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
When Mithila suffers from a drought for twelve years, its childless King Janak builds a golden plough and unearths a baby girl as he begins to plough. The baby's first cry leads to rainfall. Rishi Yagyavalkya suggests that Janak keep the baby and so he names her Sita. Soon after, Janak and his wife have another daughter they name her as Urmila. Janak's younger brother Kushadhwaja also have two daughters Mandavi and Shutkirti. After eight years, King Dasharatha is travelling to Guru Vashistha's ashram to see his sons. Ram learns 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 travelling 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. 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 travelling to Mithila, he sees Rishi Gautam and Ahilya's ashram and cures her curse. Gautam Rishi seeks his greatness to Ram. Meanwhile, Sita learns 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 with them Lakshman and Urmila also meet with each other. 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, but it is stopped by Urmila as she becomes angry that how did he do this thing and speaking to the princess like this .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. Later, when Sita and Urmila go to the river Lakshman pours water over Urmila by mistake and they begin to argue while Ram prevents a flood coming in the kingdom, that is created by a serpent which is sent by Ravan to vow revenge on Janak for not lifting the shiv dhanush. Urmila is attacked by the same serpent but Lakshman saves her and show the Asur serpent his Sheshnag avatar. The serpent does not attack him as he is their king. Lakshman and Urmila begin to love each other and indirectly express their feelings to their brother and sisters, Ram along with Urmila ‘s sisters tease her and Lakshman about the same.
Afterwards, king Dashrath comes to Mithila and Urmila becomes vidhikari (the lady which takes care of all the rituals of the marriage).
Ravan learns that he will die because of a woman and 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. King Dashrath seeing the intelligence and knowledge of Urmila and her cousins wants Ram's brothers and Sita's sisters to get married along with Ram and Sita. He shares his thoughts with Raja Janak which he agrees. Meanwhile, in Lanka, Mandodari gets worried about the death of Ravan and decides to seek help from a Vishnu devotee. In Mithila Sita, Urmila, Mandhavi and Shutkirti are married to Ram, Lakshman, Bharat and Shatrughan respectively.
Ayodhya Kand
Mandodari tells her father Mayasura that Ravan's life is in danger, but he refuses to help as she had left with Ravan against her parents' wishes after forced marriage (Gandharava Vivah) by Ravan. 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 in her plan of making Ravan immortal. Ram, Lakshman, Bharat, and Shatrughna reach Ayodhya with their brides. Kaushalya, Kaikeyi, and Sumitra welcome them. Later, 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 and confronts his sister Surpanakha for marrying a demon, Vidyutjiva, who is Ravan'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 fulfil 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 for 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. When Bharat learns about Kaikeyi's misdeed, he blames her for Dashrath's death. He confronts her for her actions against Ram. Bharat refuses to become the king of Ayodhya. Bharat and Janak decide to bring Ram back to Ayodhya. When Janak reminds her about her love for Ram Kaikeyi requests Bharat to take her along with him to meet Ram.
Ram meets Bharat and is depressed about 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 fulfil 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. At Lakshman's request, Nidradevi gives his share of sleep to Urmila, and Urmila happily helps him and grants his Nidra until he returns to Ayodhya. Everyone hail Urmila ‘s sacrifice. In vanvas Sita gives a statue of Urmila, that she made to Lakshman to overcome the loneliness and always to help Lakshman find a way in 14 years of vanvas whenever he is sad.
Aranya Kand
Ram conveys to Sita about his wish to protect the Rishis and people from the demons. They complete ten years of their exile. 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 with 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 for protecting Sita as she was about to kill her, but Sita unaware of Shurpankha's intentions instead blames him for cutting nose of the woman. Surpanakha asks Khara to kill Ram, Sita, and Lakshman. Khara attacks Ram with his asuras. Ram kills Khara and Dushan. 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 and takes Sugriva to Rishimukh mountain. 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.
