Opinion Ramanand Sagar’s ‘Ramayana’ re-release: ‘Adipurush’ debacle can’t trump nostalgia
It is tempting to dismiss Shemaroo TV’s decision as being unoriginal or retrograde. But to do so, would be to overlook the fact that we live in the stranglehold of nostalgia, both at an individual and a societal level
A still from Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan. (Express archives) 
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All of us have that one aunt or uncle who was our favourite relative when we were children. They were the ones who regaled us with stories over school summer vacations, as we hung on to their words in wide-eyed wonder. They were the ones who tilted our perspective of the world we saw around us, bringing newer thoughts and ideas into sharper focus. They could make us laugh and would teach us lessons we would carry with us for the rest of our lives. Our deep affection for this much-loved relative could sometimes veer towards devotion — their wisdom, their knowledge appearing almost omniscient to our impressionable, pre-pubescent minds — and we could not conceive of a time when they would not be part of the main cast in our lives. But time, as they say, is a cruel mistress.
Over the course of our adolescent and teenage years, our priorities and the cast of characters around us change. In the first flush of individualism, we begin to view family as a liability, as ballast that weighs us down and keeps us anchored to a childish past we yearn to escape. Even the once-favoured aunt or uncle is not immune to this shift, with the admiration we expressed for them becoming a source of juvenile embarrassment. The distance we put between them and ourselves during this time will never be fully reversed but when enough years have passed, our affection for them will rekindle.
At family functions and weddings when we run into them, we will smile in genuine delight as they embrace us. When they spin a familiar yarn over shared snacks and coffee, we will laugh along and request for an encore. They will become the embodiment of a golden-hued memory of childhood; a reminder of a time that nostalgia has coloured idyllic, an age of innocence and simplicity. It is a wistful fondness for this past — an urge to relive it, experience it again in some small measure — that forges our bond with this beloved relative. And it is precisely this wistful fondness that Shemaroo TV has sought to capitalise on when announcing the rerun of Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana.
When it first aired between 1987-1988 on the state TV channel, Doordarshan, Ramayana was, by all accounts, a smash hit. The legendary anecdotes of how “streets would be deserted, shops would be closed and people would bathe and garland their TV sets before the serial began” on Sunday mornings, have cemented the iconic popularity of the programme in the nation’s psyche. Of course, one could argue that back then Doordarshan was the only game in town. What would be the show’s fate when competing for eyeballs in the modern era of burgeoning TV channels and bottomless content on streaming platforms? Record-breaking, as it turns out.
During the Covid-19-induced lockdown in 2020, Doordarshan began airing the Ramayana again, more than three decades after its original run. A reported 77 million people were believed to have tuned in to the show on April 16, making it — as per a DD India tweet — the “most watched entertainment show in the world”. To put these numbers into context: the finale of Game of Thrones, the pop-culture juggernaut that swept the planet between 2011-2019, and revolutionised television programming forever, had a viewership of 19.3 million. Jon Snow never stood a chance.
Along with the Mahabharata, the Ramayana’s influence on our capacity for story-telling, for fashioning myths and tales, is immeasurable. Its core themes of duty, loyalty, and the triumph of good over evil, have shaped books and movies for many generations, and continue to be relevant in present times. It is no wonder that the makers of Adipurush thought that diving into the rich foundries of this epic to make a multi-crore movie, was a sound business proposition. Bollywood has rarely been accused of originality and the Ramayana’s proven resonance with audiences — as well as the current socio-political climate — would have convinced them they have a hit on their hands. It is not without irony, therefore, that the brouhaha that has assailed Adipurush since its release appears to have been caused by the (ill-advised) originality its writers decided to bring to its dialogues.
Many Indians may have embraced the “Angry Hanuman” iconography that has emerged over the past decade; but evidently, they were not yet ready to hear him speak. The coarse colloquialisms mouthed by Hanuman, and other characters in Adipurush, triggered massive outrage, including calls for the movie to be banned. Flag-bearers of the original Ramayana — from Ramanand Sagar’s son, Prem Sagar, to Arun Govil, who essayed the role of Lord Ram — joined the chorus decrying the manner in which Adipurush had tarnished the exalted epic. Ultimately, the makers were compelled to announce that they would alter the irksome dialogues. And in a sign that life had come full circle, Shemaroo TV declared it would be bringing back (the original) Ramayana to Indian television screens.
It is tempting to dismiss Shemaroo TV’s decision as being unoriginal or retrograde. Surely, the creative lesson to be drawn from the Adipurush episode was that we need newer, fresher, stories — and not a return to the past? But to do so, would be to overlook the fact that we live in the stranglehold of nostalgia, both at an individual and a societal level. Given a choice, would you rather spend an evening in a place you’ve never visited before accompanied by people you’ve never met or meet that favourite aunt or uncle to reminisce about the time you spent a summer night on the terrace listening to their stories? Shemaroo TV is betting it’s the latter.
The writer is a Mumbai-based lawyer
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