In 1986, following the moderate success of his television series Vikram aur Betaal and while he was in the midst of producing Dada-Dadi Ki Kahaniyan, Ramanand Sagar approached executives at Doordarshan about the possibility of producing a serialised version of the Ramayana, of which Sagar was a lifelong devotee. The idea was initially rejected, then revived, but delayed due to concerns that such a television series might lead to a rise in communalism. Finally, the show was indeed approved for 52 episodes (which would later be expanded twice in response to the series' overwhelming popularity, each time by 13 episodes, bringing the total to 78 episodes), and was given the unpopular time slot of Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. Doordarshan budgeted Sagar INR100000 (US$1,600) per episode. Among the reference sources for the TV series, the producers used the seven volumes of critical edition of the Ramayana published by the Maharaja Sayajirao Oriental Institute in Vadodara. Costumes of the series was provided by Maganlal Dresswala.
At the time, Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi stated, "Ramayan has stirred the imaginations of millions of viewers. It has imbibed the great Indian culture, tradition and normal values especially in the young."
Production
Running time 35 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel Doordarshan
Original run 25 January 1987 – 31 July 1988
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramayan_(TV_series)