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 but Lakshman refuses knowing that deer is magical. But he hesitantly agrees to go when Sita panics and frantically orders him to go aid Ram. He draws a powerful line Lakshmana Rekha which no immoral creature could cross to protect Sita, but tells Sita not to cross it. When Lakshman leaves, Ravan disguised as a sage tricks Sita to cross the Lakshmana Rekha. Sita tries to run, but he ends up abducting her.
On the way to Lanka, Jatayu tries to save Sita, but Ravan cuts off his wings. Sita then throws her jewellery to the ground hoping Ram will see it as a sign. Ravan kidnaps Sita and takes her to Lanka. 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 (Ashoka Vatika) 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 learns about the abduction from the bird Jatayu.
Kishkindha Kand
Hanuman 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. 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. Ram also gives him his ring as a mark of his well-being to Sita.
Sundar Kand
Hanuman goes to Lanka and meets Sita. He also gives her Ram's ring. Sita gets shocked when she learns 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 learns about this and prays to Agni Dev to produce coolness instead of a burning sensation to Hanuman. Hanuman burns the whole Lanka with his tail. Sita gives her chudamani (head ornament) to Hanuman as a mark of her presence in Lanka. Hanuman leaves Lanka.
Vibhishan pleads with his brother Ravan to free Sita and handover her to Ram as she is someone's wife. Ravan, considering him as his enemy 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 (Ram Setu) 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 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, Meghnadh shoots an invisible venomous arrow at Ram and Lakshman. They become unconscious. Ravan becomes happy that his son Meghnadh has killed Ram and Lakshman. 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 into 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. But after he dies, his mother creates his elder and more powerful brother, Sahastra Ravan. Now Ram thinks that since he was able to kill Ravan once he can kill him once again. He starts shooting arrows at Sahastra Ravan. But nothing happens to Sahastra Ravan, he single-handedly defeats them all. Kaikesi informs this to Sita and she rushes to the battlefield. In a fit of rage, she transforms herself into Kali and kills Sahastra Ravan. Later, Lakshman talks to Urmila's idol that was given by Sita and thanks her for her support and love and for granting his Nidra, he tells her that Ram and sita meeting time has come and their reunion is also not away. Later, Ram questions Sita's purity and then Sita does the Fire test and proves her purity. Later, they all return to the kingdom and reunite with all others. Sumitra sees Lakshman desire to meet Urmila in the eyes and tells him to go and reunite with her and also wake her from the Nidra as she will only open her eyes when Lakshman is in front of her.
Uttar Kand
Lakshman meets Sleeping Urmila and tells he could have not served Ram without her help and support, and asks her to open her eyes when she doesn't Lakshman becomes worried, Vashistha tells him to pray to Nidra Devi, Lakshman prays to her and takes his Nidra back. Afterwards, Urmila wakes from her Nidra and they reunite, starting a new life together . After being crowned king, Ram spends life pleasantly with Sita. Sita gets pregnant with Ram's Child. When Janak get know about Sita, he asks Ram for taking his four daughters back to Mithila for some time, When Urmila packs her stuff Lakshman come and tells her that Janak father said to leave for Mithila and she is leaving without protesting and tells her that he has just returned from vanvas and so she will leave him and go, Urmila says he should have also thought this when he decided to go to vanvas with Ram and also adds by teasing him that that day she realised that he doesn't love her a bit, but Lakshman says he had loved her from the beginning and will love her till eternity, but Urmila still wants to go with Janak, but before leaving she said that she will wait for him in Mithila, Lakshman smiles and nods. Later Ram being scared of the dream he had a night before of Sita in the forest, he tells Sita not to go, sita agrees and refuses to go with Janak, with this Urmila and her cousins also not go. Rumours about Sita's purity spread among the populace of Ayodhya. Ram banishes Sita to the forest due to the rumours. Lakshman is asked to leave her in the forest, with a heavy heart he leaves her and return back to the forest