Ramanand Sagar is a veteran Indian film and television serial director and producer. He is the director of the hit TV series Ramayana (1987).
Wiki/Biography
Ramanand Sagar was born Asal Guru Ke (died aged 87) on Saturday 29 December 1917 in Lahore, Punjab, British India ( Now part of Pakistan). His zodiac sign is Capricorn. In 1942, he won the Gold Medal in Sanskrit and the Gold Medal in Persian from Punjab University.
Ramanand Sagar childhood photos
family and caste
He is a Kashmiri refugee.
Parents and siblings
His great-grandfather Lala Shankar Das Chopra was an immigrant from Peshawar to Kashmir and later became the ‘Nagar Shet’ of Chopra in Kashmir. His grandfather Lala Ganga Ram owned his own business in Srinagar. Ramanand’s father, Lala Dinanath Chopra, used to write poetry. His brother’s name is Chittaranjan. Famous Bollywood director Vidhu Vinod Chopra is his stepbrother.
Relationships, wives and children
He is married to Leelavati Sagar. He has 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 and his wife
prem sagar
moti sagar
Profession
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 also did some odd jobs at the beginning of his career. He worked as a peon, a truck cleaner, a soap seller and a goldsmith’s apprentice.
An old photo of Ramanand Sagar
Later, he joined the Daily Milap as newspaper editor. He wrote many short stories, novels, poems and plays with various names such as “Ramanand Chopra”, “Ramanand Bedi” and “Ramanand Kashmir”. He started his career in Bollywood as a flapper boy in the silent film “Railway” (1932). After the partition of India in 1947, he moved to Bombay and worked as an assistant manager at the Prithvi Theatre. He then wrote the story and screenplay for Raj Kapoor’s hit film Barsaat (1949).
Ramanand Sagar old photos
In 1950, he started his own film production company ‘Sagar Art Private Limited’. He directed and produced several Bollywood films, including Zindagi (1964), Arzoo (1965), Aankhen (1968), Charas (1976), Bhakawat (1980) and Salma 》(1985)).
Ramanand Sagar on the film sets
In 1987, he directed and produced the popular mythological series Ramayana, starring Arun Govil as Rama/Vishnu and Deepika Chikaria as Sita/Lakshmi, Sunil Lahiri plays Lakshman. Some of his other popular television serials include “Vikram Aur Betaal” (1986), “Luv Kush” (1988), “Krishna” (1992) and “Sai Baba” (2005).
Ramanand Sagar depicts scenes to the actors of Ramayana
Awards and Honors
Filmfare Award
1960: Pegham wins Best Dialogue Award
1969: “Aankhen” wins Best Director Award
Padma Shri
2000: Contributions to the field of art
Ramanand Sagar wins Padmashri Award
die
He died at his home on December 12, 2005, and the last rites were performed at Juhu-Vile Parle Crematorium, Mumbai.
Facts/Trivia
- His friends and family called him “Papaji” and in memory of Ramanand, his heirs founded 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, who changed his name from Chandramouli Chopra to Ramanand Sagar.
- His son Prem Sagar published a book about his life “An Epic Life: Ramanand Sagar, from Barsaat to Ramayan” in December 2019.
- He received the Sahitya Vachaspati degree from the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan (Prayag) Allahabad in 1996 and the D. Lit. degree from Jammu University in 1997.
- His popular mythological series Ramayana (1987) was re-aired on Star Plus and Star Utsav in the 2000s. In March 2020, the show was re-aired on DD National during the coronavirus lockdown in India.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education