Siya Ke Ram


Siya Ke Ram is an Indian TV series on Star Plus produced by Nikhil Sinha under the banner of Triangle Film Company. This show presents the epic Ramayana, the story of Rama and Devi Sita from Sita's perspective. The show features Madirakshi Mundle and Ashish Sharma playing as Goddess Sita and Lord Rama, respectively, and Karthik Jayaram as Raavan. It premiered on 16 November 2015 and ended on 4 November 2016.

Plot

The main plot is taken from the Hindu epic Ramayana, which was written by Sage Valmiki, and Adbhuta Ramayan, and follows the story through Sita's perspective.

Baal Kand

is the childless King of Mithila. While Mithila has suffered a drought for 12 years, elsewhere, Ram and his brothers are under the tutelage of Guru Vashista. Janak builds a golden plow and unearths a baby girl as he begins to plow. The baby's first cry leads to rainfall. Janak wants to find out whether or not the baby has a family. He is shocked to see the baby lift the Shiv Dhanush. Rishi Yagyavalkya suggests that Janak keeps the baby and so he names her Sita.
It is shown that after eight years, Sita and her sisters are playing the act of Goddess Durga, who destroyed a Rakshasa. Soon afterward, Sita comes to know about Gautama Maharishi and the curse he gave to his wife Ahilya. Meanwhile, King Dasharatha is traveling to Guru Vashistha's ashram to see his sons and gets inspired by Ram. Ram comes to his kingdom and meets his mother. Meanwhile, he comes to know that he has an elder sister called Shanta.
Later, it is shown that both Ram and Sita have grown up. In Ayodhya, King Dasharatha conducts the Ashwamedha Yajna for the well-being of his sons and his kingdom. While traveling towards Mithila, Sita dares to stop the ceremonial horse and comforts it. After coming back, Ram tells not to kill the horse but spare its life.
Guru Vishvamitra takes Ram and Lakshman from Ayodhya to destroy the demoness queen Tataka. Sita and her sisters also travel along with Kushadhwaja to see Guru Vishvamitra. They give Lakshman some food. Soon Taraka and her son Subahu are killed by Ram and Lakshman. Guru Vishvamitra tells him that he wants to take both of them to Mithila and seek the blessings of Shiv Dhanush. While traveling to Mithila, he sees Rishi Gautam and Ahilya's ashram and cures her curse. Gautam Rishi seeks his greatness to Ram. Meanwhile, Sita comes to know about her birth. Sita falls in love with Ram without seeing him. Ram comes to Mithila, and they meet for the first time at the Parvati temple. Soon after, Sita's Swayamvar is announced. Lanka king Ravana's grandfather and minister Malyavan travels to Mithila to see the greatness of the kingdom and argues with Sita. Then he informs Ravana that Tataka is killed.
In the Swayamvara, nobody can lift the Shiv Dhanush except Ram. Ram's marriage is fixed with Sita. On the other hand, Ravan is angry that he was unable to lift the Shiv Dhanush, and Janak has insulted him. So he vows to avenge the king. Afterward, Ravan comes to know that he will die because of a woman. Ravan remembers the day he tried to force himself upon a chaste woman, Vedavati. She had then cursed him that the cause of his death will be a woman. Remembering this, Ravan goes to Yamlok, the abode of Yama, in the hope that if he keeps Yama under his thumb, he can elude death. However, Goddess of Death Mrityu Devi appears, and a terrible fight ensues between her and Ravan. Ravan soon gets overpowered. Ram and Sita get married along with Ram's brothers and Sita's sisters.
Meanwhile, in Lanka, Mandodri gets worried about the death of Ravan and decides to seek help from a Vishnu devotee. Mithila bids farewell to Sita and her sisters.

