Ramayan effect: Arun Govil blesses woman as she lays at his feet, prays to him at airport. Watch

Almost 35 years after playing Lord Ram on screen, Ramayan actor Arun Govil continues to receive the same love and respect from his fans as he did during the 1980s. Now a viral video shows the actor at the airport, looking surprised as a woman touched his feet, continued to lay on the ground in front of him in utmost respect and prayed with joined hands. Also read: Arun Govil denies ‘rivalry’ with late Arvind Trivedi, says they spoke 10 days ago

The video shows Arun standing awestruck as a woman in a saffron saree pays obeisance by kneeling down on all fours and bowing in front of him. The actor is seen gesturing at the woman’s fellow traveller to stop her from doing that. But the man too touches the floor, inches away from the actor’s feet while those present at the airport, including the actor’s wife, simply looked on. As a token of his blessings, he put a yellow dupatta around the woman’s neck as she continued praying in front of him and looked emotional.

Arun Govil played Ram on Ramanand Sagar’s hit TV show Ramayan from 1987-88. Deepika Chikhalia played Sita and Sunil Lahri played Lakshman in the show. The show returned to the small screens during the lockdown and was loved by the audience. He also shared a picture of his family watching the re-run of Ramayan in 2020.

When asked about being typecast as Lord Ram, Arun had told PTI in an interview in 2020, “After Ramayan, my film career was almost over. I was doing films before. But the image was so strong that the films didn’t happen. I tried working in serials and tried to come out of the image but it didn’t work… “I realised later that maybe God wanted me to be ‘Ram’, how many have been given this rare chance? People don’t call me Arun Govil, they call me ‘Ram’ and it is a big thing.”

The actor joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last year. In an interview with Hindustan Times, Arun said he was not inclined to enter politics earlier in his life, but the “work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi” changed his perception of politics. He said the “objection” raised to the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was “the immediate trigger” for him to join politics. “Jai Shri Ram is not just a mere slogan but our lifestyle and sanskar,” he said.