Actor Vindu Dara Singh has looked back at the time when his father, actor Dara Singh, played Hanuman in Ramanand Sagar’s popular series, “Ramayan”.
“Lanka Dahan was one of the most challenging scenes done by my father. He always believed in giving his 100 percent to whatever he did, but shooting with naked flames always has its own challenges as well as risks. On top of that he was in his heavy make–up but he never complained. He did his own stunts with the real fighters. Before inflaming my father’s faux tail, Ramanand Sagar ji took all the precautionary measures and the scene went smoothly,” said Vindu.
Lanka Dahan is one of the most important sequences of “Ramayan”. Hanuman gets captured by Ravan’s army and his tail is set on fire, but he escapes and leaps from roof to roof, setting fire to Ravan’s citadel and makes the giant leap back from the island to the Indian Ocean.
Talking about the epic sequence, Ramanand Sagar’s son Prem Sagar said: “The Lanka Dahan chapter was crafted with a lot of thought by Ramanand Sagar and his team. This sequence required a lot of skill and creativity both in writing and technical aspect. From Dara ji’s acting and quirky expressions to Anand Sagar’s creative shooting angles, this track portrayed it all. For the sequence, we specially hired an artificial-tail expert as the tail needed to catch fire and we could not afford to use just ropes. Then Dara Singh ji starved every day for six hours (for 7 days) during this scene and still performed it with so much conviction and finally Anand Sagar shot it beautifully using all possible innovation and technique available in those days.”
The eighties show has been brought back on television and is now airing on Star Plus.
