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More series like this

How it feels

This Indian television series retells the ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana. It follows the prince Rama as he is exiled from his kingdom, his wife Sita is kidnapped, and he fights to rescue her with the help of the monkey god Hanuman.

epicmythologicaldevotionalserenetraditionalreverentclassicalslow pacingceremonial

What happens

Ramayan (also known as Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan) is an Indian Hindi-language epic television series based on ancient Indian Sanskrit Epic Ramayana. The show was created, written, and directed by Ramanand Sagar. It originally aired between 1987 and 1988 on DD National and it was narrated by Ashok Kumar and the director Ramanand Sagar. The music was composed by Ravindra Jain. During its run, the show became the most watched television series in the world, garnering a viewership of 82 percent. The repeat telecast was aired on 20 different channels in 17 countries on all the five continents at different times. The success of the series was documented well by the media. According to BBC, the serial has been viewed by over 650 million viewers. Each episode of the series reportedly earned DD National ₹40 lakh. The show is primarily based on Valmiki's Ramayan and Tulsidas' Ramcharitmanas. Other sources used were: Tamil Kamba Ramayanam, Marathi Bhavartha Ramayana, Bengali Krutivas Ramayan, Telugu Ranganatha Ramayanam, Kannada Ramachandra Charita Purana, Malayalam Adhyatma Ramayanam, Urdu Ramayan by Chakbast. Ramayan was the most expensive Indian TV show produced at the time with a budget of ₹9 lakh per episode. When the series was telecast every Sunday morning, BBC recalled, "streets would be deserted, shops would be closed and people would bathe and garland their TV sets before the serial began." The series was re-aired during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown and broke several viewership records globally; the show became the most watched TV show in the world with 77 million viewership on 16 April 2020. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.