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*Luv Kush*
Luv Kush
Also known as	Uttar Ramayan
Genre	Epic
Created by	Ramanand Sagar
Based on	Uttara Kanda
Directed by	Ramanand Sagar
Starring	Arun Govil; Dipika Chikhlia; Sunil Lahiri; Dara Singh; Swapnil Joshi; Mayuresh Kshetramade
Country of origin	India
Original language	Hindi
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	39
Production
Producer	Ramanand Sagar
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Sagar Films
Original release
Network	DD National
Release	29 October 1988 –; 26 March 1989
Related
	Ramayan (1987 TV series)

Luv Kush (originally called Uttar Ramayan) is an Indian television series that ran from 1988 to 1989. It was created, written, produced, and directed by Ramanand Sagar.^[3]^[4] It is a follow-up Ramayan, featuring mostly the same cast and production crew.^[5] Luv Kush covers the last book — the Uttarakāṇḍa — of the ancient Indian epic Ramayana, following Rama's coronation, especially focusing on his children, twins Kusha and Lava.^[6]

Amid the Coronavirus lockdown, all 39 episodes of this show were re-telecasted on DD National channel following Ramayan from 19 April 2020 to 2 May 2020.^[7]

Plot

Luv Kush is a follow-up series of Ramayan and is based on the Uttara Kanda, which is the last chapter of Ramayana. It depicts the lives of Luv and Kush, the twin sons of Rama and Sita.

After Ram's coronation, he gets to know about Sita's pregnancy and the citizens of Ayodhya gossiping her character as she was forced to Live in Lanka. He trusts his wife and decides to leave that matter but Sita gets to know about this and tells Ram to abandon her is his duty as a king and she decides to leave to the forests. His brother Lakshman protests this but in vain and leaves her in the forest where she meets Rishi Valmiki who was composing Ramayana, the life incident of Rama. Rishi Valmiki accepts her as his daughter. She is provided shelter in his ashram. On the other hand, Ram is missing Sita and King Janaka (Sita's father) visits him and he gets to know that Sita's mother Sunayana has fallen ill after getting the news of her daughter's abandonment. Ram visits Mithila and apologize to her.

After coming back to Ayodhya, many sages complain about the tyrant King of Madhupur, Lavanasur and Ram sends his brother Shatrughna to kill him. On his way to Madhupur, he meets Sage Valmiki in ashram where Sita was living under incognito. He unknowingly performs the naming ceremony of his nephews Luv and Kush. He succeeded in slaying Lavanasur and is crowned as King of Madhupur.

As the years pass by, Luv and Kush are trained under Rishi Valmiki and are taught Ramayan by them. Kush always had a question in mind about why Ram abandoned Sita, not knowing that Sita is none other than his own mother as they knew her by the name Vandevi. 12 years later, Ram conducts an Ashvamedh Yagna and the horse is stopped by them as they wanted to know the answer to their questions. They fight with Lakshman, Bharat and Shatrughan and finally are about to fight with their father when Valmiki interrupts and ends the fight. In the evening they visit Sita and tells them about the days incident and Sita tells them that Ram is their father. They travel to Ayodhya singing the verses of Ramayan and make the citizens realise their mistake of doubting Devi Sita. Rama is eager to listen to the epic Ramayana. He invites Luv and Kush to his palace and listens to them along with his family and other courtiers. It is when he realises that both of them are his sons whereas citizens of Ayodhya still asks to prove Sita's character. Sita is called and Ram asks her to give the proof. Sita decides to give the last proof and calls her birth mother Bhumi Devi (Earth Goddess) and went away with her saying that this place is not safe for women and they are not respected here; leaving Luv and Kush with their father.

Years later, Lord Rama crowns his sons and nephews in different parts of Kosala and takes Jal Samadhi along with his brothers.

