Ramanand Sagar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ramanand Sagar (29 December 1917 – 12 December 2005) (born Chandramauli Chopra) was an Indian film director. He is most famous for making the extremely popular Ramayan television series, a television adaptation of the ancient Indian epic of the same name, starring Arun Govil as Lord Rama and Deepika as Sita.

Sagar was born at Asal Guru-Ke near Lahore. His great-grandfather, Lala Shankar Das Chopra, migrated from Peshawar to Kashmir, who by his own strength became the ‘Nagar Shet’ of Kashmiri Chopras. His grandfather was Lala Ganga Ram who established his own trade in 1867 in Srinagar. His father, Lala Dinanath Chopra, used to enjoy writing poetry mainly for personal satisfaction under the nom de plume “Taj Peshawari”. Although he hailed from one of the most aristocratic and wealthiest families of the region, he was adopted by his childless maternal grandmother. Although his original name was “Chandramauli” given by his Kulpurohit, he was named Ramanand by his adopted family. But he missed his real parents love and his childhood was filled with agony and sufferings which was probably the reason for all his future creations which were filled with emotions.

He founded the film and television production company known as Sagar Films (Pvt. Ltd.) a.k.a. Sagar Arts. He produced many successful films and television series.He won the 1968 Filmfare Best Director Award for Ankhen and many awards for his great hits like Ramayan and Shri Krishna, he also won many lifetime achievement awards. He started the serial Sai Baba,his last offering, and his concept of Prithviraj Chauhan is currently being aired on Star Plus