Ayodhya Kand

tells her father Mayasura that Ravan's life is in danger, but he refuses to help. According to the series, she had left with Ravan against her parent's wishes. Her mother, however, guides her in getting the Amrita. Mandodari goes to Chandralok to get the Amrita. Vibhishana warns Mandodari that Ravan should not find out about his immortality. Mandodari succeeds to an extent in her plan of making Ravan immortal. Elsewhere Ram, Lakshman, Bharat, and Shatrughna reach Ayodhya with their brides. Kaushalya, Kaikeyi,and Sumitra welcome them. An Aghori predicts Manthara's future and tells her that she will be thrown out of the palace. Ravan challenges the gods to stop him from conquering the world. Ravan confronts Surpanakha for marrying a demon, Vidyutjiva, who is Raavan's enemy. Meanwhile, Bharat and Shatrughan set off to meet Ashwapati, their grandfather.
Dasharath announces Ram to be his heir to the throne. Kaushalya, Sumitra, and Lakshman are ecstatic to know that Ram will be crowned the king of Ayodhya. Manthara is determined to stop Ram from becoming the king. She reminds Kaikeyi about Dasharath's promise to Ashwapati and feeds that Dasharath is conspiring against her. Kaikeyi decides to stop Ram's coronation. Kaikeyi reminds Dasharath about the promises that he had given her. He vows to fulfill two wishes. Kaikeyi tells him to crown Bharat as the king of Ayodhya and send Ram into exile for 14 years.
Dasharath hesitantly agrees to crown Bharat, the king, and send Ram away. Sita urges Ram to take her along with him. Urmila supports Lakshman's decision of accompanying Ram. Ram leaves Ayodhya in his exile with Sita and Lakshman. Bharat and Shatrughna receive a message asking them to return to Ayodhya. A grieving Dasharatha passes away and Sumitra blames Kaikeyi for his death. Bharat asks Mandavi and Vashistha about Ram. When he learns about Kaikeyi's misdeed, he blames her for Dashrath's death. He confronts her for her actions against Ram. Bharata refuses to become the king of Ayodhya. Bharat and Janak decide to bring Ram back to Ayodhya. Kaikeyi is grateful to Janak for reminding her about her love for Ram. She requests Bharat to take her along with him to meet Ram.
Ram meets Bharat and is depressed on learning about Dasharath's death. Bharat requests Ram to return to Ayodhya, but he refuses. He tells Janak that he will not return because he wants to fulfill the promise he had made to Dasharath. Bharat asks Ram for his sandals. Bharat places Ram's sandals on the throne. He apologizes to Vashisht, saying he cannot take over Ram's place. Shatrughna confronts Bharata for his decision to become a tapas. Bharat assures Kaushalya that he will stay near Ayodhya. He asks Shatrughna to help him in keeping his promise to Ram to take care of Ayodhya. Lakshman tells Ram and Sita that Goddess Nidradevi has given him a boon to stay awake so that he can serve them. On Lakshman's request, Nidradevi gives his share of sleep to Urmila, until he returns to Ayodhya.

