Geet Ramayan
Geet Ramayan Book Cover. The book compiles narration and lyrics of all the songs from the radio program.
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| Genre | Indian music |
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| Running time | 15 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language(s) | Marathi |
| Home station | All India Radio, Pune |
| Created by | Sudhir Phadke, G. D. Madgulkar |
| Written by | G. D. Madgulkar |
| Executive producer(s) | Sitakant Lad |
| Narrated by | Sudhir Phadke |
| Recording studio | Pune |
| Air dates | 1 April 1955 to 19 April 1956 |
| No. of episodes | 56 |
Geet Ramayan (Marathi: गीत रामायण, English: The Ramayana in Songs) is a collection of 56 Marathi language songs chronologically describing events from the Indian Hindu epic, the Ramayana. It was broadcast by All India Radio, Pune in 1955–1956, four years before television was introduced in India. Written by G. D. Madgulkar and the songs being composed by Sudhir Phadke, Geet Ramayan was acclaimed for its lyrics, music and singing. It is considered a "milestone of Marathi light music" and the "most popular" Marathi version of Ramayana.
The team of Madgulkar and Phadke presented a new song every week for a year with every song being aired first on a Friday morning and then again on Saturday and Sunday morning, between 8:45 AM and 9:00 AM IST. The program's first song "Kuśa Lava Rāmāyaṇ Gātī" was aired on 1 April 1955. Though Geet Ramayan is based on sage Valmiki's epic Ramayana, Madgulkar chose a different narrative format and was praised for the lyrics, and was called Ādhunik Valmiki (the modern Valmiki). The Geet Ramayan is considered as "the crescendo of Madgulkar's literary vigour". Phadke mainly used ragas of Hindustani classical music to compose the songs. He also selected the raga and the Tāla of a song to suit the time of the incident and the narrative mood. The poet and composer were praised for their contribution to the series.
The series showcased a total of 32 various characters from Ramayana. Rama (avatar of Vishnu and hero of the Ramayana) being the lead character of the series was given maximum number of songs (10), followed by eight songs for Sita (Rama's wife and avatar of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi). Madgulkar expressed their various moods, ranging from their divinity to the human weaknesses. Incidentally, the central antagonist of the Ramayana and Geet Ramayan, the demon-king Ravana, was not given any song. The series is narrated by Kusha and Lava, twin sons of Rama and Sita, and the writer of Ramayana (Valmiki) was also given one song in the series.
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