TV actor Dipika Chikhlia, who essayed the role of Sita in the popular mythological serial Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana, has revealed that they once shot an entire scene with a ‘fat snake’ right above their heads.
She shared two pictures from the sets of the show in which Ram, Sita and Lakshman are seen sitting under a huge tree, perhaps discussing something. Dipika wrote on Instagram, “There is a story behind this scene ….so I shared …we were busy with the shoot, learning lines and so on…the day was as normal as could be, after the scene got over our cameraman Ajit naik (cinematography) came to tell us please vacate the place and don’t stand underneath the tree and we were wondering all the three actors as to what was the hurry and why so abrupt …he asked all the technicians also to clear the field ..sagar Saab was also wondering what happened …and then he pointed out to a huge fat snake on the tree and what followed after that was we all RAN for our life sooo many memories ….#memories#ramayan#sagarworld# tree#banyantree#snake#fear#phobia#umbergoan#studio#sets#actors#actress#costume.”
Ramayan, originally aired in the late 80s and 90s, got a rerun recently during the lockdown imposed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Dipika played the lead role of Sita on the show. Talking about working with Ramanand Sagar on the show, Dipika had told Hindustan Times in an interview, “It was very different because he came from the era of Raj Kapoor and had worked with people of that calibre. It’s that level of intelligence, dedication, understanding of the medium, it makes a lot of difference when you work with such great minds. He was phenomenal in his work and his understanding of the subject was very, very good.”
In a separate interaction with media, Dipika had claimed she would have rather played Kaikeyi who had asked her husband Dashratha to send Ram, Lakshman and Sita on a 14-year exile. “If today somebody would have offered me, I would have possibly done Kaikeyi, this is how much we have changed as actors (laughs). As an actor, it is exactly opposite playing a negative role. If I have to play a role, I will like to try playing a role where I have a dimension, where I can explore myself as a creative person,” she said.
