Mythological series Ramayana would be re-telecast by Doordarshan from this Saturday, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Friday.
Sources said Ramayana was just one of the first in the series of old Doordharshan hits to make a reappearance.
The other programmes include B R Chopra’s Mahabharata, Chanakya, Upanishad Ganga, Shahrukh Khan’s iconic Circus and Byomkesh Bakshi. By later today, the timings of Mahabharata, Chanakya and Upanishad Ganga will be announced. These will play on DD Bharati. The timings of Byomkesh Bakshi and Circus will be announced in the next few days.
“Happy to announce that on public demand, we are starting re-telecast of ‘Ramayana’ from tomorrow, Saturday March 28 in DD National, One episode in morning 9 am to 10 am, another in the evening 9 pm to 10 pm,” Mr. Javadekar tweeted.
The announcement comes at a time when the country is going through a 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of COVID 19.
The original telecast
The 74-episode Ramayana was telecast from 25 January 1987 to 31 July 1988 and the 90-episode Mahabharata from 2 October 1988 to 24 June 1990.
“DD was already in talks for reacquisition of iconic serials several weeks prior to this situation. That process will continue. Right now, the lockdown being the priority, the content has been shared in national interest,” a senior Prasar Bharati official said.
The rights of all these programmes continue to be held with the producers and it is only a one-time rerun. This re-telecast was made possible by the new content acquisition policy adopted by Doordarshan in November last that manifold increased the budget for acquiring content.
