Published 18:20 IST, June 11th 2020
Shoojit Sircar hears 'Ramayan', 'Mahabharat' from neighbour's home, shares crucial role
Shoojit Sircar heard 'Ramayan' and 'Mahabharat' from his neighbour's home and called it 'unmissable.' The director shared its crucial role in lockdown.
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The last few months have been challenging for most with restrictions due to the lockdown, and many staying at home. A suggestion from netizens as they spent more time watching television, to restart the airing of Ramayan and Mahabharat, caught on in a big way, that was taken seriously by the government. And from the first episode itself, the iconic show became a talking point, with viewers going down memory lane, sharing memes and discussing every day’s episode.
Over two months later, the impact is still very intact and even celebrities have been pleasantly surprised it seems. Shoojit Sircar was the latest to express his delight at the re-telecast of the shows.
The director shared his views on Twitter, writing that it was ‘unmissable’ to hear the the sound of Ramayan and Mahabharat from the neighbour’s house. With the lockdown in place, the Piku filmmaker felt that the ‘old celebrated Doordarshan serials’ played a major role in keeping the viewers occupied and stay at home during the lockdown.
Here’s the tweet
Everyday the sound of Ramayana and Mahabharata from neighbours house is unmissable.. Surely it has worked in keeping everyone indoors when this old celebrated Doordarshan serial is on air.
— Shoojit Sircar (@ShoojitSircar) June 11, 2020
Ramayan, in particular, kept viewers enthralled, as it set records galore. Starting with taking the best premiere for a serial in five years, it established records even abroad, with Doordarshan claiming that its 7.7 crore viewers for one of the last episodes, it was the most-watched show in the world, thus beating the likes of Game of Thrones. Not just did the success of the shows made its actors like Arun Govil, Dipika Chikhlia and Mukesh Khanna come back to the spotlight, it also led to newer versions of Ramayan and Mahabharat be aired.
Ramayan, continued with Uttar Ramayan and after Doordarshan, was also screened on Star Plus.
Meanwhile, Shoojit Sircar has started the post-production of his biopic on Sardar Udham Singh. The director also leads the first major film to premier directly Over-the-Top as Gulabo Sitabo, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana, gears up for its release on Amazon Prime on Friday.
18:20 IST, June 11th 2020