Ramayan Diaries: People came in buses to touch Lord Ram & Sita's feet, recalls Prem Sagar

For a media interaction, the Ramayan cast got together after 30 years to discuss how times have changed since they appeared in the series and share fun trivia from the sets. Ramanand Sagar's son, Prem Sagar, Dipika Chikhlia who played Sita and Sunil Lahiri who played Laxman were present at the interaction. Prem Sagar spoke about how shooting used to be a lot different from what it is now. He talked about how people, in fact, thought Arun Govil and Dipika Chikhlia to be real Ram and Sita. There was an instance where people came in buses to touch their feet. 

People arrived all the way from Vijayawada to seek the blessings of Ram and Sita

Prem Sagar revealed, "People came in buses from Vijayawada to touch Lord Ram and Sita's feet while shooting. Imagine! they have travelled thousands of kilometres with women and babies just to get a darshan of the god and goddess". He added how his father instructed the production team to take care of these people like guests. 

Prem Sagar continued, "Rooms were opened, food was given, milk was provided for the babies. Then they sang and did namaskar and went back." He also shared how the production team went out of their way to make sure these people ere well tended to. 

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In another instance, Prem Sagar talked about how it was not only devotees of Ram and Sita who came to the sets from far away. Several VIP guests too would visit their sets. He also shared how they were visited by numerous people including some locals from the surrounding area who came with their babies and children to seek the blessing of Lord Ram and Sita. When visiting London, Indians there too came to touch Arun Govli's feet to seek the blessing of Lord Ram. 

Image credit: Dipika Chikhlia Instagram

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Continuing on the topic, Prem Sagar said, "They never saw Arun Govil as himself or Dipika Chikhlia as herself. They were always Ram and Sita to them. Logon ne bhagwan ka darza de diya." He also shared that when Ramayan would air, there would be a curfew. 

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Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan was telecast from 1988 to 1989 in 78 episodes. Arun Govil played Ram, Dipika Chikhlia played Sita and Sunil Lahri played the role of Lakshman. The characters of Hanuman and Ravan were immortalised by the late actors, Dara Singh and Arvind Trivedi. The series was created, directed and written by Ramanand Sagar.

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