Aranya Kand

Ram conveys to Sita about his wish to protect the Rishis and people from the demons. They complete ten years of their vanvas. Sugriva tells Hanuman about Rumā. Hanuman conveys to Rumā that Sugriva loves her and wants to marry her. Bali decides to get Sugriva married to Rumā. Ravan decides to send Khar and Dushan to take control of Dandakaranya. Surpanakha insists Ravan to let her go to Dandakaranya. Malyavan shares his plan to take over Kishkindha with Meghanad. Dundubi comes up with a plan to kill Bali and Sugriva. Dundubi disguises as a buffalo and battles with Bali. Bali kills Dundubi. Rishi Matang curses Bali for breaking his meditation. Ram kills Ravan's soldiers and saves the residents of Panchvati. Surpanakha falls in love with Ram.
Mayavi decides to take Bali to the Rishimukh mountain. Bali follows Mayavi into a cave and asks Sugriva to wait outside until he returns. However, Sugriva is shocked at hearing Bali's screams. He closes the mouth of the cave by a big stone as he assumes that Bali was killed by Mayavi. Sugriva suggests that Tara makes Angad, the king of Kishkindha.
Shurpanakha urges Ram to marry her, but he tells her that he is already married. Shurpanakha plans to prove herself better than Sita. Ram gets irate when Shurpanakha comes to him dressed like Sita. She attacks Sita. Lakshmana cuts Shurpanakha's nose. Surpanakha asks Khara to kill Ram, Sita, and Lakshman. Khara attacks Ram with his asuras. Ram kills Khara and Dushan by using his powers. Shurpanakha reaches Lanka, tells everyone about the attack. Surpanakha asks Ravan to avenge her insult by Ram. Ravan decides to punish Ram for his deeds. Sugriva's coronation ceremony begins. Hanuman crowns Sugriva as the king of Kishkindha. A furious Bali returns to Kishkindha and attacks Sugriva for locking him up in the cave. Hanuman rescues Sugriva from Bali. Ravan gets information about Ram and learns that Sita is Ram's weakness. He also remembers the incident at Sita's swayamvar and his oath to take revenge from Janak. Ravan decides to abduct Sita. Ravan tells Marich about Surpanakha's humiliation and seeks his help to avenge her insult. Hanuman takes Sugriva to Rishimukh mountain.
Marich disguises himself as an injured golden deer to distract Ram from Sita and leads him far into the forest. Sita sees the injured golden deer and tells Ram that she wants to cure it. Ram tells Lakshman to stay with Sita while he goes to bring the deer. Meanwhile, Hanuman tells Sugriva that Bali has made Rumā his slave. Hanuman tells Sugriva that he will seek help from the other kings to defeat Bali. However, Ram is shocked when Marich calls out to Sita and Lakshman in his voice. Sita is worried about hearing Ram's cries. Marich apologizes to Ram for his misdeed and dies. Sita orders Lakshman to go into the jungle to look for Ram. Lakshman hesitantly agrees and draws a powerful line Lakshmana Rekha which no immoral creature could cross to protect Sita, but tells Sita not to cross it or the power would go. Lakshman leaves. Ravan disguises as a sage and tricks Sita to cross the Lakshmana Rekha line. Sita tries to run, but he ends up abducting her.
On the way to Lanka, Jatayu tries to save Sita, but Ravan cuts off both his wings. Sita then throws her jewelry to the ground hoping Ram will see it as a sign. Sita tells Ravan to kill her and avenge himself. Ravan kidnaps Sita and takes her to Lanka. Surpanakha is delighted to see Sita in Lanka. Later, Ravan stops Surpanakha from attacking Sita. He tells her to keep Sita alive until he avenges her insult.
Ravan's mother Kaikesi, tells him that he should marry Sita as she is a powerful woman instead of treating her badly. Sita finds her place in the garden of Lanka and refuses Ravan's proposal saying that she is always going to love Ram and never be unfaithful to him. She decides to wait for him until her death. Meanwhile, Ram comes to know about the abduction from the bird Jatayu.

Kishkindh Kand

meets Ram and becomes his devotee. He narrates about Sugriva's problem and his brother Bali misbehaving with his wife, Rumā. Ram challenges to kill Bali and liberate him from all his sins. He directs Sugriv to go on a duel with Bali so that he can kill him during that time. Everything happens accordingly, and Ram kills Bali. Bali regrets his mistakes and dies. Sugriva is crowned the king of Kishkindha. Bali's son Angad begins to follow Ram and joins the monkey army. Sugriva and Ram instruct Hanuman to enquire about Sita and her well being. He also gives him his ring as a mark of his well being to Sita.

