As the big day of the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya approaches, movie theatres anticipate a low turn out on January 22.
Several movie chains have hit upon what they feel to be a golden solution.
“We will be screening episodes of Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan throughout the day on January 24,” a source from a multiplex chain informs me on condition of secrecy. “It is not official as yet. So please don’t quote me. But unofficially it is confirmed.”
Speaking of the perennial popularity of Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan, his son Moti Sagar said, “Wherever my father went people touched his feet, treated him as someone who had brought God into their lives. You know , back then being religious and devout was not a compulsion. It was a voluntary and totally instinctive impulse. So the impact of the Ramayan and the reverence it generated came from a place of complete sincerity. We all believed in the words and teachings of the Ramayan . I believe the series worked because it was born out of a complete faith in the source material. That faith connected with the audience.”
Moti Sagar feels it would be impossible to do the same Ramayan in today’s times. “We made it under no pressure. There was zero interference from Doordarshan. Later we tried doing something similar with other channels. But it didn’t work. There was too much interference. Something like Ramayan just happens once. It cannot be done again.”