‘Ramayan being streamed from Moser Baer DVDs’, alleges Twitter user; DD CEO says ‘check your source’

Perhaps in a replay of its glory days in the 80s and 90s, India’s national broadcaster Doordarshan is enjoying a surge in ratings and popularity as India stays in lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus pandemic. Indians are switching on the classic Ramayan and Mahabharat as the mythologies are being telecast once again during the quarantine period.

However, there have been a few complaints about the quality of telecast, mostly because people are tuning in on platforms other than DD. On Saturday, a Twitter user alleged that DD has been streaming Ramayan from a Moser Bear DVD.

Shashi Shekhar, Prasar Bharti’s CEO, was quick to respond to the charge, “This does not seem to be from Doordarshan please re-check your source.”

He also replied to people complaining about the sound quality. “What’s the problem with DD Bharti? Music is more louder than the dialogues, noticing this several times, you need to fix this,” wrote a user. “which platform are you viewing on,” the CEO asked.

Getting back classic programmes has catapulted Doordarshan (DD) to be the highest watched channel in India for week ended April 3, BARC said on Thursday. The national broadcaster could achieve the feat, which involves a nearly 40,000 per cent jump in viewership in the evening and morning bands, despite a surge reported by the private broadcasters who are also experiencing higher viewership, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) said.

Starting with Ramayan, DD has got back other classics like Mahabharat, Shaktiman and Buniyaad to serve the audiences during the three-week lockdown. Most of these were produced when DD monopolised TV broadcasting in the country.

BARC attributed the telecast of Ramayan and Mahabharat for DD’s emergence to the top, while the other programmes also helped improve its position in select time slots.