Sundar Kand

goes to Lanka and meets Sita. He also gives her Ram's ring. Sita gets shocked when she comes to know about Ram's condition. Ravan instructs his second son Akshayakumara to attack Hanuman. Mandodari knows about Hanuman's strength and fears because she doesn't want to lose her son. Instead, she wants Akshayakumara to leave Lanka. Akshay heads his father's words and attempts to attack Hanuman. Hanuman, with his wit and power, kills Akshayakumara. Soldiers bring his dead body to the king. All get shocked to see this, and Mandodari gets shattered to see her deceased son. Hanuman is brought to the king by the soldiers, and Ravan decides to punish Hanuman by sentencing him to death. But Vibhishan advises to mutilate one of his body parts rather than killing him. Ravan chooses to burn his tail. All the men and Meghnadh burn the rear. Sita comes to know about this and prays to Agni devta to produce coolness instead of burning sensation to Hanuman. Hanuman burns the whole unethical Lanka with his tail. Sita gives her chudamani to Hanuman as a mark of her presence in Lanka. Hanuman leaves Lanka.
Vibhishan pleads his brother Ravan to free Sita and handover her to Ram as she is someone's wife. Ravan kicks Vibhishan and considers him as his enemy. He throws him out of Lanka. Hanuman reaches Ram and tells about Sita being in Ashok Vatika. Ram vows to free Sita from Ravan's captivity and kill him.
Ram, Lakshman, and the whole monkey army decide to construct a sea bridge across the ocean to Lanka. Two other monkeys, Nal and Neel, join the monkey army. Ram prays to Lord Shiva before constructing the bridge. Ram, along with the monkey army, constructs the bridge and goes to Lanka. Vibhishan joins Ram's army and tells them that he will help them in the war.

Yuddh Kand

Ram, Lakshman, and the monkey army reach Lanka, and Ram declares the war against Ravan. Ravan plans troops to attack the monkey army at midnight. Ravan's army attacks the monkey army as per plan. Meghnadh plans to kill Ram and Lakshman. With his illusion, he shoots an invisible venomous arrow on Ram and Lakshman. They become unconscious. There was no way to cure them because it is a potent poison. Ravan becomes happy that his son Meghnadh has killed Ram and Lakshman. Sita feels shattered when she hears that Ram has died. Lord Shiva then decides to request the King of birds, Lord Garuda to save Ram and Lakshman, which he does.
Ram then kills many more warriors in the war, including Ravan's younger brother Kumbhakarna. This gravely angers Ravan, and he decides to kill Ram as soon as possible. After that, he sends Meghanad to fight Ram-Lakshman. He goes to the battlefield and fights Lakshman. He uses Shakti on Lakshman, and Lakshman goes in an unconscious state. Trijata tells Ram's army the address of Sushena. Hanuman flies to the house of Sushena. Sushena tells the only option to save Lakshman is Sanjeevani Booti. Hanuman flies to the Himalayas to get Sanjeevani. After he returns, a Lepa of Sanjeevani is drunk by Lakshman, which brings him back to life. While in Lanka, Meghnad does the Devi Yagya to get Divine Weapons and Divine Horsecart. The disadvantage of this Yagya was that if the Yagya is stopped in between, then the person doing it gets killed. The vanar sena disturbs Meghnad. Lakshman chops off the head of Meghanad. After this, Raavan enters the battlefield. Ram gets hurt, and Ravana nearly strangles him to death. Each time he attacks Ravan, he gets back. Vibhishana tells the secret of Ravan to Ram that he had nectar in his navel. Ram then shots the arrows at Ravan's navel. Ravan dies. After the death of the cruel ten-headed King Ravan, Ram crowns Vibhishana, as the King of Lanka. Now everyone goes to Sita in Ashoka Vatika. But, Ram doesn't accept to take Sita back to Ayodhya. Sita undergoes an Agni pariksha to prove her chastity. Everyone says Goodbye to each other. Ram, Lakshman, Sita, Vibhishana, Hanumana, Sugriva, Angada all leave for Ayodhya.

