The whole country witnessed how Sir Arun Govil became a star overnight with the success of Ramanandsagar’s epic Ramayan. As we celebrate Vijayadashami today, let’s enlighten you all with some lesser-known facts about OG Ramanand Sagar’s Ji Ramayan’ s Ram Ji, veteran actor Arun Govil.
Over the years, Arun Govil has done many projects but Lord Rama’s character became the all-time favorites of the viewers and admirers. Apart from Arun Ji, the whole star cast of Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana gave flabbergasting performances especially Sunil Lehri who played the role of Laxman, Dipika Chikilia who portrayed the character of Sita and late actor Dara Singh who aced the role of lord Hanuman.
Arun Govil became a household name after his successful portrayal of Shri Ram in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan.
The veteran actor perfectly nailed the role of Ram with so much elegance and grace that people actually started considering him as real lord Ram and that was his impact as a wonderful actor.
Here are some lesser-known facts about Arun which will leave you surprised.
- A very few people are aware of the fact that Arun is veteran Bollywood actor and popular TV show host Tabassum’s brother-in-law. Arun’s elder brother Vijay is married to the actress.
2. Arun Ji has not just worked in Hindi but Bhojpuri, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Odia films as well.
3. Arun confessed that initially he was out and rejected for the role of Ram by Ramanand Sagar. Sunil Lehri also said something similar.
4.The talented veteran actor then revealed that one thing which made him bag the role was his smile. On The Kapil Sharma Show, Arun Ji revealed that it was Sooraj Barjatiya who told Arun to use his beautiful smile someday. He took his advice and added a smile in his look test which instantly attracted Ramanand Sagar and he got selected for the role.
- There was apparently one more reason Ramanand Sagar rejected Arun for the role of Lord Ram. It is being rumored that Arun had a smoking addiction which did not go well with Ramanand Sir and he didn’t want his Lord Ram character to have any such habits. Interestingly, Arun gave up his smoking but later he so deeply involved in his character that he quit smoking forever.
6. Arun’s career took a massive and unexpected turn after Ramayan but it also brought some problems for him. The actor revealed how producers were not ready to sign him and felt that he was no more suitable for commercial films.
7. After Ramayan started airing again during the lockdown, Arun Govil made his Twitter debut and has been sharing fond memories of his good old days with his fans.
8. During lockdown, when Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana started airing on DD National, it broke all the previous records of the channel in terms of TRP. There was hardly any home in India who haven’t watched the mythological show with the family during the pandemic.
9. When ‘Ramayan’ was aired, the Congress government opposed its broadcast, expressing concerns about its impact on India’s secularism. BN Gadgil, the Information and Broadcasting Minister at the time, shared these concerns within the cabinet.
Ramanand Sagar and his son, Prem Sagar, faced numerous challenges, including frequent visits to Doordarshan’s headquarters at Mandi House in Delhi, due to these issues. Nonetheless, Ramanand was determined to share the series with the public.
In his father’s biography, ‘An Epic Life: Ramanand Sagar,’ Prem revealed that Ramanand was even prepared to release the series on video cassettes if it couldn’t be broadcast on Doordarshan
10. In a later turn of events, Arun Govil also formed an alliance with the Congress party. During the late 80s, he ventured into politics by contesting elections on the Congress ticket, going head-to-head with V.P. Singh. However, Arun faced defeat in that election. Interestingly, voters did cast their ballots in his favor but included the phrase “Jai Sri Ram” on the ballot papers.
This raised questions among some netizens, who pointed out that despite playing the iconic character of Lord Ram on-screen, Arun didn’t receive the same recognition within a party that had, at one point, denied Lord Ram’s existence in the apex court.
On March 18, 2021, a few days prior to the commencement of assembly polls in West Bengal and three other states, Arun Govil made a notable decision by becoming a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. In various news reports, Arun conveyed that he chose to align with the BJP because he believed the party would offer him an opportunity to present the widely acclaimed 1987 series, “Ramayan.”
Arun Sir has made his way through everyone’s heart with his role as Lord Rama and he will always be remembered for his remarkable portrayal.
No one could have played the role of Shri Ram better than Arun Govil Ji.
Jai Shree Ram!
