Viewers claim Doordarshan cutting out scenes from 'Ramayan'; Prasar Bharati CEO clarifies

Getting back classic programmes like Ramayan to keep locked down people entertained has catapulted Doordarshan (DD) to be most-watched channel in India recently. After Saturday's episode went on air, many viewers observed that an important scene was missing — Ravan's bror Ahiravan — was t telecasted.

A user asked CEO Prasar Bharati Shashi Shekhar, "@shashidigital Sir why important events like Ahiravan and Diksha by Ravan to Laxman cut down.... feel disappointed" [sic] To this, Shekhar clarified and said, "re have been cuts, y were t part of original production."

Even after clarification released, many fans still complained about cutting out scenes. One fan wrote, "re are many scenes in Ramayan which were edited like during setu nirmaan re was a squirrel, that was also edited. Why?" [sic] In response to tweets, Prasar Bharati CEO wrote that epic stories have a larger narrative and it wasn't possible for every single interpretation to make it to script.

In yet ar tweet, Shashi Shekhar said, " beauty of our epics are many stories, side-stories and interpretations. t every nuance can possibly make it into a single television script but perhaps leaves door open for future productions." [sic]

Shashi Shekhar who has been active on his Twitter handle with Ramayan updates replied to a fan who asked if episodes will be available on YouTube. To this, Shekhar wrote that y will explore this for future. Read his full reply below —

 CEO Prasar Bharti responds to a user claiming Doordarshan is streaming 'Ramayan' from DVD

"Ramayan", which began its telecast in 1987, made household names out of its two stars Arun Govil and Deepika Chikhalia.