National News

Doordarshan: Rebroadcast of Ramayana smashes viewership records worldwide

Sentinel Digital Desk

GUWAHATI: Rebroadcast of Ramayana smashes viewership records worldwide, Doordarshan informed through twitter handle. The decision to broadcast the show was taken due to lockdown amid coronavirus pandemic that has left thousands dead all around the world.

https://twitter.com/DDNational/status/1255896948474654720

Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar had announced in March that Doordarshan will retelecast iconic show ‘Ramayana’ on public demand.

“Happy to announce that on public demand, we are starting retelecast of ‘Ramayana’ from tomorrow in DD National. One episode in morning 9 am to 10 am, another in the evening 9 pm to 10 pm,” Javdekar had tweeted.

‘Ramayana’ is an Indian historical-drama epic television series, which aired during 1987-1988, created, written, and directed by Ramanand Sagar.

The show was a television adaptation of the ancient Indian Hindu epic of the same name, and is primarily based on Valmiki’s Ramayan and Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas.

After the announcement, the audience started demanding for other popular old television shows of that era be re-telecast.

Taking note of such public demand, the government decided to re-telecast telecast “Mahabharat”, “Byomkesh Bakshi” and the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer “Circus."

Telecast slot for “Ramayan” was between 9am and 9pm, “Byomkesh Bakshi” was allotted the 11 am slot; “Mahabharat” aired at 12 noon and 7 pm while “Circus” found a slot at 8 pm.

In a bid to engage students in something productive, Jawaharlal Nehru University had announced a few days ago that it will be organizing a special webinar on ‘Leadership lessons from Ramayana’. The Vice-Chancellor of the varsity Jagadesh Kumar Mamidala claimed that even Mahatma Gandhi had said that Lord Rama alone is his lord and master. “Mahatma Gandhi emphasized how Lord Rama taught us to uphold truth, justice, equality even under adverse circumstances, there is a great deal to learn from Ramayana to enrich our lives particularly during these challenging times of coronavirus,” Mamidala said. “JNU organizes leadership lessons from Ramayana. All from JNU are welcome,” he added.

The webinar will be organized on May 2 and 3 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and will be taken by Professor Santosh Kumar Shukla from JNU’s School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies and Professor Mazha Asif from School of Language, literature and cultural studies. The webinar though will only be available for students and faculty of the varsity.

Earlier the university had organized a webinar on challenges and solutions to COVID-19. Over a thousand people including many from foreign countries had reportedly participated in that webinar.