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Indian Express
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
‘Ramanand Sagar's iconic Ramayan was nearly shelved, slapped with 175 cuts': Varun Badola reveals he was ‘stopped from quoting Ramcharitmanas'
Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan is one of the most watched shows in Indian television history, with its re-runs still airing on the Doordarshan network. While it's now considered to be an evergreen classic, the show was nearly shelved. Actor, director and writer Varun Badola, known for his popular roles on television, sat down for an interview and shared some anecdotes about the television industry. In an appearance on the YouTube show Zindagi with Richa, Badola talked about his time in television, and his transition into OTT. Among the many stories he shared, he was very vocal about the practices of network executives and what all goes into getting a show on air. He revealed how his vision seldom aligned with the makers' and said, 'The first thing we are always told on TV is that the show has to be aspirational. Either I was taught a very different meaning of that word, or I didn't understand the makers.' ALSO READ: Varun Badola answers if Ekta Kapoor ruined Indian television forever, says he spoke to her about it: 'Sunne waalon mein se nahi hai' He gave an example of how too much red tape can be harmful for the business and talked about how the iconic Ramayan series was stuck on a shelf for reasons he never understood. He said, 'I can give you first hand information regarding this, that a show like Ramayan had 175 cuts prepared. Ramanand Sagar himself made those 175 cuts and told me. Yet they did not want to air the show for reasons best known to them.' The actor added that people start walking on eggshells when it comes to stories with religious backdrops, and blamed it on the 'rudimentary and archaic' thinking of people. The type of thinking which led makers of a certain show to stop Badola for quoting the epic Ramcharitmanas. 'I wanted to use a quote from the Ramcharitmanas, and they were completely against it and told me that it wasn't allowed. Their explanations were very weird, and they told me that I could use any one obscure line written by Kabir, but I couldn't use the entire doha,' added Badola. Badola has made a successful transition from daily soap operas to web series on OTT platforms with appearances in shows like Guns and Gulaabs (2023), Your Honour (2020), and Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhen (2024). He also starred in Sky Force (2025) alongside Akshay Kumar and debutant Veer Pahariya.
Hindustan Times
30-04-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
5th tiger tranquilised, to be relocated from Corbett to Rajaji Reserve in 2 days
Haldwani/Dehradun: Forest officials from Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) on Tuesday have tranquilised a tiger — a male from the Bijrani range — and plan to relocate it to Rajaji Tiger Reserve (RTR) within the next two days, after successfully translocating four tigers to boost its tiger population. The male tiger, tranquilised by a team of forest officials on Tuesday evening, has been brought to Dhela animal rescue centre, where veterinarians are examining its health, CTR director Saket Badola said on Wednesday. 'It will be transported to Rajaji Tiger Reserve in a day or two. Already, four tigers have been translocated. This is the last tiger to be translocated,' Badola added. CTR warden Amit Gwasakoti said the five-year-old tiger's health was examined under the supervision of the park's senior veterinarian Dushyant Sharma and RTR's veterinarian Rakesh Nautiyal. 'In the joint investigation, the tiger was found healthy. Along with this, samples of the tiger are being taken for further examination. The big cat has been radio collared for its monitoring in the forest after release,' Gwasakoti said. Also Read:No plan to transqualise tigress who crossed into Jharkhand, says Odisha official Uttarakhand has the third-highest tiger population in the country, with 560 tigers. Corbett Tiger Reserve reportedly has the highest number of tigers among the country's 53 tiger reserves, with around 260 tigers, according to the latest tiger census. The report states that there are 260 tigers within CTR and 229 outside the reserve. In contrast, Rajaji Tiger Reserve has only 51 tigers. Officials said that five tigers were planned to be translocated from Corbett Tiger Reserve to Rajaji Tiger Reserve under the Uttarakhand Tiger Translocation Project, which was approved by the Centre in 2016. Following the approval, a team from the national tiger conservation authority (NTCA) visited both CTR and RTR and gave its final nod to the project. Also Read: The truth about tigers in conflict The first tiger was translocated in December 2020 followed by a tigress in January 2021 . The third tigress was shifted to RTR in May, 2023 and the fourth tigress in March last year. Rajaji Tiger Reserve spans three districts—Haridwar, Dehradun, and Pauri Garhwal. It was officially declared a tiger reserve in April 2015 and covers an area of approximately 1,150 sq km. In last year's tiger census, 51 tigers were reported in the eastern part of RTR, with a tiger density estimated at 8.15 tigers per 100 sq km. In the western part of the reserve, three reintroduced tigers were photo-captured during the census.
