Swapnil Joshi and Mayuresh Kshetramade were Luv and Kush in Ramayan

Ramanand Sagar’s iconic television serial Ramayan carved out a place in the hearts of viewers that few shows have matched. The mythological epic, which brought the story of Lord Rama into homes, turned its lead actors like Arun Govil, Deepika Chikhalia and Sunil Lahri into almost divine figures for the audience. Such was the show’s popularity that streets reportedly fell silent during telecasts as families gathered before their television sets.

December 29 marks the 108th birth anniversary of Ramanand Sagar, the man credited with bringing Indian tradition and culture vividly to the small screen. Over the years, several anecdotes from the making of Ramayan have surfaced, and one of the most endearing involves the child actors who played Luv and Kush.

In the Uttara Kanda portion of the serial, the roles of Luv and Kush were pivotal. Sagar had initially considered casting actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha’s twin sons, Luv and Kush Sinha, but the plan did not materialise. He eventually zeroed in on two boys from Maharashtra, Swapnil Joshi as Kush and Mayuresh Kshetramade as Luv, whose innocence and performances won viewers over.

In an interview, Sagar had recalled that while the children were charming on screen, they were also extremely mischievous off it. He said that though they were always ready before the camera rolled, they would sometimes flatly refuse to shoot, declaring, “We won’t work”.

Not one to lose his temper, Sagar decided to outsmart them. He staged a dramatic scene on set, pretending to thrash a couple of men with sticks and even breaking a table in the process. The boys, thinking they might be next if they misbehaved, cooperated, at least for the day. But the following morning, the duo arrived armed with sticks of their own, cheekily warning the director that they were ready if anything happened.

Sagar also narrated another episode involving snakes that were brought on set for a sequence. When one snake slipped out of its basket, the boys were terrified. Sagar then began using the open snake basket as a playful “disciplinary tool”. Whenever they became too naughty, he would simply lift the lid, enough to make them fall in line and deliver their lines perfectly.

Those light-hearted memories, Sagar had said, still bring a smile to his face, and to the countless fans who continue to cherish Ramayan decades after it first aired.