Ramayan (2002 TV series)

Nitish Bharadwaj who played Ram

The show starts with Introduction of King Dasharath is shown. He returns victorious from a war. His three queens - Kaushalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi welcome him happily. Yet they were unhappy of not having a heir to the throne. Followed by his grave for not having a son, king Dasharath visits Guru Vashishth who suggests him to go to rishi shringi. King Dashrath goes in search for rishi Shringi, After many hardships, he convinces Rishi Shring for Santati Yagya. After completion of the yagya, King Dashrath has four sons, Ram, Bharat, Lakshman and Shatrughn from his three queens.Kaushalya gave birth to Ram, Kaikeyi to Bharat and Sumitra to Lakshman and Shatrughn who were twins. It covers several scenes from the Maharishi Valmiki's Ramayana. Scenes of Ram going to gurukul and coming back are shown. Sita's swayamwar and Ram-Sita Marriage is also shown here. Along with them, the brothers of Ram - Lakshman, Bharat and Shatrughn married the sister and cousins of Sita - Urmila, Mandavi and Shrutakirti respectively. The brides were welcomed in Ayodhya. Soon afterward Dasharath desired to crown Ram as the king of Ayodhya. Manthara poisoned Kaikeyi's mind against Dasharath's idea. Recalling that Dasharath had once promised to grant Kaikeyi any two boons that she asked from him, she demanded that Ram should be exiled to the forest for fourteen years and that Bharat should be crowned ruler instead. Although heartbroken, Dasharath is compelled to keep his word. Reluctantly, he asks Ram to leave for the forest. Ram happily accepts the exile and leaves for the forest. Ram reluctantly accepts the company of his wife, Sita, and his younger brother, Lakshman. When Bharat learns that his mother is responsible for Ram's exile, he follows Ram and begs him to return with him to Ayodhya. However, Ram refuses, bound by his duty to carry out his father's promise. Bharat decides instead to bring back to the palace Rama's paduka and places them on the throne as a gesture that Ram is the true king. He decided to spend an ascetic life like Ram and Lakshman staying in Nandigram at the outskirts of Ayodhya till the end of exile. Upon his insistence , Shatrughn ruled as his proxy over Ayodhya throughout the fourteen-year exile. Ram, Sita, and Lakshman wandered in the forests, combating evil wherever they encounter it. They gained the blessings of numerous wise men and sages along the way. Thirteen years into the exile, Ravan, the King of Lanka, abducts Sita. In their search of her, Ram and Lakshman meet Hanuman, Sugriv, Jamvanta, and the Vanar Sena. When they reach Lanka, Rama battles Ravan and ultimately kills him, signifying triumph of good over evil. Lord Ram returns back to Ayodhya and is declared the King of Ayodhya. The series ends with coronation of Lord Ram.

There were total of 48 episodes which were aired every Sunday at 9AM.

• The series was produced by B.R Chopra and directed by Ravi Chopra. The executive producer for the series was Bharat Ratan.

• Ramayan was re-telecast on Zee TV and DD National in the year 2008 from 28 July 2008 to 20 August 2009.

• Raj Kamal was the music Director.
• Vinod Rathod sang the title song of the series.
• Monoj Mishra sang the doha (end song) or the couplet for this series as well as for Vishnu Puran (TV series)
• Vinod Rathod sang seven songs in the episodes of Ram-Sita Vivah (episode 13 and 14)
• The songs were mainly taken from Shri Ramcharitmanas by Sage Valmiki.
• Maya Govind composed the couplets for each episode.

• Nitish Bharadwaj played Bhagwan Vishnu as well as Ram.
• Smriti Irani played Devi Lakshmi as well as Sita.
• Kinshuk Vaidya was cast as Child Rama.
• Sudhir Dalvi played Brahmadev in this series.
• Samar Jai Singh was replaced by Yashodhan Rana to play Bhagwan Shiva.
• Samar Jai Singh played Meghnad for the series.

