India Today

Serial Entertainers

Ramayan/Mahabharat

amanand Sagar’s (1987-88) was so popular that India would come to a virtual standstill every Sunday morning at 9. Millions gathered before their own or their neighbour’s TV sets. A sacred ritual for many—they bathed and did puja in front of their new colour TVs before Arun Govil and Dipika Chikhlia incarnated (for many, literally as Lord Rama and Sita). For all its loud, melodramatic acting and tacky production values, it amassed a cult following, teasing India’s hitherto latent religiosity out into the open. B.R. Chopra’s (1988-90) was, by comparison, better served

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