Ramanand Sagar’s epic ‘Ramayan’ which is re-airing on Doordarshan turned into the world’s most-watched entertainment show on April 16 with 7.7 crore watchers, DD India posted on its official Twitter handle on late Thursday night.

Since March 28, when its rerun started on DD National, Ramayan stay on top for being the most-watched entertainment show in India, without fail. Ramayana garnered unprecedented popularity in its re-run during the coronavirus lockdown as the mythological show is number 1 in terms of TRP during Ram- Ravana battle and Ram returning to Ayodhya episodes. The show was back on Doordarshan to keep the watchers stick to TV with the goal that they could remain at home.

The official handle of DD India composed: ‘Rebroadcast of #Ramayana on #Doordarshan crushes viewership records around the world, the show turns out to be most-watched diversion appear on the planet with 7.7 crore watchers on sixteenth of April.’

WORLD RECORD!!
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 16th of April pic.twitter.com/hCVSggyqIE

— Doordarshan National (@DDNational) April 30, 2020

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar has thanked Ramayan show creator Ramanand Sagar for allowing re-telecast of the epic serial during lockdown. In a letter written in Hindi to the filmmaker, the Minister wrote that he wanted to telecast the show during lockdown and thanked Ramanand Sagar's family for providing the epic serial.

The Minister wrote, "The serial was first telecast 40 years ago and people loved it. But back then, there were not many television sets and people used to go to other people's houses to watch the show."

He added, "But now, the scenario has changed. Around 18 crore television sets are in use in India. The new generation, who had not watched Ramayan earlier, is also watching it now. And those who had watched it before, are remembering good old memories."

Ramanand Sagar had made a total of 78 episodes of this epic dependent on Valmiki’s Ramayana and Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas. The series was initially telecasted from January 25, 1987 to July 31, 1988, each Sunday, at 9.00 a.m on Doordarshan.

The Minister wrote, "The serial was first telecast 40 years ago and people loved it. But back then, there were not many television sets and people used to go to other people's houses to watch the show."

Ramayan, Mahabharat make Doordarshan highest-watched channel in India

The reruns of the popular 80s shows pulled up the viewership for DD as well. According to the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) the reruns of Mahabharat and Ramayan resulted in nearly 40,000 per cent jump in viewership in the evening and morning bands in the week ended April 3. Ramayan, Mahabharat make Doordarshan highest-watched channel in India Not only Ramayana and Mahabharata, DD also telecast other popular shows such as Shaktimaan and Buniyaad. Once the telecast of Ramayana was over, Prasar Bharti announced the rerun of another popular show, Shri Krishna.