Ramayan: Viewers allege key scenes featuring Ravan edited, Prasar Bharti CEO clarifies

Ramanand Sagar’s 1987 dramatisation of the epic Ramayan got a fresh lease of life due to the lockdown, as audiences are glued to the rerun on DD National. Saturday’s episode sparked discussion online, with some viewers claiming that a key scene featuring Ravan’s brother Ahiravan was not shown.

However, Shashi Shekhar, the CEO of Prasar Bharti, has clarified that Doordarshan has not done away with any scene that was a part of Ramayan. “There have been no cuts, they were not part of the original production,” he wrote on Twitter.

In another tweet, Shekhar said that Indian epics has so many stories and interpretations within a larger narrative, that it was not possible for every single one of them to make it to the script of a television show. “The beauty of our epics are the many stories, side-stories and interpretations. Not every nuance can possibly make it into a single television script but perhaps leaves the door open for future productions,” he wrote.

Recently, Ramayan was at the centre of another controversy after a Twitter user shared a screengrab and alleged that Doordarshan was streaming the show from a Moser Baer DVD. However, Shekhar refuted the claim and replied, “This does not seem to be from Doordarshan please re-check your source.”

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Meanwhile, the last episode of Ramayan was aired on Saturday night. Shekhar announced on Twitter that Uttar Ramayan would be replacing the popular show in the 9pm slot from Sunday.

Luv Kush was made by Ramayan creator Ramanand Sagar as a follow-up to the show, with several cast members reprising their roles. The show, which is an adaptation of Uttara Kanda, the last book of the epic Ramayana, was known as Uttar Ramayan when it first aired in 1988.

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