It was Sunday, January 25, 1987. It was the breathtaking moment when the first episode of the magnificent mythological serial Ramayan was aired in Doordarshan. TV viewers across India were raved with the high budgeted serial with merely a different genre than the previous TV serials aired by the channel.
From then on, a situation something like a curfew would prevail over on Sunday mornings from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari. In those days, the number of TV sets were quite meagre. As such, people at neighbouring houses also used to watch the serial in the houses where there were TV sets. According to a study, a total of 90% TV viewers would watch Ramayan then.
That's the magic of the creator of Ramayan, Ramanand Sagar on small screen. The protagonists Arun Govil and Dipika Chikilia, who reprized lord Rama and goddess Sitha, earned formidable fame.
Coming to the current situation, in light of spread of coronavirus in India, the union government imposed nationwide lockdown. In an earth-shattering move, DD national decided to re-air 37-year-old mythological serial in this lockdown period.
Hitherto, DD national had poor viewers with minute TRP ratings. However, ever since the serial has been re-telecast, there's a shocking spike in TRPs.
Eventually, DD has created an unprecedented record which makes people of India proud. According to DD's official tweet, the serials was watched by 7.7 crore people on April 16. And this is an all time record for any entertainment programme in the world.
"WORLD RECORD!!Rebroadcast of #Ramayana on #Doordarshan smashes viewership records worldwide, the show becomes most watched entertainment show in the world with 7.7 crore viewers on 16th of April," DD India tweeted.
Meanwhile, the union Information & Broadcasting Minister Mr Prakash Javdekar thanked Ramanand Sagar for accepting the serials's retelecast on DD.