The Ramayan serial I remember is from when I was 10 years old. Ramanand Sagar had written and directed the 78-episode series which brought the country to a standstill every Sunday from January 25, 1987, to July 31, 1988 - at 9:30 am. And it was a TV revolution. India Today called it "Ramayan fever" where public transport - trains, buses and inner-city trucks would become empty when the programme was telecast and people would assemble in villages around the sole television set to watch the show. And it actually was a programme the entire family could watch. Everything Satyamev promised to be, till it started talking about paedophilia and fertilisers and asking parents to ask their children to leave the room.
he original Ramayan was educational, entertaining and engrossing. Of course at that time, we didn't have 100 other channels vying for our attention. But anyway the new Ramayan has a lot to live up to.
It opened with Vishnu getting his legs pressed by Lakshmi while resting on an immobile Shesha Nag. Brahma with immobile extra arms and Shiva with a fake snake around his neck were introduced next. Prithvi comes to a blue and lugubrious Vishnu to ask him for help from Ravan and his asuras. Vishnu refuses to acknowledge her presence for a while and then opens his brown eyes and demurs to explain that he'll go in human avatar and save the planet. Through it all, Lakshmi keeps pressing his legs with a beatific smile. Dasharat is introduced and each wife is then introduced separately. Kaikeyi - played by Shikha Swaroop - makes a dramatic entrance, while her two co-wives look at her adoringly. Other than Swaroop, there are no familiar faces. And even she while she does look suitably imperious, she simply cannot pass off as the youngest wife because she looks old as the hills.
Now one would think that a quarter century later, Meenakshi Sagar - who is Ramanad Sagar's granddaughter and the director of the series - would introduce slightly better effects for the war scenes. But the war scenes seem to have the same special effects which marked the original. Perhaps that's for nostalgia value. The asuras this time round look quite demon-like however, almost inspired by Tolkien's Melkor.
It opened with Vishnu getting his legs pressed by Lakshmi while resting on an immobile Shesha Nag. Brahma with immobile extra arms and Shiva with a fake snake around his neck were introduced next. Prithvi comes to a blue and lugubrious Vishnu to ask him for help from Ravan and his asuras. Vishnu refuses to acknowledge her presence for a while and then opens his brown eyes and demurs to explain that he'll go in human avatar and save the planet. Through it all, Lakshmi keeps pressing his legs with a beatific smile. Dasharat is introduced and each wife is then introduced separately. Kaikeyi - played by Shikha Swaroop - makes a dramatic entrance, while her two co-wives look at her adoringly. Other than Swaroop, there are no familiar faces. And even she while she does look suitably imperious, she simply cannot pass off as the youngest wife because she looks old as the hills.
Now one would think that a quarter century later, Meenakshi Sagar - who is Ramanad Sagar's granddaughter and the director of the series - would introduce slightly better effects for the war scenes. But the war scenes seem to have the same special effects which marked the original. Perhaps that's for nostalgia value. The asuras this time round look quite demon-like however, almost inspired by Tolkien's Melkor.
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