Ramanand Sagar
| Ramanand Sagar | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Chandramauli Chopra 29 December 1917 Lahore, Punjab, British India (now Pakistan) |
| Died | 12 December 2005 (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) 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. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2000.
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 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 took a second wife and had further children by her, including Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who is thus Sagar's half-brother, albeit thirty-five years younger than him. 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 series in the magazine Adab-e-Mashriq in Lahore.
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 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.
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