And then there was the all-knowing half-smile of Vishnu’s avatar.”īut playing the Almighty had its pitfalls. Playing God, you cannot be too loud or too subdued.

“The character had to be restricted in postures as well as gestures. Getting under the skin of a character revered by millions was a physical and psychological challenge. The consensus was, said Ramanandji, that we wouldn’t find a better actor to play Ram. But they didn’t like what they saw, I encountered outright rejection!Ī few weeks later, after they had announced the lead actor, Ramanand Sagar called me up to say that the selection panel had a change of mind. “I was already playing king Vikramaditya inĪnd approached the Sagars when I heard they were planning In the first instance, Govil failed the audition. Of course, playing Ram was the real McCoy, but it wasn’t easy landing the role. “Of these, Savan Ko Aane Do (1979), where I played a singer in love with Zarina Wahab, did well.”

So impressed were the Barjatyas of Rajshri Productions with his screen presence in his debut film Paheli (1977) that they signed him for a three-film deal. “But within a few months, I realised I didn’t have a head for business.”īefore he essayed the role of Ram, Govil had tasted success on the big screen. Initially, he landed in Mumbai to assist his businessman elder brother. After school, he enrolled for a BSc at Meerut and completed it from Mathura.Īlso read: Brush up on your Ramayan, the entertaining wayĪlthough he had worked in school plays, Govil didn’t really set out to be an actor. They were doing it to display their feelings towards the name that had got attached to mine,' says Govil.īrought up in the cantonment town of Meerut, Govil, the son of a waterworks engineer, studied in a number of schools across moffusil towns such as Saharanpur and Shahjahanpur. But gradually, I understood they were not doing it to me. In the beginning, it was very embarrassing when people who were much older than I was began to touch my feet. Today, Govil, the 56-year-old television actor-turned-producer looks back at that phase with nostalgia. In its heyday, the show, launched on Doordarshan in January 1986, generated massive viewership. If you grew up in the Eighties and weren’t particularly God-fearing, you might have been forgiven for believing Sunday mornings were meant for staying late in bed.īut if, like me, you had a devout granddad who thought the best way to reform his football-obsessed grandson was a weekly dose of mythology, Ramanand Sagar-style, Arun Govil shouldn’t need an introduction.įor thousands of pre-Internet television watchers, Govil’s signature half-smile, which screamed 'I know what you’ll watch on Sunday morning' might have been mildly jarring, but for millions of others, Govil and Deepika Chikhalia, who played Ram and Sita in Ramayan, were divinity personified.

Vikram aur betaal 1988