Ramanand Sagar

Ramanand Sagar
Born
Chandramauli Chopra

(1917-12-29)29 December 1917
Died12 December 2005(2005-12-12) (aged 87)
Alma materUniversity of the Punjab
Occupations
  • Director
  • producer
  • writer
  • editor
Years active1949-2005
SpouseLeelavati Sagar
Children5
RelativesVidhu Vinod Chopra (half-brother)
AwardsPadma Shri (2000)

Ramanand Sagar (born Chandramauli Chopra; 29 December 1917 – 12 December 2005) was an Indian director, producer, writer and an editor. He is best known for making the television show Ramayan (1987-1988).

Early life

Sagar was born at Asal Guruke near Lahore. His great-grandfather, Lala Shankar Das Chopra, migrated from Lahore to Kashmir. Ramanand was adopted by his maternal grandmother, who had no sons, at which point his name was changed from 'Chandramouli Chopra' to 'Ramanand Sagar'. After Sagar's biological mother died, his father remarried and had further children with her, including Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who is thus Sagar's 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". 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 a series in the magazine Adab-e-Mashriq in Lahore.

Career

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

In 1944, He acted in Punjabi film Koel, Directed by Roop K. Shorey,made in Lahore released on Friday,24 November by Film Company Shorey Pictures.

In the 1940s, Sagar started out as an assistant stage manager in Prithvi Theatres of Prithviraj Kapoor. He also directed a few plays under the fatherly guidance of Kapoor.

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 Bazooband and Mehmaan which were not successful.

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.

His successful directorial ventures included Ghunghat and Arzoo, which became blockbusters in the years 1960 and 1965 respectively. In 1964 he directed the classic Zindagi starring Rajendra Kumar, Vyjanthimala, Prithviraj Kapoor and Raaj Kumar. In 1968 he won the Filmfare Best Director Award for Ankhen. Ankhen was a spy-thriller starring Dharmendra and Mala Sinha. It was amongst the top 10 Hindi films of 1968. His films in the early 1970s were not successful like Geet and Laalkar. He directed one of the top five grossing films of 1976, Charas, starring Dharmendra and Hema Malini. In 1979, his directorial venture Prem Bandhan starring Rajesh Khanna, Rekha and Moushmi Chatterjee was successful commercially, becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of that year. In 1982, he directed Bhagavat starring Dharmendra, Hema Malini and Reena Roy which turned out to be a huge hit.

In 1985 he directed 'Salma' which was unsuccessful at the box office and though the music of the film romance was popular, the film did not perform well at box office.

In 1985 Sagar turned towards television with Dada Dadi Ki Kahaniyaan which was directed by Moti Sagar and produced by Ramanand Sagar. Then his Sagar Arts began producing serials based on Indian history. His directorial venture Ramayan aired its first episode on 25 January 1987. His next tele-serials were Krishna and Luv Kush which were both produced and directed by him. He also later directed Sai Baba. Sagar also made fantasy serials like Vikram Aur Betaal and Alif Laila.

The Ramayan series was initially conceptualized to run for 52 episodes of 45 minutes each. Owing to popular demand it had to be extended thrice, eventually ending after 78 episodes.

Sagar made a Luv Kush episode after receiving a call from PMO.

Based on his experiences of the Indo-Pak partition, Sagar published the Hindi-Urdu book Aur Insaan Mar Gaya (transl. And The Human Died) in 1948.

The government of India honoured Sagar with the Padma Shri in 2000. Sagar died on 12 December 2005 aged 88 at his home in Mumbai after a series of health problems.

In December 2019, his son Prem Sagar launched a book on his life, An Epic Life: Ramanand Sagar, From Barsaat to Ramayan. This book is a biography of Ramanand Sagar depicting his life struggles and his journey from a clerk to one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.

Personal life

He was married to Leelavati, with whom he had five children, four sons (Anand, Prem, Moti and Subhash) and a daughter (Sarita).

Filmography

Films

Year Title Director Writer Producer
1943 Koel as an actor In Punjabi movie no
1949 Barsaat No Yes No
1950 Jan Pahchan No Yes No
1952 Sangdil No Yes No
1953 Mehmaan Yes No No
1954 Bazooband Yes Yes No
1956 Mem Sahib No Yes No
1958 Raj Tilak No Yes No
1959 Paigham No Yes No
1960 Ghunghat Yes No No
1964 Rajkumar No Yes No
Zindagi Yes No Yes
1965 Arzoo Yes Yes Yes
1968 Aankhen Yes Yes Yes
1970 Geet Yes No Yes
1972 Lalkaar Yes Yes Yes
1973 Jalte Badan Yes Yes Yes
1976 Charas Yes Yes Yes
1979 Prem Bandhan Yes No No
Hum Tere Ashiq Hain No Yes No
1981 Armaan No No Yes
1982 Baghavat Yes No Yes
1983 Romance Yes No Yes
1985 Salma Yes No Yes

Television

Year Title Director Writer Producer Editor
1985-1986 Vikram Aur Betaal Yes No Yes No
1986-1987 Dada Dadi Ki Kahaniyan Yes Yes Yes No
1987-1988 Ramayan Yes Yes Yes No
1988-1989 Luv Kush Yes No Yes No
1993-1997 Alif Laila No No Yes No
Shri Krishna Yes No Yes No
1997 Yeh Hai Mere Apne Yes Yes Yes Yes
Jai Ganga Maiya Yes No No No
1999 Aangan Yes Yes Yes Yes
2000 Aakash Yes Yes Yes Yes
Shree Brahma Vishnu Mahesh Yes Yes Yes Yes
Jai Mahalakshmi Yes Yes Yes No
2001 Chingaari Yes Yes Yes Yes
Sansaar Yes No Yes Yes
Jai Jai Jai Tridev Yes Yes Yes Yes
2002 Saanjhi Yes Yes Yes Yes
Bhagat Singh No No Yes No
2003 Arzoo Hai Tu Yes No No No
2005 Sai Baba Yes Yes No No

Awards and honors

In 1996, he was honored with the Sahitya Vachaspati (Doctor of Literature) by the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan in Allahabad. In 1997, Jammu University presented him a honoris causa doctorate (Doctor of Literature). In 2000, he was honoured with Padma Shri by the Government of India. In 2004, he received a special award for his contribution to Indian Television at the Indian Telly Awards.

Filmfare Awards
Year Category Work Result Ref.
1960 Best Dialogue Paigham Won
1966 Best Story Arzoo Nominated
Best Director Nominated
1969 Aankhen Won
Best Story Nominated

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