Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama's iconic OG Hindi dub with Amrish Puri, Arun Govil is lost forever, says licensor

Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama released in theatres in India this month with a new Hindi dub that has polarised fans.

Updated on: Jan 29, 2025, 12:30:42 IST

By Abhimanyu Mathur

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

The Japanese anime, Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama, had its belated theatrical release in India earlier this month. The new remastered version of the popular anime was released in 4K with dubs in four languages. However, many noted that the theatrical release had new voices in the Hindi dub, instead of the original ones from the 90s (which included Arun Govil, Amrish Puri, and Shatrughan Sinha). (Also read: Ramayana The Legend of Prince Rama review: The best adaptation of the epic washes away the scars Adipurush gave us all)

A still from Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama

Why the new Hindi dub for The Legend of Prince Rama

Amid polarising reaction to the new dub, the film's licensor has revealed that the original dub may be lost forever now.

IGN reported that the Japanese company TEM Co., which is the licensor of Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama, has responded to fan feedback about the anime film getting a new Hindi voice cast for its release.

TEM sent an email to fans explaining why the original Hindi dub won’t be part of the 4K remaster. The company shared that the new dubs, handled by Geek Pictures India, are based on the 1993 English version. The 1997 Hindi and Tamil dubs, created by a different distributor, can’t be restored because the master data of these audios are lost. TEM tried extracting audio from DVDs and cleaning it up, but ultimately chose not to use the 1997 dub.

A source close to the production confirmed as much to HT and added that copyright issues also came into the way of acquiring the original dub. The Hindi dub was created in 1997 for the TV release of the film in India, and the rights are complicatedly divided between the producers and Doordarshan. That, combined with the technical difficulties, made the producers opt for a new dub altogether.

All about Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama

Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama is a 1993 anime film co-produced by Japan and India. A brainchild of Yugo Sako, it was co-directed by Koichi Sasaki and Ram Mohan, with music composed by Vanraj Bhatia. After a premiere at IFFI 93, the film was slated to be released theatrically but was banned due to a bar on religious films in the wake of the Bombay Riots. The film gained a cult following its many TV reruns through the 90s and 2000s.

Excel Entertainment and AA Pictures eventually acquired the release rights and partnered with Geek Pictures India to give the film a theatrical release in 4K in January 2025. The film is widely considered one of the finest adaptations of the epic.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhimanyu Mathur
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

Ramayana

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!.

Get more updates from Bollywood, Taylor Swift, Hollywood, Music and Web Series along with Latest Entertainment News at Hindustan Times.