An Indian epic-based TV show has broken viewership records worldwide and become the most "watched entertainment show in the world”. According to an April 30 tweet by Doordarshan (DD), a public broadcaster in India, the show was aired after 33 years during the coronavirus lockdown, and recorded a viewership of 7.7 crore (70 million) on April 16.
Apparently, Ramayana had nearly six times viewers than HBO’s most-watched episode — the finale of Game of Thrones. According to Nielsen data, an estimated 13.6 million viewers watched the last episode of GOT.
On Thursday, @DDIndialive tweeted: “Rebroadcast of #Ramayana on #Doordarshan smashes viewership records worldwide, the show becomes most watched entertainment show in the world with 7.7 crore viewers on April 16.”
The Indian TV show is based on Ramayana, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Mahabharata. The epic, narrates the life of Rama, the legendary prince of the Kosala Kingdom.
According to the Indian news website, ndtv.com: “Written, produced and directed by Ramanand Sagar, Ramayan, a Sunday morning staple in the eighties, first aired on Doordarshan in 1987. The show acquired a cult status over the years.”
Ramanand Sagar had made a total of 78 episodes of this serial.
From January 25, 1987 to July 31, 1988 it was aired every Sunday, at 9.30am. In 1988, 'Ramayan' became the most watched serial in the world. Till June 2003, it remained recorded in the Limca Book of Records as "the most watched mythological TV serial in the world".
Twitter users in India, took to the micro-blogging site to share how, watching the show used to be a Sunday morning routine for many, when it was first aired.
News website News18.com reported: “Interestingly, when the series started airing in the country for the first time, people used to remain glued to the TV sets. Since there were less TVs at homes then, most of the people used to gather at some neighbour's place to watch 'Ramayan'.”
The show returned to TV in March after the lockdown and airs on DD National twice a day.
Meanwhile, India announced on Friday that the nationwide lockdown will be extended for two more weeks.
