Sunil Lahri busts Ramayan co-star Arvind Trivedi’s death hoax, says he is fine
Sunil Lahri urged rumour-mongers to refrain from circulating false news about his Ramayan co-star Arvind Trivedi, after confirming that the news of his death is fake.
After fake news of the death of actor Arvind Trivedi, who played Raavan in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan, surfaced online recently, his co-star Sunil Lahri requested everyone to refrain from spreading such rumours. Sunil said that Arvind was fine and hoped for him to live a long, healthy life.
Taking to Instagram, Sunil wrote in Hindi, “Nowadays, we are inundated with bad news because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and this time, it was fake news about Arvind Trivedi ji (Raavan). I request those who are spreading such false rumours to refrain from doing so… By God’s grace, Arvind ji is fine and I pray that God always keeps him healthy.”
Last year, too, Arvind fell prey to a death hoax. At the time, his nephew Kaustubh Trivedi took to Twitter to confirm that the actor is ‘all good and safe’. He wrote, “Dear all my uncle Arvind Trivedi lankesh is all good and safe. Stop spreading fake news it is request. Now please spread this. Thanks.”
In a video shared on Instagram last year, Sunil admitted to having apprehensions about Arvind playing Raavan in Ramayan. “I was a bit disappointed when I came to know that he has come for the role of Raavan. I wondered Raavan was such a mighty character, how would he justify the role. But I was so impressed when he came out in his costume and makeup, and was a totally contrast personality,” he said.
Ramayan was written, produced and directed by Ramanand Sagar. The show, which first aired on Doordarshan in 1987, made a comeback on the small screen after the lockdown was announced last year. The re-telecast on DD National saw crores of people tuning in and registered the highest-ever rating for a Hindi General Entertainment Channel (GEC) programme since 2015.
Doordarshan claimed in a tweet that Ramayan created a ‘world record’ for the most-watched episode ever as 77 million viewers tuned in on April 16 last year. However, this claim has been debated since.