• Nitish Bhardwaj as Rama, reincarnation of Lord Vishnu
• Smriti Irani as Sita, reincarnation of Goddess Lakshmi
• Surendra Pal as Ravana, King of Lanka
• Deepak Jethi as Hanuman, devotee of Lord Rama
• Bijay Anand as Lakshmana, third brother of Lord Rama
• Ayush Pandey as Bharata, second brother of Lord Rama
• Amit Pachori as Shatrughna, youngest brother of Lord Rama
• Ashwini as Urmila, Lakshman's wife, Sita's sister
• Rajani Chandra as Mandavi, Bharat's wife, Shrutakirti's sister
• Malini Kapoor / Arti Puri as Shrutakirti, Shatrughan's wife, Mandavi's sister
• Gajendra Chauhan as Dasharatha, Ram, Bharat, Lakshman and Shatrughan's father
• Beena Banerjee as Kaushalya, Lord Rama's mother
• Jyoti Joshi as Sumitra, Lakshman and Shatrughan's mother
• Dolly Minhas as Kaikeyi, Bharat's mother
• Tina Ghai as Manthara, Kaikeyi's maid
• Pradeep Sharma as Janaka, Sita and Urmila's father
• Shalini Kapoor Sagar as Sunaina, Sita and Urmila's mother
• Raman Khatri as Kushadhwaja, Mandavi and Shrutakirti's father
• Rakesh Vidwa as Shatanand, Devi Ahilya's son, King Janak's guru
• A.K. Agnihotri as Janak's minister
• Rajita Kocchar as Kaikesi, Ravan's mother
• Ramesh Goyal as Maricha, Ravan's maternal uncle
• Shashi Sharma as Mandodari, Ravan's wife
• Rahul Solapurkar as Kumbhakarna, Ravan's brother
• Sandeep Mohan as Vibhishana, Ravan's brother
• Dharmesh Tiwari as Vasishtha, Lord Rama's guru
• Bhakti Nirula as Arundhati, Vasishth's wife
• Rammohan Sharma as Sumantra, Dasrath's minister
• Rahul Sood as Prahasta, Ravan's youngest son
• Samar Jai Singh as Indrajit, Ravan's eldest son
• Deepshikha Nagpal as Sulochana, Indrajit's wife
• Praphulla Pandey as Aksha
• Yashodhan Rana as Bhagwan Shiva
• Sheetal Bedi as Devi Parvati, Bhagwan Shiva's wife
• Kinshuk Vaidya as Child Rama
• Sudhir Dalvi as Brahmadev
• Kishore Puri as Devraj Indra
• Sunil Nagar as Varunadev
• Sanjay Swaraj as Maharishi Gautama Maharishi, Devi Ahilya's husband
• Shankar Nagre as Ahiravana, Ravan's brother
• Sagar Salunkhe as Parashurama
• Suhas Khandke as Vasuki, father of Sulochana
• Javed Khan as Vishwamitra, Ram and Lakshman's guru
• Seema Pandey as Tara, Vali's wife
• Mona Parekh as Rumā, Sugriv's wife
• Manish Garg as Vishvabandhu, Ayodhya's royal poet

Even though Ramayan did not prove to be as successful as Mahabharat (1988 TV series) but it did become popular. Within a year, B.R Films had released 48 episodes of the series. In May 2003, it was consistently in Zee's top ten ratings. Although its a forgotten serial of the old era, It was one of the most watched tv serial during 2002-2003.

While working on the sets of Ramayan, In an interview, said Ravi Chopra "Because of the phenomenal success of Mahabharata," , "The expectations from our Ramayana are very high. We have once again Nitish Bharadwaj playing the main role of Ram and Smriti Malhotra-Irani is Sita. We have better technology today and better facilities than when we made our first epic. I have depended mainly on the original Valmiki Ramayana and the Ramcharit-Manas of Tulsidas. At the very outset, I am planning to outline the value of Maryada, which is an entirely Indian concept and is epitomised by Ram, who is called Maryada Purushottam. Nitish Bharadwaj, who also contributes to the script with his inputs of research on the character of Ram, will define Maryada, a value which sets out the civilised limits and self-imposed controls of behaviour for people who want to live enlightened lives. Such explanations will enrich the narrative immeasurably.

"My sets are designed with great attention to detail. The costume team works closely with us. We have used references from sculptures, frescoes, temple carvings and manuscripts while designing of ambience, which is rich and ornate. Ram Govind is doing the script. We normally get the script of ten episodes ready and plan the look and feel of the serial. In mythologicals, casting and dialogues have to be perfect. The success of our Mahabharata was mainly due to excellence in these two areas. Rahi Masoom Raza wrote brilliant dialogues which linked eternal values from the epic to modern living and the result was almost electric. Even in Ramayana, the effort is to apply modern yardsticks to old values and to justify why characters took particular actions though they may seem incorrect in the present day context.

"Today, television is a game of numbers. Everything rests on how much money a serial makes and what TRPs it gets. The making of Ramayana is an opportunity to combine beauty, glamour, values, beautiful language, beautiful relationships, memorable visuals and of course stories which touch every heart. Mahabharata and Ramayana are fountains of eternal wisdom and immortal values. The narratives and the characters who play them out run in the blood of every Indian. Epics give a special fragrance to the Indian soil. They give all religions in India their soul and our culture is rich and scintillating because of them. Stories can be retold on television in every decade without losing any freshness. I’m fortunate to do this!"

• Watch Ramayana
• Ramayan at IMDb