Ramayan (2008 TV series)

This article is about the 2008 Ramayan television series on NDTV Imagine. For 1987-88 Ramayan series directed by Ramanand Sagar, see Ramayan (TV series). For 2012 remake, see Ramayan (2012 TV Series).
Ramayan
Created by Sagar Arts
Directed by Anand Sagar
Starring See Below
Opening theme Jai Shri Ram By Suresh Wadkar and Kavita Krishnamurthy
Composer(s) Ravindra Jain
Country of origin India
Original language(s) Hindi
Tamil
Telugu
Malayalam
Gujarati.
No. of episodes 300
Production
Executive producer(s) Rakesh Jain
Producer(s) Subhash Sagar
Prem Sagar
Moti Sagar
Editor(s) Pappu Trivedi
Running time 20 minutes
Release
Original network NDTV Imagine
Original release January 21, 2008 – June 26, 2009
External links
Website

Ramayan, based on Valmiki's Ramayan and Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas, as well as Chakbasta's Urdu Ramayan, is an Indian television series produced by Sagar Arts which aired on NDTV Imagine. 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 Rangnath Ramayana (Ramayana in Telugu) by Gona Budda Reddy, Ramchandra Charit Puranam (in Kannad) by Abhinavpamp Nagchandra, Adhyatama Ramayanam (in Malayalam) by Tunjath Ezhuthachan, 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 1987 to 1988.

The show won the "Most Promising New Show of the Year" award at the 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.

Historical synopsis

Ramayan tells the story of Lord Ram who was the eldest of the four sons of Dasharatha, the King of Ayodhya. Ram was to become the King of Ayodhya after his father’s retirement. But his stepmother, Kaikeyi, whose mind was poisoned by Manthara, wanted her son Bharat to become the king.

Remembering that Dasharatha had once promised to grant her any two boons she demanded Dasharatha that Lord Ram should be banished to the forest for fourteen years and Bharat should be crowned as the king. The helpless and heartbroken Dasharatha had to keep his word. So, he asks Ram to leave for the forest by practically keeping a large stone on his heart!! Lord Ram happily accepts the exile and leaves for the forest and is accompanied by his dutiful wife, Mata Sita and younger brother Lakshman. When Bharat learns that his mother is responsible for Lord Ram's exile, he disowns, disavows and renounces his own mother and very humbly requests Lord Ram to return to Ayodhya. But, when Lord Ram refuses to do so Bharat obtains Lord Ram's charan paduka and places them on the throne as a gesture that Lord Ram is the true king.

Bharat then rules Ayodhya as a representative of Lord Ram for the next fourteen years. Later, Ravan, the evil King of Lanka, abducts Mata Sita. How Lord Ram and Lakshman along with Lord Hanuman and his vanar sena rescues Mata Sita, and how Lord Ram slays Ravan forms the rest of the story.

Cast

Portrayed By Character Role
Gurmeet ChoudharyLord RamaMale Lead Protagonist. Eldest Son of Kaushalya and Dasharatha. King of Ayodhya and also an avatar of Lord Vishnu.
Lord VishnuParallel Male Protagonist and of which Lord Ram is a part of (Ram is an avatar of Lord Vishnu).
Debina BonnerjeeSitaFemale Lead Protagonist. Wife of Lord Ram and daughter of the earth goddess Bhūmi and the adopted daughter of King Janaka of Mithila.
Rishabh SharmaKushOne of the twin sons of Rama and Sita. Twin brother of Luv.
Perin Monish MaldeLuvOne of the twin sons of Rama and Sita. Twin brother of Kush.
Ankit AroraLakshmanBrother and close companion of Rama. He is the twin brother of Shatrughna, born to Sumitra, the second wife of Dasharatha, his father. Thus, Lakshman is the third eldest son of Dashratha.
Vikram SharmaHanumanHanuman is an ardent devotee of Rama and a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana. A general among the vanaras, Hanuman is a disciple of Lord Rama in the war against the demon king Ravan.
Akhilendra MishraRavanPrimary Antagonist. King of Lanka and brother of Surpanakha.
Ashok BanthiaViswamitraA Sage who takes Rama and Lakshman to protect his rituals, in the course of time he took both of them to Janakpuri, to attend Sita swayamvar.
Punkaj KalraaDasharathaFather of Ram and his brothers.
Vije BhatiaBharatBrother of Rama, and the son of Dasaratha and Kaikeyi. He is the second eldest son of Dasharatha.
Lalit NegiShatrughnaBrother of Rama 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 Rama. A queen of Ayodhya.
Jaya OjhaMandodariQueen Consort of Ravana.
Hemakshi UjjainKaikeyiOne of the three wives of Dasharatha and mother of Bharata. A queen of Ayodhya.
Sangeeta KapureSumitraOne of the three wives of Dasharatha and mother of twins, Shatrughna and Lakshmana. 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 Rama in an orderly fashion and promptly. When his brother did not listen to his advice, Vibhishana joined Rama's army. Later, when Rama defeated Ravana, Rama crowned Vibhishana as the king of Lanka.
Praphulla PandeyMeghnathA 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 Arora Lord Rama Male Lead Protagonist. Eldest Son of Kaushalya and Dasharatha. King of Ayodhya and also an avatar of Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu]].

Renuka Israni as Manthara

|}Romanch Mehta as Narantaka/Lavanasura |}Manish Arora as Devantaka Mulraj Rajda as Rishyashringa, Kurupa as Mandavi , Meenakshi Arya as Urmila, Sudepta/ Annu Dangi as Shrutakirti, Prerna as Sunaina, Supriya Waliya as Sulochana

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.

Music

Ravindra Jain, who composed music for the original series, Ramayan (1987-88) TV Series returned as composer with Kavita Subramaniam, Suresh Wadkar, and others as playback singers. An audio CD with 17 bhajans from the series was released in 2009 with lyrics/music by Jain and voice talents of singers Suresh Wadkar, Kavita Subramaniam, Sadhana Sargam, Satish Dehra, Pamela Jain, Ravi Tripathi, Amaye Daate, Rekha Rao, Prem Prakash, Kuldeep, Subhash Srivastav, Sanket, and the composer himself.

Dubbed versions

NDTV Imagine which originally airs Ramayan has struck a syndication deal with UTV Software Communications which allows it to air Dubbed versions of Ramayan on Sun TV Network. As part of the deal, NDTV Imagine will also get a revenue share from UTV after the earnings reach a particular level. UTV has paid a telecast fee to Sun for acquiring the prime time slot on the network channels. It will have the rights to sell air time.

Malayalam version

The Malayalam version of Ramayan was a daily which aired on Surya TV from Monday to Friday at 6.30 pm. Unni Menon sang the songs in the Malayalam version along with various other female artists.

Tamil version

Ramayan was dubbed into Tamil.

It was originally 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.

It is currently aired on Jaya TV.

Telugu version

The Telugu version aired on Gemini TV.

Kannada version

Udaya TV, Sun TV's Kannada channel, was unable to air the Kannada version because Karnataka does not permit dubbed content on television.

Gujarati version

The Gujarati version aired on ETV Gujarati.

References

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