While the media and cultural commentators struggled to consider Sagar’s epic one way or the other, there were some who saw it as a catalyst, even if unintended, to the turmoil that the movement resulted in. Sagar’s Ramayana played in the backdrop of a Hindutva shift in Indian politics, under the aegis of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its political outfit, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
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Of the political concerns, chief was the telecast of the epic series in the shade of the Ram Janambhoomi movement that culminated in the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. But behind and besides the narrative of success underlined by earth-shattering numbers, there were concerns, most of them political, and many controversies.
Within a couple of episodes, Sagar’s Ramayana became a national sensation, eventually clocking viewership of around 650 million, telecast in 55 different countries and becoming the highest grossing show on Indian television by some distance. On January 25, the pilot was aired and Indian television would never be the same again.
And we had little time.” The four episodes, Prem mentions, were eventually cut and stitched together to make a single episode. But turning that into a pilot was next to impossible. I told dad we couldn’t do it,” says Sagar’s son, Prem Sagar. “We met, my brothers and dad, when the call came in. Asked if he could present a pilot episode of the Ramayana within two weeks, Sagar said yes. In January 1987, Sagar received a call from the offices of Doordarshan in Delhi’s Mandi House. Thirty years on, and a week after his 100 birth anniversary, Sagar’s legacy is more a source of questions than answers. Among the attendees – which included local labour MPs, gurus and other religious leaders – one man stood out, perhaps for the influence he had already built up and the wave of Hindu approval and recognition he had ridden on on his way to the Sammelan – Ramanand Sagar. As part of the agenda, the need to move – politically and physically – for a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya was unanimously pushed. The gathering, instructively titled ‘Sammelan,’ sought to bring together Hindus living in Britain and called for the reawakening of a larger Hindu identity. On Augthousands of people were gathered in the southern English town of Milton Keynes.