Ramanand Sagar sought Disney's backing for Ramayan, attended meeting in shorts: Lalit Modi

Lalit Modi says Disney declined to finance Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan after executives struggled to connect with the filmmaker during a meeting.

Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan and BR Chopra’s Mahabharat are still considered benchmarks for mythological shows in India. Both series became huge successes and continue to be remembered fondly. However, Lalit Modi has revealed that Disney rejected a proposal to finance Ramayan, partly because Ramanand Sagar arrived for a meeting wearing shorts.

Ramayan turned Dipila Chikhalia, Arun Govil, and Sunil Lehri into overnight stars.

In 1990s, Lalit Modi worked at marketing, distributing and producing content by collaborating with Disney and bringing international content to Indian television.

Lalit Modi says Disney rejected Ramayan

In a podcast with The Bharat Inc, Lalit Modi revealed that Doordarshan had a policy at the time of not financing programmes, requiring their makers to pay a fixed hourly cost instead. According to him, both Ramanand Sagar and BR Chopra approached him to finance Ramayan and Mahabharat, respectively.

He said, "Ramanand Sagar and BR Chopra both came to me and wanted me to finance it, and I was ready to finance it. I had an integrated system of marketing, production, worldwide syndication through Disney. But I had a partner in the Walt Disney Company. I told them that we should get into the production business and make a co-production with Ramanand Sagar. They said we have to sell our programming. It will be a conflict of interest. I kept pushing though."

Lalit Modi said he tried to convince Disney’s top executives that they should meet Ramanand Sagar’s demand for ₹1 crore, as this would allow Disney to secure the rights to the show. After much insistence, the executives agreed and travelled to India for a meeting.

“Disney came with a big entourage and private jets and Ramanand Sagar walked into that meeting in shorts. Everyone used to be suited at that time. Unki English bhi tuti futi thi (He had some issues with his English as well). He listened to what Disney had to say, but he couldn’t understand it fully and vice versa, so he couldn’t make an impression on the Disney guys. There used to be sophisticated pitches back then. They wanted to see a presentation. I could see that the president of Disney was ready to run out of the room."

Lalit Modi said Disney’s executives were unable to understand the potential of Ramayan, as mythology had never been presented on Indian television on such a scale before. He added that he could not do much about the rejection because he had a partner involved in the project.

About Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan

Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan remains one of the most iconic television shows in Indian history. First aired on Doordarshan in 1987, the mythological series brought the story of Lord Ram, based on the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana, into millions of Indian homes. Created, written and directed by Ramanand Sagar, the show featured Arun Govil as Lord Ram, Deepika Chikhlia as Sita and Sunil Lahri as Lakshman, with Arvind Trivedi playing Ravan.

The series became a cultural phenomenon, with families gathering around their television sets every Sunday to watch it. Arun Govil’s portrayal of Lord Ram became so popular that many viewers began associating him with the deity, while Deepika Chikhlia and Arvind Trivedi also became widely recognised for their respective roles. Its 78 episodes, which aired between January 1987 and July 1988, helped establish mythological storytelling as a major genre on Indian television.