and blames himself for leaving his sister in law in the forest. Urmila and her sisters are really angry with what Ram did with Sita and Urmila confronts him. Later, Sage Valmiki provides shelter to Sita in his hermitage, where she gives birth to Ram's twin boys Lava and Kusha. Sita raises them as a single mother but incognito under the name of Vanadevi. After 12 years, Ram decides to perform the Ashwamedha Yagna, and the twins catch the horse of the Yagna after which a battle ensues. After defeating Lakshman, Bharata, Shatrughna also Hanuman by distraction, 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. Urmila and her cousins meet Sita after a long time. In the kingdom, 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, with this rajmatas also pass away . Few years later, Urmila has a terrible dream about Lakshman's death and talks about it with Lakshman he tolds her not to worry as it is natural to die and there is nothing negative about it. Urmila later asks sage Vashistha of her dream and he says it is an unauspicious .she then becomes worried and prays to Mahadev for Lakshman's safety. Later, kal comes to visit Ram in form of a sage and tells Ram to give capital punishment whoever interfere, Lakshman guards the door later Rishi Durvasa comes to meet Ram but is stopped by Lakshman after some time Rishi Durvasa becomes angry and tells him that he will curse the kingdom if he is not allowed to go in. To save the kingdom Lakshman enters the chamber which leads to Ram ordering him to leave the palace as he cannot give him a death punishment. Urmila is heartbroken as her dream comes true later she ask to take her along with him and when Lakshman refuses and begins to leave she faints. Lakshman goes to help but thinks she will urge to go with him if she wakes up while leaving he repents of not giving Urmila enough love and more pain and miseries and becomes sad of not taking Urmila with him at his last moment, Lakshman meets with Ram for the last time while Ram hesitate in meeting him, Lakshman goes to the dense forest and kills himself. Next day Ram along with his brothers - Bharat and Shatrughan drown themselves in the Sarayu river.
At the bottom of the river, Ram turns to Vishnu. Shatrughan transforms into the conch shell Panchajanya and Bharat to the Sudarshan Chakra of Vishnu's. They return 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. Urmila, along with her cousins grieve on the loss of the Lakshman, Bharat, Shatrughan and Ram. 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 that Ram and Sita were always in his heart.
Production
Casting
Simone Singh 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.[10][14]
Ashish Sharma was roped for playing Lord Ram and Madirakshi Mundle was roped for Lady Sita who makes her Hindi television debut.[15][16] Dalip Tahil was roped for playing Ram's father Dasharath.[17] Bijay Anand was cast as Sita's father Janak who returned to acting after 17 years.[18] Rohit Bakshi was cast for playing Lord Shiva.[19] Karan Suchak and Yukti Kapoor were roped for playing Lord Lakshman and Lady Urmila, Lakshman's wife.[20] Wrestler Danish Akhtar was selected for portraying Hanuman thereby making his acting debut.[21] Chetanya Adib was cast for playing Jatayu's character in April 2016.[22] Sailesh Gulabani was cast for playing Vibhishan.[23] Karthik Jayaram was cast for the role of Ravan, making his Hindi television debut.[24] Sara Afreen Khan was cast for playing Ravana's sister Surpanaka who was later replaced by Bhagyashree Mote.[8][9] Pratima Kazmi was cast as Ravana's mother Kaikesi.[25] In August 2016, Shakti Singh was cast for playing Valmiki.[26] Uzair Basar and Harsha Sharma were cast to play Luv and Kush in September 2016.[27]
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.[28][12]
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."[15]
The series was supposed to end in mid October 2016 but received an extension for a month and ended in November 2016.[29]
Filming
The cast of the series was unveiled at Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad where the series was mainly filmed.[30] Besides, it was also filmed in various locations including Sri Lanka, Lepakshi (Andhra Pradesh), Bhuj (Gujarat), Darjeeling (West Bengal), Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, and Mumbai.[31][32]
For the wedding sequence of Ram and Sita, 100 kg of flowers were used.[33] 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.[34]
In April 2016, the vanvas sequence was shot in Virar, Maharashtra.[35] 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.[36]
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