Ramanand Sagar’s iconic 1987 series Ramayan featuring Arun Govil, Deepika Chikhalia and Sunil Lahri in the lead roles made a comeback on Doordarshan amid the Coronavirus lockdown. The show has once again brought the golden era of the television back. While the nation is glued to their TV sets watching the epics, here comes sad news for the millions of fans. In an ironic twist, actor Shyam Sundar Kalani who played the role of Sugreeva is no more. The actor’s main episodes in Ramayan have been airing on TV since a few days now.
Shyam Sundar rose to fame playing the role of Sugreeva and Bali in Ramayan. He was suffering from cancer and breathed his last in Pinjor, Haryana on March 29. However, due to the lockdown the news of his demise came out only after ten days. Arun Govil who played the role of Lord Rama and Sunil Lahri who played Laxman in Ramayan mourned his death and paid tributes to him on social media today.
Sad to know about demise of Mr. Shyam Sundar who played the role of Sugreev in Ramanand Sagar’s “Ramayan”... A very fine person and a gentleman. May his soul rest in peace.
— Arun Govil (@arungovil12) April 9, 2020
Very sad and sorry to hear sudden demise of our colleague Mr Shyam Kalani who played role of sugriv and Bali with us in Ramayan God give peace to his soul and strength to his family to face irrecoverable loss.... RIP pic.twitter.com/JaWd5oNGpv
— Sunil lahri (@LahriSunil) April 9, 2020
Many media reports have surfaced stating that Shyam Sundar played the role of Bheem in BP Chopra’s Mahabharat as well. However, this is untrue as Bheem’s role was played by Praveen Kumar Sobti. Praveen Kumar has turned to politics now and is an active member of the Bharatiya Janta Party.
(Source: Twitter)