Actor Arun Govil, who is known for playing the role of Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan over thirty years ago, is often considered the best actor to have ever played that role on screen. Over the years, Ramayan has been interpreted many times in television and in film but most actors are often compared to Arun Govil when they play Lord Ram on screen. In fact, when something like Adipurush is released in theatres and the audience feels that Prabhas could not pull off the role, Arun Govil’s work is brought back to remind viewers of the time when a television show influenced them. Even when there are rumours about Ranbir Kapoor potentially playing the role of Lord Ram in Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayan, he is directly compared to Arun.
This role was a career defining move for Arun Govil and while it does not directly benefit him monetarily, the impact is such that Arun is one of the attendees of the Ram Mandir inauguration in Ayodhya. But, before Arun got the chance to play Ram in 1987, his career was moving at a slow pace. He had appeared in a bunch of forgettable movies and played one of the lead roles in the Doordarsan show Vikram Aur Betaal.
But, his life changed after Ramayan as Arun was casually addressed as ‘bhagwan’ wherever he went. People would lie prone at his feet and would queue up to get his blessings no matter where he was and in such circumstances, the actor found it particularly hard to take up varied roles as an actor. After Ramayan, he appeared in many other television shows like Luv Kush, Vishwamitra and Jai Veer Hanuman where he was seen playing mythological roles.
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In terms of movies, Arun found it hard to get leading parts in movies as he was seen as Lord Ram by the audience. In an interview, Arun said that the response that he got for Ramayan led to “both good and bad things.” “I got a lot of respect and honour but I was completely distanced from commercial films. All the producers and directors would tell me that my image of Lord Ram had became so strong that they would wonder what role to cast me in for. ‘People see only Lord Ram in you, they don’t see any other character’ is what they said,” he said in a chat with Rajshri Unplugged.
A few years after Ramayan, Arun appeared in films like Muqabla (1993), Hathkadi (1995), Dhaal (1997), Do Aankhein Barah Haath (1997), among a few others and in all these films he was seen playing a supporting role of either a journalist or a cop who is supporting the hero’s journey. In the late 1990s, when cable channels had become more mainstream in India, Arun appeared in one of the supporting roles in the Star Plus television show Pal Chhin. He was also seen in the Zee TV show Basera around the same time.
In the last few years, Arun has appeared in many films and web series. Last year, he was seen in Vikramaditya Motwane’s Jubilee where he played the role of Narain Khanna, the father of protagonist Jay Khanna. He was also seen in the film OMG 2, where he played the role of an antagonist. He was also seen in the Darsheel Safary-starrer Hukus Bukus.
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