Lord Ram guided me to play his character in Ramayan: Arun Govil  

Ramayan-fame veteran actor Arun Govil, who played the iconic role of Lord Ram, is in Bhubaneswar. He will inaugurate ‘Suno Shree Ram Kahani’, a musical programme at Utkal Mandap on February 5 evening. As many as 16 artistes including Govil will depict all the episodes of Ramayan in a story-telling format. 

OTV reporter Kapilendra Pradhan caught up with the actor at the Bhubaneswar airport. 

Kapilendra Pradhan (KP): How difficult it was for you to give justice to the character of Ram?

Arun Govil (AG): Those things are beyond the capacity of a human being. It was Lord Ram who got it done. It was His work. I did as I was directed by Him. 

KP: Even today, people know you more as Ram than Arun Govil. How do you feel?  

AG: I feel really good. Why not? Why people come to this line or the society? The obvious answer is to create one’s own identity, isn’t it? What could be a better identity than this? 

Govil, born on January 12, 1958, in Meerut, made his Bollywood debut in Prashant Nanda’s ‘Paheli’ released in 1977. He was introduced to the film’s producer Tarachand Barjatya by his sister-in-law Tabassum. Then he went on to act in movies like ‘Sawan Ko Aane Do’, ‘Saanch Ko Aanch Nahin’, ‘Radha Aur Seeta’, ‘Judai’ ‘Ganga Dham’, ‘Itni Si Baat’ and so on.  

In 1985, he made his small screen debut in Ramanand Sagar’s ‘Vikram Aur Betaal’. Sagar then roped him in for the character of Ram for his epic serial ‘Ramayan’ in 1987, and the rest is history.