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 the most-watched channel in India recently. After Saturday's episode went on air, many viewers observed that an important scene was missing — Ravan's brother Ahiravan — was not 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, "There have been no cuts, they were not part of the original production."

Even after the clarification released, many fans still complained about cutting out the scenes. One fan wrote, "There are many scenes in Ramayan which were edited like during setu nirmaan there was a squirrel, that was also edited. Why?" [sic] In response to the 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 the script.

In yet another tweet, Shashi Shekhar said, "The beauty of our epics are the many stories, side-stories and interpretations. Not every nuance can possibly make it into a single television script but perhaps leaves the 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 the episodes will be available on YouTube. To this, Shekhar wrote that they will explore this for the 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.