Ramanand Sagar

He is best known for his contribution in the mythological serials Ramayan and Krishna, which broke several viewership records globally.

Ramanand Sagar (born Chandramauli Chopra; 29 December 1917 – 12 December 2005) was an Indian director, producer, and writer.

In 1932, Sagar started his film career as a clapper boy in a silent film, Raiders of the Rail Road.

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 produced and directed films like Bazooband and Mehmaan which bombed at the box-office.

Due to his unsuccessful career in Bollywood.

Sagar shifted to Madras and start working for Gemini Studio.

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.

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.

He then shifted to Bombay in 1949 after India's partition.

He wrote stories for Gemini classics like Insaniyat (1955), Raj Tilak (1958) and Paigham (1959) for which he even won Filmfare Award for Best Dialogue.

Sagar's collaboration with Gemini Studio proved to be fruitful for his career.

Impressed by his work Gemini's owner SS Vasan decided to give Sagar a chance as a director.

Sagar directed Ghunghat (1960) and Zindagi (1964).

He even wrote Shammi Kapoor and Sadhana starrer Rajkumar (1964) for another South Indian banner.

Encouraged by the success of Ghunghat and Zindagi.

Sagar moved back to Mumbai and re-christened his Production House as Sagar Films.

The first under the Sagar Arts banner was Arzoo, which became blockbuster.

Ankhen fetched him Filmfare Best Director Award.

The 1968 classic featuring Dharmendra and Mala Sinha was one of the highest grosser of that year.

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.

He is best known for making the television show Ramayan (1987-1988).

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.

His directorial venture Ramayan aired its first episode on 25 January 1987.