Ramanand Sagar was a veteran Indian film and TV serial director and producer. He is the director of the popular TV series, ‘Ramayana’ (1987).
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Ramanand Sagar was born on Saturday, 29 December 1917 (aged 87 at death) in Asal Guru Ke, Lahore, Punjab, British India (now in Pakistan). Their zodiac sign is Capricorn. In 1942, he received a gold medal in Sanskrit and a gold medal in Persian from Punjab University.
Ramanand Sagar’s childhood picture
family and caste
He was a Kashmiri refugee.
parents and siblings
His great-grandfather, Lala Shankar Das Chopra, who was a migrant to Kashmir from Peshawar, became the ‘Nagar Shet’ of the Kashmiri Chopras. His grandfather Lala Ganga Ram had his own business in Srinagar. Ramanand’s father Lala Dinanath Chopra used to write poetry. His younger brother’s name is Chittaranjan. Popular Bollywood director Vidhu Vinod Chopra is his step brother.
Relationships, wife and children
He is married to Lilavati Sagar. They have a daughter, Sarita Sagar, and four sons, Subhash Sagar, Moti Sagar, Prem Sagar and Anand Sagar. His grandchildren include Meenakshi Sagar, Preeti Sagar, Akash Chopra, Amrit Sagar, Namita Sagar, Shakti Sagar and Jyoti Sagar. He is the grandfather of Payal Khanna; Ex-wife of Bollywood director Aditya Chopra. His granddaughter Ganga Kadakia is a famous Indian painter.
Ramanand Sagar with his wife
Prem Sagar
Moti Sagar
livelihood
At the age of 16, he wrote a poem titled ‘Pritam Pratiksha’ (Waiting for the Beloved) for ‘Shri Pratap College Magazine’ Srinagar-Kashmir. Although he was a gold medalist in Sanskrit and Persian, he did some strange things early in his career. He worked as a peon, truck cleaner, soap seller and goldsmith apprentice.
An old picture of Ramanand Sagar
Later he joined ‘Daily Milap’ as the editor of the newspaper. He wrote many short stories, novels, poems, and plays under different names such as “Ramanand Chopra,” “Ramanand Bedi,” and “Ramanand Kashmiri.” He started his career in Bollywood as a clapper boy in the silent film ‘Raiders of the Rail Road’ (1932). After the partition of India in 1947, he came to Mumbai and worked as an assistant manager at Prithvi Theatre. After this he wrote the story and screenplay of Raj Kapoor’s superhit film ‘Barsaat’ (1949).
An old picture of Ramanand Sagar
In 1950, he started his own film production company ‘Sagar Art Private Limited’. He directed and produced several Bollywood films, including ‘Zindagi’ (1964), ‘Aarzoo’ (1965), ‘Aankhen’ (1968), ‘Charas’ (1976), ‘Bhagwat’ (1980), and ‘Salma’. (1985). ,
Ramanand Sagar on film set
In 1987, he directed and produced the popular mythological series ‘Ramayana’, starring Arun Govil as Ram/Vishnu, Deepika Chikhalia as Sita/Lakshmi and Sunil Lahiri as Lakshman. Some of her other popular TV serials are ‘Vikram Aur Betaal’ (1986), ‘Lav Kush’ (1988), ‘Krishna’ (1992), and ‘Sai Baba’ (2005).
Ramanand Sagar showing the scenes to the actors of Ramayana
Awards and Honors
filmfare awards
1960: Best Dialogue Award for Paigam
1969: Best Director Award for Aankhen
Padma Shri
2000: Contribution to the field of art
Ramanand Sagar received Padmashree award
Death
He died at his home on 12 December 2005 and was cremated at the Juhu-Vile Parle crematorium in Mumbai.
Facts/General Knowledge
- His friends and family call him ‘Papaji’ and in Ramanand’s memory, his heirs started a non-profit company ‘Ramanand Sagar Foundation (RSF)’ in Mumbai.
- At age 30, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and had a near-death experience.
- In 1948, he wrote the book ‘Aur Insaan Mar Gaya’ (English: And Humanity Died).
- Ramanand Sagar was adopted by his maternal grandmother and she changed his name from Chandramouli Chopra to Ramanand Sagar.
- His son, Prem Sagar, published a book on his life ‘An Epic Life: Ramanand Sagar, From Barsaat to Ramayana’ in December 2019.
- He was awarded Doctor of Literature (Sahitya Vachaspati) by Hindi Sahitya Sammelan (Prayag) Allahabad in 1996 and Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) (Honorary Degree by Jammu University) in 1997.
- His popular mythological series, ‘Ramayana’ (1987) was re-telecasted on Star Plus and Star Utsav in the 2000s. In March 2020, it was re-telecasted on DD National during the coronavirus lockdown in India.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn