Arun Govil

Arun Govil ( ; ; born 12 January 1958) is an Indian actor and politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is best known for portraying Lord Rama in the 1987 Ramayan TV series and reprising his role (voice acting) in the 1993 animated film, Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama. He also appeared in films like Paheli, Sawan Ko Aane Do (1979), Saanch Ko Aanch Nahin (1979), Jiyo To Aise Jiyo (1981), Himmatwala (1983), Dilwaala (1986), and Govinda Govinda (1994). He is currently serving as a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha to Meerut Lok Sabha constituency from June 2024.

Early life Arun Govil was born on 12 January 1952, in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. He spent his teenage life in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He got his formal education at an affiliated college of Agra University situated in Shahjahanpur, where he studied science (BSc degree). His father wanted him to become a government servant while Arun wanted to do something for which he would be remembered.

Career In 1975, he moved to Mumbai to join his brother's business there. After a short while, he found that he no longer enjoyed the work and decided to find something more enjoyable. Tarachand Barjatya, impressed by Govil's performance in the film, signed him a three-film-deal, for Kanak Mishra's Sawan Ko Aane Do (1979), Vijay Kapoor’s Raadha Aur Seeta (1979) and Satyen Bose's Saanch Ko Aanch Nahin (1979), which shot Govil to stardom. Sawan Ko Aane Do and Saanch Ko Aanch Nahin became major successes at the box office. He made his small screen debut in Ramanand Sagar's Vikram Aur Betaal (1985). He was then cast as Bhagwan Rama in Sagar's TV series Ramayan (1986), for which he won the Uptron Award in the Best Actor in a Leading Role category in 1988. He reprised his role as Rama in Sagar's Luv Kush and Padmalya Telefilms Limited 's Jai Veer Hanuman. He featured in Kanak Mishra's Jiyo To Aise Jiyo (1981).

His role as Rama provided him great exposure and led him to be cast in other roles such as Harishchandra in the TV series Vishwamitra and 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 also played the role of Laxman in V. Madhusudhana Rao's Lav Kush (1997). In the year 2020, he appeared on The Kapil Sharma Show as a guest along with Dipika Chikhlia, Sunil Lahri and Prem Sagar to promote the book An Epic Life - Ramanand Sagar: From Barsaat to Ramayan, a biography of the late Ramanand Sagar.

Personal life Govil is married to actress Shrilekha. They have two children together, Sonika and Amal. Their daughter in law's name is Divya.

Political career On 18 March 2021, Arun Govil joined the Bhartiya Janata Party.

He was nominated as the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for Meerut Lok Sabha constituency from Uttar Pradesh on 25 March 2024, to contest the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls. On 4 June 2024, he was elected to the Lok Sabha, representing Meerut Lok Sabha constituency.

Filmography Film

Television