Not just ‘Ramayan’, Doordarshan is bringing back Shah Rukh’s iconic ‘Circus’

After Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar tweeted on Friday that Doordarshan will re-telecast the iconic TV show Ramayan, Twitter erupted in joy. Javadekar had said the mythological TV serial was being brought back on public demand, as people remain at homes during the lockdown.

Besides Ramayan, two more yesteryear favourites are also being brought back on Doordarshan. Shah Rukh Khan’s iconic series Circus, and detective series Byomkesh Bakshi will be brought back. Shah Rukh made his TV debut with Fauji  and later he became a favourite with Kundan Shah’s Circus in 1989. Also featuring Renuka Shahane, Shah Rukh plays a young man struggling to manage a circus that was his father’s. Circus will air from Saturday at 8pm, DD National tweeted.

Often referred to as the desi version of detective Sherlock Holmes, Byomkesh Bakshi follows the work of the detective by the same name. The TV series, based on Benhali author Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay’s stories, featured Rajit Kapur in the titular role.

After popular demand, iconic series Mahabharat will also make a comeback on Doordarshan during the lockdown.

Ramayan will also start airing from Saturday, with one episode from 9am to 10am, and another from 9pm to 10pm.

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Directed by Ramanand Sagar, Ramayana featured Arun Govil as Ram, Deepika Chikhalia as Sita and Sunil Lahri as Lakshman. The show also featured Late Dara Singh as Hanuman and Arvind Trivedi as Ravana. The show was originally telecast from 25 January 1987 to 31 July 1988. Arun Govil was trending again recently after he commented on the Kapil Sharma show that the Ramayan cast was once offered large sums of money for bold photoshoots, which they refused.  Actors Arun Govil, Deepika Chikhalia and Sunil Lahri reunited to celebrated 33 years of the iconic TV serial. Deepika, who played Sita, said no one would casually greet her, instead people would fall at her feet and say 'Sita Ma'. When asked if they wouldn't feel 'itchy' wearing all those extravagant costumes, Arun Govil who played Ram said that after a point of time, he felt 'itchy' by the mere sight of the costumes.

Directed by B.R. Chopra, Mahabharat featured Gajendra Chauhan, Praveen Kumar, Arjun, Sameer Chitre and Sanjeev Chitre as the Pandavas, Roopa Ganguly as Draupadi, Nitish Bharadwaj as Krishna, Mukesh Khanna as Bhishma Pitamah and Punit Issar as Duryodhan.