Arun Govil is a revered name of fame for portraying his popular role of ‘Lord Rama’ in Ramanand Sagar’s prominent TV Series Ramayana (1987). ‘Ramayana’ is one of the two great epic poems of Hinduism, the other being the Mahabharata (Great epic of the Bharata Dynasty).
Arun Govil was born in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh on 12 January 1958. He is the fourth of six brothers and two sisters. He completed his formal education in engineering science from Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCS) Meerut, Uttar Pradesh and acted in some plays. Govil spent his teenage days at Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh. His father, Shri Chandra Prakash Govil who was a government officer wanted his son to get in the same profession but Govil wanted to do something extraordinary for which he would be remembered.
He moved to Mumbai in 1957 to join his brother’s business but soon he realized that he’s no longer enjoying the work and wanted to do something else. He decided to start acting after doing dramas in college. He got his first break in Indian cinema in the 1977 film Paheli, when he was introduced to Tarachand Barjatya by his sister-in-law Tabassum.
It was a turning point in his life when Barjatya was impressed with his exceptionally outstanding performance and signed him to a three-film-deal Kanak Mishra's Sawan Ko Aane Do (1979), Vijay Kapoor's Raadha Aur Seeta (1979) and Satyen Bose's Saanch Ko Aanch Nahin (1979). These films brought him stardom by becoming a major success at box office except ‘Raadha Aur Seeta’ which was a box office failure. However, his exceptionally powerful role of ‘Lord Rama’ in the TV series Ramayana (1987) gained him a lot of popularity and stardom.
| Arun Govil Biography | |
| Full Name | Arun Govil |
| Date of Birth | October 30, 1958 |
| Age | 65 years, 2 months (in 2024) |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Religion | Hindu |
| Zodiac/Sun Sign | Capricorn |
| Birth Place | Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| School | Not known |
| College | Chaudhary Charan Singh University, UP |
| Father | Chandra Prakash Govil |
| Mother | Not known |
| Siblings | 2 sisters & 5 brothers |
| Wife | Srilekha Govil |
| Children | Amal Govil and Sonika Govil |
| Profession | Actor |
| Bollywood First Movie | Paheli (1977) |
| Oriya First Movie | Bidhira Bidhan (1989) |
| Bhojpuri First Movie | Pyari Dulhaniya |
| Telugu First Movie | Edu Kondalaswamy |
| Bengali First Movie | Buk Bhara Bhalobasha |
Govil made his small screen debut with the role of Vikramaditya in the TV series of Ramanand Sagar's Vikram Aur Betaal (1985). Later on, he starred as ‘Lord Rama’ in Sagar’s TV Series Ramayana (1986) which became a household name and this role played the role of a milestone of success in Govil’s life. For his role in Ramayana, he won the Uptron Award in the Best Actor in a Leading Role category in 1988. His role of Rama reprised in Sagar's Luv Kush and Padmalaya Telefilms Limited's Jai Veer Hanuman.
His role as ‘Rama’ opened a lot of opportunities and exposure that led him to get other roles such as Harishchandra in the TV series Vishwamitra, or Buddha in the TV series Buddha. He lent his voice as Rama in Yugo Sako's Indo-Japanese animation film Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama (1992). He even played the role of Laxman in V. Madhusudhana Rao's Lav Kush (1997). In the year 2020, he appeared in The Kapil Sharma Show as a guest along with his co-actors Dipika Chikhlia (Sita), Sunil Lahri(Laxman) and Prem Sagar to promote a book on Late Ramanand Sagar.