Ramanand Sagar

Ramanand Sagar
Born Chandramauli Chopra
(1917-12-29)29 December 1917
Lahore, Punjab, British India (now Pakistan)
Died 12 December 2005(2005-12-12) (aged 87)
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Other names Ramanand Chopra
Ramanand Bedi
Ramanand Kashmiri
Occupation Film producer, director, writer
Spouse(s) Leelavati

Ramanand Sagar (29 December 1917 – 12 December 2005) (born Chandramauli Chopra)[1] was an Indian film director. He is most famous for making the Ramayan television series, a 78-part TV adaptation of the ancient Hindu epic of the same name, starring Arun Govil as Lord Ram and Deepika Chikhalia as Sita.[2] The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2000.[3]

Early life

Ramanand Sagar was born at Asal Guru Ke near Lahore. His great-grandfather, Lala Shankar Das Chopra, migrated from Peshawar to Kashmir. Ramanand was adopted by his childless maternal grandmother and, although his original name was "Chandramauli," it was changed to "Ramanand" by his adoptive family.[4] Vidhu Vinod Chopra is his half-brother. Sagar worked as a peon, truck cleaner, soap vendor, goldsmith apprentice etc. during the day and studied for his degree at night.

He was a gold medalist in Sanskrit and Persian from the University of Punjab in 1942. He was also editor of newspaper Daily Milap. He wrote many short stories, novels, poems, plays, etc. under names like "Ramanand Chopra", "Ramanand Bedi" and "Ramanand Kashmiri".[4] In 1942 when he caught tuberculosis he wrote a subjective column "Diary of a T.B. patient" about his fight. The column was published in series in the magazine Adab-e-Mashriq in Lahore.[4]

Career

In 1932, Sagar started his film career as a clapper boy in a silent film, Raiders of the Rail Road.[5] He then shifted to Bombay in 1949 after India's partition.

In 1940's, Ramanand Sagar started out as an assistant stage manager in Prithvi Theatres of Prithviraj Kapoor. Also, directed a few plays under the fatherly guidance of Kapoor.[6][7]

Along with other films that Sagar himself directed, he wrote the story and screenplay for Raj Kapoor's superhit Barsaat. He founded the film and television production company known as Sagar Films (Pvt. Ltd.) a.k.a. Sagar Arts in 1950. He produced and directed many successful films. He won the 1960 Filmfare Best Dialogue Award for Paigham which was directed by S. S. Vasan and starred Dilip Kumar, Vyjayanthimala and Raaj Kumar in lead roles. In 1968 he won the Filmfare Best Director Award for Ankhen. Ankhen was a spy-thriller starring Dharmendra and Mala Sinha. It was declared a "block buster" and was amongst the Top 10 Hindi films of the 1960s.[8]

In 1985 Sagar turned towards television. His Sagar Arts began producing serials based on Indian history. His most popular Ramayan aired its first episode on 25 January 1987. The series became instantly popular amongst the Indian masses[9] and won numerous national and international awards and felicitations.[10] His next historical tele-serials Krishna and Luv Kush also received good responses. He made fantasy dramas like Vikram Aur Betaal and Alif Laila.

Based on his experiences of Indo-Pak partition, Sagar published a Hindi-Urdu book Aur Insaan Mar Gaya (English: And Humanity Died) in 1948. The government of India honoured Sagar with the Padma Shri in 2000.

Awards

Won

Nominated

Filmography

Year Title Film / TV serial Roles Notes
2005 Sai Baba TV series Director
1993 Alif Laila TV Series Director Original telecast on DD National
Repeat telecast on SAB TV
1992 Krishna TV series Director
1988-89 Luv Kush TV series Director
1986 Vikram Aur Betaal TV series Director
Producer
1987 Ramayan TV series Director
Producer
Writer
1985 Salma Film Director
Producer
1983 Romance Film Director
Producer
1982 Bhagawat Film Director
Producer
1981 Armaan Film Producer
1979 Hum Tere Ashiq Hain Film Dialogue writer
Screenplay writer
1979 Prem Bandhan Film Director
1976 Charas Film Director
Producer
Writer
1973 Jalte Badan Film Director
Producer
Writer
1972 Lalkaar Film Director
Producer
Writer
1970 Geet Film Director
Producer
1968 Aankhen Film Director
Producer
Writer
1965 Arzoo Film Director
Producer
Writer
1964 Zindagi Film Director
Producer
1964 Rajkumar Film Dialogue writer
Screenplay writer
1960 Ghunghat Film Director
1959 Paigham Film Dialogue writer
1958 Raj Tilak Film Writer
Dialogue writer
1956 Mem Sahib Film Dialogue writer
1954 Bazooband Film Director
1952 Sangdil Film Dialogue writer
Screenplay writer
1953 Mehmaan Film Director
1950 Jan Pahchan Film Dialogue writer
Screenplay writer
1949 Barsaat Film Writer
Dialogue writer
Screenplay writer

References

  1. ↑ "Ramanand Sagar". IMDB. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  2. ↑ "Ramanand Sagar (Indian filmmaker)". Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  3. ↑ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 "Early Life". Sagartv.com. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  5. ↑ "Film Making". Sagartv.com. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  6. ↑ "Shashi Kapoor". Junglee.org.in. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  7. ↑ "Familiar turn". The Hindu. 25 July 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  8. ↑ "Top Earners 1960–1969". Boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  9. ↑ Lutgendorf, Philip (1991). The Life of a Text: Performing the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 12. ISBN 0-520-06690-1.
  10. ↑ "Ramayan – Block Buster in the History of Indian Television". Retrieved 30 December 2011.
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