Uttar Kand

After being crowned king, Ram spends life pleasantly with Sita. Sita gets pregnant. Rumors about Sita's purity spread among the populace of Ayodhya. Ram banishes Sita to the forest due to the rumors. A dejected Sita beseeches her mother, Goddess Bhumi, to give her advice and aid her in her time of need. A furious Bhumi decides to destroy Ayodhya and the clan of Raghu as punishment for Sita's undeserving plight. Sita requests her mother not to destroy them and promises her that the day she has completely fulfilled all her duties, she would seek refuge from her and return to her. Later, Sage Valmiki provides shelter to Sita in his hermitage, where she gives birth to twin boys Lava and Kusha. Sita raises them as a single mother but incognito under the name of Vaidehi. After 12 years, Ram decides to perform the Ashwamedha Yagna, and the twins catch the horse of the Yagna after which a terrible battle ensues. After defeating Lakshman, Bharata, and Shatrughna as well as Hanuman, the twins are about to battle with their father, but Sita stops them and requests Ram to forgive them. She then reveals to the twins that Ram is their father, and they realize that their mother is the very Sita herself who they fought for, to give her justice.
Ram decides to bring Sita back and asks the people of Ayodhya if he could do so. He proceeds with the entire family to bring Sita back, and there Luva and Kusha are united with Ram. Sita refuses to return to Ayodhya as it was that society who doubted her character, and she cannot return to it as it would be wrong on her part and betray all those other women who have suffered the same plight as her. As a final testament to her purity, Sita returns to her celestial abode by going back to her mother, Bhumi, after confronting Ram. Ram is left heartbroken at this and returns to Ayodhya. He then promotes woman rights on Sita's behalf. After some years, Ram crowns Luva and Kusha as Kings of Ayodhya and along with his brothers - Bharat and Shatrughan drown themselves in the Sarayu river. Lakshman precedes his brothers, being the incarnation of Sheshnaag.
At the bottom of the lake, Ram turns to Vishnu. Shatrughan transforms into the Sudarshan Chakra and Bharat to the conch shell of Vishnu's. They go back to Vishnu, and Vishnu sees Lakshmi coming towards him, telling him that he took a long time to join her and then said that they should return to their abode. Meanwhile, Hanuman says to the populace of Ayodhya that Ram and Sita live forever in them all, and he tears open his chest to show Ram and Sita in his heart.

Cast

Main

Ayodhya

It shows Birthday of Rama after 8 years leap. From this episode Ashish Sharma plays the role of adult Rama, before this role of teenage Rama was played by Vedant Sawant.
It shows the Swayamvar of Sita organized by her father Janak.
Sita will marry with the man who could string the Shiv Dhanush by lifting it as easily as she did. Rama, on the day of Swayamvar, lifted the bow effortlessly and won Sita’s hand in marriage.
Vivah Utsav of Rama and Sita Starts with Haldi Ceremony. On occasion of Deep Milan Utasv King Dasharatha fixed the marriage of his other Children with the other daughters of Janak and Kushadhwaja.
Bharata weds with Mandavi, Lakshmana weds with Urmila and Shatrughan weds with Shrutakirti.
This Vivah Utsav ends with the Vidai Ceremony.

Development

Casting

was initially roped for the role of Kaikayi but was replaced by Khalida Turi. As the makers felt her too young for the role, they replaced her with Grusha Kapoor.
Ashish Sharma was roped for playing Lord Ram and Madirakshi Mundle was roped for Lady Sita who makes her Hindi television debut. Dalip Tahil was roped for playing Ram's father Dasharath. Bijay Anand was cast as Sita's father Janak who returned to acting after 17 years. Rohit Bakshi was cast for playing Lord Shiva. Karan Suchak and Yukti Kapoor were roped for playing Lord Lakshman and Lady Urmila, Lakshman's wife. Wrestler Danish Akhtar was selected for portraying Hanuman thereby making his acting debut. Chetanya Adib was cast for playing Jatayu’s character in April 2016. Sailesh Gulabani was cast for playing Vibhishan. Karthik Jayaram was cast for the role of Ravan, making his Hindi television debut. Sara Afreen Khan was cast for playing Ravana's sister Surpanaka who was later replaced by Bhagyashree Mote. Pratima Kazmi was cast as Ravana's mother Kaikesi. In August 2016, Shakti Singh was cast for playing Valmiki. Uzair Basar and Harsha Sharma were cast to play Luv and Kush in September 2016.

