Ahead of Ramayana release, documentary to show how Ramanand Sagar made TV's Ramayan with no green screen, visual effects

A documentary on how Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan TV show was made is in the works, ahead of the release of Nitesh Tiwari's big-screen adaptation of the epic.

Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana is one of the most anticipated Indian films of the year. The mega production stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama and Yash as Ravana. But beyond the casting, what really has people talking about the film is its grand scale and VFX from DNEG, an eight-time Oscar-winning studio. But even as Ramayana’s grandeur is being discussed and dissected, a new documentary focuses on how one man told the same story nearly 40 years ago, without any help from technology, and did so admirably well.

Ramayan turned Deepika Chikhalia, Arun Govil, and Sunil Lahri into overnight stars.

Documentary on Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan

Ramanand Sagar’s TV series Ramayan remains the most-watched Indian show ever. The series, which ran from 1987-88, still boasts the highest TRP of any Indian show. Its popularity was evident in the fact that it again topped the TV ratings when it was rerun in 2020 during the pandemic. Now, Ramanand Sagar’s grandson Shiv Sagar has revealed that a new documentary will go behind the scenes of the iconic TV show.

In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, Shiv Sagar revealed, “We are making a documentary on the behind-the-scenes of the making of Ramayan. Even after 36 years, there’s a lot of interest in grandfather’s Ramayan. It continues to be relevant and popular. At the time, my grandfather had to work with relatively rudimentary technology. There were no blue or green screens; chroma had just come in. There were no computers for visual effects either. The team worked with linear editing machines and shot on low-band U-matic video.”

Aired between 1987 and 1988 on Doordarshan, Ramayan was narrated by screen legend Ashok Kumar, and starred Arun Govil as Lord Rama, Deepika Chikhalia as Sita, Sunil Lahri as Lakshman, Arvind Trivedi as Ravana, and Dara Singh as Hanuman. The show is known to have captivated Indian audiences to the point that cities would shut down when episodes aired.

Elaborating on the documentary’s intent, Shiv Sagar added, “The idea behind our documentary is to give viewers an idea of how it was made, and it would consist of interviews with the cast and technicians and their family members. We are also focusing on the women in the households of these unit members and what they went through during the shooting. We want to document all this information. A lot of the people associated are no longer alive. Arvind Trivedi ji, who played Ravana, is no more. Hence, we got his daughter to give an interview. Similarly, Vindu Dara Singh spoke to us since Dara Singh ji has passed away. We want to preserve all this for future generations.”

The new Ramayana film

Directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Namit Malhotra, Ramayana is a two-part production that is being called the most expensive in Indian cine history.

The films star Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, Yash as Ravana, and Sai Pallavi as Sita. Arun Govil, who played Rama in the 1987 TV show, appears as King Dashrath here. Ramayana Part One releases in theatres this Diwali.