Ramanand Sagar

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ramanand Sagar 

• Ramanand Sagar was a renowned Indian film and TV serial director and producer.

• His maternal grandmother adopted him in his childhood, and she gave him the name Ramanand Sagar.

  

• His ancestors migrated from Peshawar to Kashmir, and his great grandfather, Lala Shankar Das Chopra became the ‘Nagar Shet’ of Kashmiri Chopras. His grandfather, Lala Ganga Ram had his own business in Srinagar.

• He received a gold medal in Sanskrit and a gold medal in Persian from the University of Punjab in 1942.

  

• He penned down a poetry “Pritam Pratiksha” (The wait for the beloved) at the age of 16 for ‘Shri Pratap College Magazine’ Srinagar-Kashmir.

• At the beginning of his career, he did a few odd jobs like a peon, truck cleaner, soap vendor, and goldsmith apprentice.

  

• He wrote the book ‘Aur Insaan Mar Gaya’ (English: And Humanity Died) in 1948.

• He worked as a newspaper editor in ‘Daily Milap.’ He wrote many short stories, novels, poems, and plays.

• After the Partition of India in 1947, he worked as an assistant manager in Prithvi Theatre. He wrote the story and screenplay for the Raj Kapoor’s superhit film ‘Barsaat’ (1949).

• His career in Bollywood started in 1932 as a clapper boy in the silent film, ‘Raiders of the Rail Road.’

  

• He started his own film production company in 1950 with the name ‘Sagar Art Private Limited.’

• Later, he directed and produced many Bollywood films, like ‘Zindagi’ (1964), ‘Arzoo’ (1965), ‘Aankhen’ (1968), ‘Charas’ (1976), ‘Bhagawat’ (1980), and ‘Salma’ (1985).

• He directed and produced one of the longest-running mythological series’, ‘Ramayan,’ in 1987. In the 2000s ‘Ramayan’ was retelecasted on Star Plus and Star Utsav and in March 2020, it was retelecasted on DD National during Coronavirus lockdown in India.

  

• He produced and directed many other TV serials, like ‘Vikram Aur Betaal’ (1986), ‘Luv Kush’ (1988), ‘Krishna’ (1992), and ‘Sai Baba’ (2005).

• His grandchildren are 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 the Bollywood director, Aditya Chopra. His granddaughter, Ganga Kadakia is a famous Indian painter.

• He experienced a near to death experience when he was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of 30.

• In his remembrance, his heirs started a non-profit company ‘Ramanand Sagar Foundation (RSF)’ in Mumbai.

• In December 2019, his son, Prem Sagar wrote a book on his life titled ‘An Epic Life: Ramanand Sagar, From Barsaat to Ramayan.’

• He was honoured with the Doctor of Literature (Sahitya Vachaspati) by Hindi Sahitya Sammelan (Prayag) Allahabad in 1996 and Doctor of Literature (D. Lit.) (Honoris Causa by Jammu University) in 1997.