Maryada Purushottam Prabhu Ram is adored by the Indian people. This is the reason why Prabhu Ram and his stories have been liked by filmmakers. The process of making the first film based on Ramayana named Lanka Dahan (silent film) by Dadasaheb Phalke, the father of Indian cinema, in the year 1917 continues till today. Till now, more than 50 films and 18 TV shows have been made based on the story of Ramayana. The filmmakers also did many experiments regarding Ramkatha. Read this special presentation on the cinema and television incarnation of Lord Ram.
Ram Katha on the golden screen
In the history of more than 111 years of the Indian film industry, Ram has been appearing in some form or the other on the cinema screen and TV in every decade. More than 50 films and 18 TV shows have been made so far. Of these, maximum 17 films have been made in Hindi and 18 films have been made in Telugu. Most of the films based on Ramayana have also earned well at the box office. In the year 1917, there used to be long queues outside the cinema hall to watch the first film ‘Lanka Dahan’ based on Ramayana, released under the direction of Dadasaheb Phalke. Ramanand Sagar’s ‘Ramayana’ which came on Doordarshan broke all records. The years 1980 and 1990 were named after it.
Cinema halls also became temples
‘Lanka Dahan’ was definitely a silent film, but it turned theaters into temples. Actually, no person used to carry shoes and slippers inside the cinema hall. The audience used to take off their shoes and slippers and enter the cinema hall. As soon as the character of Lord Shri Ram appeared on the screen, all the viewers started bowing their heads after seeing him. For the first time, the audience got to see the story of Ramayana in a film. This film was shown in theaters continuously for 23 weeks. According to film historian Amrit Gangar, at that time the coins from the ticket counter were collected in sacks and taken to the producer’s office by bullock cart. Within 10 days this film had earned Rs 35 thousand. Before making this film, Dadasaheb Phalke had an open air studio, but this film made so much money that Phalke Saheb built a wonderful studio.
Ram and Sita became one person
Actor Anna Salunke played the first double role in the history of Indian cinema in the film Lanka Dahan. Anna Salunke also played Mother Sita along with Prabhu Ram in this film. The special thing is that Salunke had made both the characters of Ram and Sita alive with his brilliant acting in this film. However, Dadasaheb Phalke was earlier looking for a female artist for the role of Sita in the film Lanka Dahan, but at that time it was considered bad for women to work in films. In that era, women’s roles were also played by men. Since, before this, Anna Salunke had played the character of Taramati in Dadasaheb Phalke’s film ‘Raja Harishchandra’. Due to this his popularity increased so much. This was the reason why Phalke Saheb also entrusted the role of Mother Sita to her.
Gandhiji went to see Ram-Rajya
After the burning of Lanka, GV Sane carried forward Phalke’s tradition and directed ‘Ram Janam’ in the year 1920. After this, in the year 1932, V Shantaram made a Marathi film named ‘Ayodhyacha Raja’. After this, in the year 1942 and 1943, director Vijay Bhatt made two consecutive films based on Ramayana – ‘Bharat Milap’ and ‘Ram Rajya’. ‘Ram Rajya’ had also earned Rs 60 lakh during that period. This was the only Hindi film seen by Mahatma Gandhi. Through these films, Prabhu Ram and Ramkatha had become favorite subjects even among the common audience.
Complete Ramayana written in three languages
The entire Ramayanam directed by K Somu was made in Tamil language in the year 1958. In this film, the role of Prabhu Shri Ram was played by South Indian superstar NT Rama Rao. After this, in the year 1961, ‘Sampoorna Ramayan’ made in Hindi under the direction of Babubhai Mistry made the cinema halls buzz. People used to raise slogans of Jai Siyaram while watching the film. For the first time, Babubhai Mistry delighted the audience by showing Ravana and Hanuman flying in the air on screen and filming the exciting scenes of Lanka Dahan and Ram-Ravana war. By playing the role of Ravana in this film, BM Vyas became a famous villain of that time. After this, in 1971, the entire Ramayana film was made in Telugu language under the direction of Sattiraju Lakshminarayana. All three films received a lot of affection from the audience.
The first TV show came in 1987
Ramanand Sagar showed Ramayana as a TV show. The telecast of Ramayana consisting of 87 episodes for the first time on Doordarshan started on January 25, 1987 and the last episode went live on July 31, 1988. In this serial, Arun Govil played the role of Ram, Deepika Chikhalia played the role of Sita, Arvind Trivedi played the role of Ravana, Sunil Lahiri played the role of Laxman and Dara Singh played the role of Hanuman. The popularity of this serial increased so much that whenever it came on TV, there was silence everywhere. It became so popular that its cassettes and DVDs also sold well. Even during the Corona period, Ramayan written by Ramanand Sagar was telecast again.
Actor became revered
For a time, Ram Rajya hero Prem Adeeb was liked the most among the actors who played the role of Lord Ram. The spectators used to get his photo framed and garland it. Mahipal also became popular by playing the role of Ram in the entire Ramayana. After films, Arun Govil, who played the role of Ram in the serial ‘Ramayana’ on Doordarshan, started being seen as the incarnation of Ram across the country. Till now his image remains intact. Apart from these, actor Siraj Mustafa Khan played the role of Lord Ram in the popular serial ‘Jai Hanuman’ aired in the year 1997. People also started liking him a lot. Khalil Ahmed was a superstar in the era of silent films. He was active in films from 1920 to 1940. He played the roles of Krishna and Ram in films like Sati Parvati, Mahasati Anusuya, Rukmini Haran, Lanka Ni Laadi and Draupadi.
Prem Adeeb became Ram eight times
Prem Adeeb played the role of Lord Ram in Bharat Milap released in 1942 and Ram Rajya released in 1943. Both these films made him one of the most successful actors of that era. People liked the role of Lord Ram played by him very much. This was the reason that after this, six films based on Ramayana – ‘Ram Baan’ (1948), ‘Ram Vivah’ (1949), ‘Ramnavami’ (1956), ‘Ram Hanuman Yudh’ (1957), ‘Ram Laxman’ (1957) were made. ), he became Prabhu Ram in films like ‘Ram Bhakta Vibhishan’ (1958). The special thing is that during the shooting of Ram Rajya, Prem had given up even non-veg food.