Release

On 2 January 2016, a team of Star Plus flagged off Shiv Dhanush Yatra, which was inaugurated with an Aarthi on the banks of Ganga in Kashi Vishwanath temple following a Pooja at Somnath Temple in Gujarat, by traveling across 107 cities across Gujarat, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in 15 days to promote the series.
Speaking about the series, creative head of Star Plus Anirudh Pathak stated, "We have seen different dimensions of Ramayan. So what was pending? Then we thought that we haven’t heard the Ramayan from Sita’s viewpoint. She’s not different from Ram. She was with him always and that was her choice. She was a warrior herself and her story was out of compassion and not a compulsion. This Ramayan is racy, technologically upgraded as regards shoots, camera, sets, locations, etc. If we aren’t giving them the flavor of ‘Game of Thrones’ then there was no point in telling the Ramayan once again."

Filming

The cast of the series was unveiled at Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad where the series was mainly filmed. Besides, it was also filmed in various locations including Sri Lanka, Lepakshi, Bhuj, Darjeeling, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, and Mumbai.
For the wedding sequence of Ram and Sita, 100 kg of flowers were used. Owing to rain while shooting outdoors for the war sequence between Lord Ram and Ravana, eight copies of the same costume were arranged by the makers to tackle it.
In April 2016, the vanvas sequence was shot in Virar,Maharashtra. In May 2016, while shooting for Sita's kidnapping by Ravan sequence, Madirakshi Mundle got injured in an accident and the shoot was held for a while.

Critical reception

reviewed, "Siya Ke Raam presents a refreshing change. The grand scale of production and the elaborate costumes add the required epic-ness to the story. Impressive sets evoke awe, wonder and magic. The show’s cast is pretty bang on too with Bijay Anand, Dalip Tahil, Grusha Kapoor and many other talented actors putting together an entertaining drama. The show’s attention to detail, research and authenticity are also very impressive."
Comparing the role of some actors and actresses who played in earlier versions Ramayan 1987, Ramayan 2008 Hindustan Times stated, "Ashish Sharma was a muscular, powerful Ram with a forever pokerface. But he did look a lot more like a prince than Arun Govil. The makes of Siya Ke Ram has always maintained that the show is a retelling of the epic from Sita’s perspective which Madirakshi a lot more room to impress. She is not mute or opinionless like Deepika Chiklis’ Sita. Madirakshi was also more expressive without going overboard. Karthik is big too but in a ‘gym-jock’ way rather than a ‘fat-demon’ way. Karthik’s accent was not popular among the audience as many Hindi words would give him trouble. They did get a voice actor to dub over his words but it was all too evident on screen and a tad irritating. Danish was huge but inspired! And the make up department did him dirty. The great acting from even the secondary characters like Kaikeyi and Dasharath was also enough to keep viewers hooked." However, reviewing the sets, costumes and CGI, they said, "In Siya Ke Ram, the computer graphics helped give an appearance of grandeur. The attention to detail and the costumes were beautiful as well. The lamps behind the actors, the divan, the beautiful artwork and the colourful sheets. Everything was just right for a king’s room. Sure the CGI did go a bit awry from time to time."

Distribution

The series was dubbed into various Indian as well as Foreign languages, including:
YearAwardCategoryNomineeResult
2016Indian Television Academy AwardsBest Historical SerialNikhil Sinha
2016Indian Television Academy AwardsBest ActorAshish Sharma
2016Indian Television Academy AwardsBest CostumesNikhat Neerusha