India, May 3 -- Television serials arrived in India much later than in the West. While the US and UK were airing shows as early as the 1950s, in India, TV shows did not gain prominence until the late 1970s and 1980s. But that period from the mid-80s to mid-2000s is often called the golden period of Indian television because that is when most shows registered record viewership numbers. One of them was so popular that streets would empty when it aired.

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan remains the most-watched Indian television show even three decades after it ended. The adaptation of the epic Ramayana aired on Doordarshan from January 1987 to July 1988. According to the BBC, the show was watched by 650 million (65 crore) people during its initial ...