Ramayana's 'Mandodari' Aparajita Bhushan's Showbiz Journey.

Ramayan is an Indian Hindi-language mythological television series based on an ancient Indian Sanskrit epic of the same name. The show was originally aired between 1987 and 1988 on DD National. It was created, written, and directed by Ramanand Sagar. The show is primarily based on Valmiki's Ramayan and Tulsidas' Ramcharitmanas. The series had a viewership of 82 per cent, a record high for any Indian television series. Each episode of the series reportedly earned DD National ₹ 40 lakh.

The series was re-aired during the 2020 Coronavirus lockdown and broke several viewership records globally which includes setting the record for the most-watched TV show ever in the world, with 77 million viewers on 16 April 2020 The show was narrated by famous actor Ashok Kumar and the director Ramanand Sagar.

 Coming to the characters of Ramayan, today I am going to introduce you all to the character of Ravana’s wife Mandodari whose part was played by Aparajita Bhushan.

On-screen Mandodari Aparajita Bhushan is the daughter of the renowned Bollywood actor, scriptwriter and producer Bharat Bhushan who is best remembered for playing Baiju Bwara in a 1952 film of the same name. She currently lives in Pune and works as a writer

Steeping into acting was like a dream to Aparajita, acting was never her option for work she was a dubbing artist who used to dub Japanese and Chinese movies in Hindi and English. 

Ratna Bhushan was Aparajita’s second mother who was a dubbing artiste she was the pillar behind her dubbing career and that is how she got Ramayan too. She was happy when Ramayan has again telecast on Doordarshan in COVID lockdown she was reliving those beautiful days her phone has not stopped ringing because of the love and appreciation she received after she is proud to be a part of such an epic show.

 There was a time when she was desperately looking out for work she was called to Ramanand Sagar home to dub for some characters in Ramayan, and that was the first time where she met the makers of the show.

 Acting and Aparajita were two different things she knew nothing about acting being a daughter of the renowned actor she had no idea about ‘what and how to act’?  but with her role as Mandodari, it is difficult to say that she knew nothing about acting. 'Ramanand Sagar handled me and taught me, there was no looking back for me after that she said. 

She came ahead for clarifying all the rumours which were regarding her father Bharat Bhushan.

It was reported that her father Bharat Bhushan financial status was so low that he decided to travel by bus in the last years of his life to this Aparajita replied that yes he did face a financial crisis. He was a reserved person to go out and ask for work so he happily accepted the work which was offered. Aparajita was staying in Lokhandwala which means it was difficult for her to reach out to the film industry for her father’s work 

Ab bolne ka Waqt Mila toh I am clarifying and this return of Ramayan has allowed me to clarify the misreports about my father working as a watchman and travelling by bus. I don't think he ever travelled by bus! He often took a taxi to work and in case he got late he would come home by rickshaw.

'Father was a well-known figure who left the world with pride and honour. He earned a lot and did face financial difficulties, by making films such as Dooj ka Chaand, and they were forced to sell their three bungalows. He bought a four-bedroom flat in Malad and lived happily there until he died of a heart attack in 1992, by which time I could meet him I could reach out to him he passed away.’

Aparajita said that her father did not know how to save money for the future, people from the industry and others visited them when they had their bungalows and stay with them for weeks but the time when they lost everything they even lost connection with people.

He was short of work towards the end because in the industry we all know it's quite difficult to get stability in terms of work though he never complained about it as such he had to run the house and look after my sister Anuradha who was paraplegic.

All the rumours which we heard about Bharat Bhushan working as a watchman or you know travelling by bus were false it has been confirmed by Aparajita.