Ramayan Actor Shyam Sunder Kalani, Who Played Role of Sugreev, Dies From Cancer

Actor Shyam Sundar Kalani, who played the role of Sugreev in Ramanand Sagar’s 1987 series Ramayan, has passed away. He rose to fame after playing roles of ‘Bali’ and ‘Sugriva’ in Ramayan - the iconic show which recently made a comeback on television. He was suffering from cancer. Sundar is survived by his wife. Arun Govil, who played the role of lord Ram in the show, took to his twitter account to mourn his death. “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,” Govid tweeted.

Actor Sunil Lahri, who played the role of Laxman, also expressed his condolence. “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 (sic),” he tweeted.

Doordarshan started telecasting mythological series “Ramayan” from Saturday on public demand.

Many social media users had demanded the airing of “Ramayan”, directed by Ramanand Sagar, and Mahabharat, directed by BR Chopra, during the 21-day nationwide lockdown.

“Happy to announce that on public demand, we are starting retelecast of “Ramayana” from tomorrow, Saturday March 28 in DD National, One episode in morning 9 am to 10 am, another in the evening 9 pm to 10 pm. @narendramodi @PIBIndia @DDNational,” Prakash Javadekar - Union minister of information and broadcasting - wrote on Twitter.

The Prasar Bharati CEO thanked Javadekar and the Sagar family for the development in a series of tweets.

“Thank you Sir for all your guidance and support in making this happen at this time,” Shekhar said.

“A dedicated team of DD officers worked through the day yesterday and through the night to make this happen even as they stayed away from home and their families. Kudos to the entire team who worked on a war footing in response to immense demand from the viewers to watch the epic,” he added.