New Delhi: Prem Sagar, the son of the renowned Indian film and television producer Ramanand Sagar, who created the iconic TV show, Ramayan, spoke in length with News9 Digital and opened up about the casting of Arun Govil as Lord Ram and more.
In an exclusive conversation with us, he spoke about facing major problems while selecting the star cast. He said, “We had a major problem in selecting the star cast, and we tried a lot of people for the characters. When the idea of Ramayan was put forth, it was at first rejected. People said, “Are you mad? This mukut and mooch will not work. So Papaji (Ramanand Sagar) said, “Now what do we do?” I said, “Don’t worry. We’ll make a similar program at a lower cost and do test marketing. So, with the help of Emami, we made Vikram Betal. And Vikram Betal became a hit. A super hit. And if you noticed, the same Vikram is Ram. The same prince is Lakshman. The princess is Sita. The yogi is Ravan. And the entire star cast of Vikram Betal was shifted to Ramayan and it worked.”
Excerpts from the interview
Q. About casting Arun Govil as Ram. And that small smile—which isn’t a full smile, and yet was very endearing. People thought that was a plus point for Ram.
Prem Sagar: The biggest plus point of Arun Govil was the measurement of his body—between his two shoulders and his navel—it was exactly an equilateral triangle. Meaning: from one shoulder to the other, from one shoulder to the navel, and from the navel to the other shoulder, the lengths were exactly the same. So, that became a big criteria. It took about five to six months to get that smile on him—but he worked on it. And then we had signed him in Vikram Betal, and there was nobody better than him for Ram. He had the princely looks. He had everything in him—be it his body or his talk. And the biggest asset was his memory. He could remember four pages of dialogue without an assistant. Unbelievable memory. Elephant’s memory. You give him a scene, he reads it once, and you ask him ten things—without one mistake, he would quote the entire thing for you.
Q. And from Ram, how did he become Lord Ram? People started touching his feet. When was the first time that happened?
Prem Sagar: See, this is divine intervention. Actually, there was a secretary in Delhi called S.S. Gill. His mother saw the four episodes that were sent in for review—for finalisation with the government. So, she saw Ram and she said, “This is God.” And she forced Mr. Gill to see that Ramayan. It’s a long story. So, people saw Ram as God on TV. That’s why they made offerings of coconut and garlands and all—because they didn’t see Arun Govil at all. I remember in Umargaon, the tribal women who would come to see the shooting—they would place their infant at his feet. I mean, he was God. You can’t deny that. He had everything that was Ram. And the serial was so well scripted—had good dialogues—and Papaji’s direction. Papaji took a lot of pain with Ram’s character: how to smile, how to sit, how not to react. Because Ram was ultimately an avatar—knowingly, he had to pretend he didn’t know anything. As Vishnu, he knew everything that was going to happen, but he never showed it on his face. The biggest problem was the smile. They worked on that smile for about four to five months before it came. And people didn’t see Arun Govil at all—they only saw Ram.
Q. When you see Ranbir Kapoor recreating—meaning playing Ram again—how does Prem Sagar react to it?
Prem Sagar: Prem Sagar doesn’t react to it at all now. How can I react? Somebody’s got a judgement, and he’s decided to take an actor. Arun Govil was an actor—he wasn’t God—but he had qualities that made people feel he was God. So, how can you react? There is no reaction.
Q. You have the Kakbhushundi Ramayan. When did you feel that you wanted to tell the story from a different perspective?
Prem Sagar: Shiv Sagar was already inspired by Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan, and he wanted a different angle to it. So, he came to me, and I told him that the biggest devotee of Ram is Kakbhushundi. We have seen Ram born fourteen times in every Manu. There are fourteen Manus. So, in every Manu Granth, he sees Ram being born. There is no one devotee like him to Ram. And he heard the story when Shiva was telling it to Parvati. Then he brought it to Panchi Sabha. Then he got it to Valmiki, then to Ramanand Sagar, and then to Shiv Sagar.