Cast

Arun Govil as Rama, 7th Incarnation of Lord Vishnu; King of Ayodhya
Dipika Chikhlia as Sita, Reincarnation of Goddess Lakshmi; Ram's wife
Swapnil Joshi as Kusha,^[8] Ram and Sita's elder son
Mayuresh Kshetramade as Luv, Ram and Sita's younger son
Sunil Lahri as Lakshman, Ram's third younger brother; Reincarnation of Sheshanag
Sanjay Jog as Bharat, Ram's second brother; Reincarnation of Lord Vishnu's Shankha
Sameer Rajda as Shatrughna; Reincarnation of Lord Vishnu's Sudarshan Chakra; Ram's youngest brother
Jayshree Gadkar as Kausalya; Ram's mother; King Dasrath's chief consort
Padma Khanna as Kaikeyi; Bharat's mother; King Dasrath's second queen
Rajni Bala as Sumitra; Lakshman and Shatrughan's mother
Anjali Vyas as Urmila; Lakshman's wife, Sita's younger sister
Sulakshana Khatri as Mandavi; Bharat's wife; Sita's cousin
Poonam Shetty as Shrutakirti; Shatrughan's wife; Mandavi's younger sister
Dara Singh as Hanuman; Lord Ram's devotee
Mukesh Rawal as Vibhishan; Ravan's brother who supported Lord Ram
Shyam Sunder Kalani as Sugriva; King of Kishkindha
Sudhir Dalvi as Vasishtha; teacher of Lord Rama
Chandrashekhar as Sumanta; King Dasrath's minister
Rajshekhar Upadhyay as Jamvanta
Vijay Kavish as Valmiki / Shiva;^[9] Devi Parvati's consort
Vilas Raj as Lavanasura; Former King of Madhupura, nephew of Ravan; slayed by Shatrughan
Mulraj Rajda as Janak; Sita and Urmila's father; Mandavi and Shrutakirti's uncle
Urmila Bhatt as Sunaina; Sita and Urmila's mother; Mandavi and Shrutakirti's aunt
Aslam Khan as various characters
Bhushan Lakandari as Vishnu; The protector of Universe who reincarnated as Lord Ram

Episodes

No.	Title
1	"Hanuman tearing chest and showing image of Ram and Sita"
2	"Ram forgives Manthara"
3	"Story of Garuda and Kagbhusandi"
4	"Narada narrates the story of Ram to Maharishi Valmiki"
5	"Brahma inspires Maharishi Valmiki to compose Ramayana"
6	"Ram sends secret messengers to survey his kingdom"
7	"Ram-Kagbhusandi Leela"
8	"Ram meets all Sages in his court"
9	"Ram surveys his kingdom in disguised form"
10	"Ram is saddened to know his subjects' thoughts about Sita"
11	"Sita decides to leave Ayodhya"
12	"Sita leaves for exile"
13	"Maharishi Valmiki takes Sita in his Ashram"
14	"Ram meets Janak"
15	"Ram goes to Mithila"
16	"Story of Durvasa telling about Ram's future"
17	"Shatrughna becomes king of Madhura, resolves to kill Lavanasur"
18	"Birth of Luv and Kush"
19	"Shatrughna leaves for Madhura"
20	"Story of Mandhata"
21	"Lavanasur Vadh"
22	"Shatrughna's coronation"
23	"Agastya Muni gives a divine gift to Ram"
24	"Maharishi begins education of Luv and Kush"
25	"Luv-Kush and Nagraj"
26	"Proposal of Ashwamedha yagna"
27	"Luv Kush's Kundalini awakened"
28	"Ram refuses to have second marriage"
29	"Valmiki gives knowledge of shastras and astras to Luv and Kush"
30	"Inauguration of Ashwamedha yagna"
31	"Luv-Kush seize the horse"
32	"Luv defeats Shatrughna"
33	"Luv-Kush defeat Lakshman"
34	"Luv-Kush defeat Bharat and Sugriv"
35	"Valmiki stops Ram from fighting Luv-Kush"
36	"Luv-Kush narrate story of Ramayana in the court"
37	"Ram asks for proof"
38	"Sita gave the proof of her chastity and got into the lap of the earth."
39	"Shree Ram Jal-Samadhi and end of the story"

Production

Originally, Ramanand Sagar's plan was to end Ramayan with the return of Sita from exile. However on the demand from Valmiki Samaj and PMO, Sagar made the series as Ramayan's follow up.^[10]

Reception

During the premiere of the series during the Covid-19 lockdown following Ramayan on 19 April 2020, the viewership increased to a greater extent compared to Ramayan and received 18.493 million impressions during the morning slot and 48.553 million impressions during the night slot however being the most-watched Indian television program.^[11]