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.

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). (

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.