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Ramanand Sagar is dead

Ramanand Sagar, who made the popular television serial Ramayan, died at his Juhu residence at 11.30pm on Monday. He was 87.

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Last updated at 2.30 am
 
Ramanand Sagar, who made the popular television serial Ramayan, died at his Juhu residence in Mumbai at 11.30pm on Monday.
 
He was 87.
 
His remains will be cremated at the Vile Parle crematorium at 11am on Tuesday.
 
Sagar was born on December 29, 1917, at Asal_Guru Ke near Lahore. He rose from a clapper boy to become a successful writer, director, and producer.
 
His well-known TV serials are Sri Krishna and Vikram Aur Betal.
 
Sagar was born with a silver spoon in his mouth -- into one of the most aristocratic and wealthiest families.
 
Sagar, who showed striking literary precocity, inherited the faculty from his father late Dinanath Chopra who became famous in his nom de plume Taj Peshawari.
 
Ramanand was adopted by his maternal grandmother, who changed his name Chandramauli. He often confessed to have missed the love of his real parents.
 
In fact, his childhood was responsible for the high emotional note consistent in his work.
 
His first recorded work in 1933 at the age of 16 was a piece of prose-poetry Pritaam Pratiksha for the Srinagar-based Shri Pratap College's magazine. The editor was impressed but was not convinced that he had authored the work and so wrote as a footnote that 'the editor could not vouch for the originality of the article'.
 
Sagar was thrown out of his house after he refused to accept the dowry system and had to struggle for a living. The young Ramanand worked as a peon, truck cleaner, soap vendor, goldsmith apprentice during the day and studied for his degree at night. He won a gold medal from Punjab University (in Pakistan) and the title of Munshi Fazal in Persian.
 
Sagar joined Daily Pratap and rose to become the news editor of Daily Milap, a leading newspaper of Punjab. The writer in him made him pen 32 short stories in 12 years, three long-short stories, one novel, two serialised stories and two stage plays. He wrote under the nom de plume Ramanand Chopra, Ramanand Bedi, Ramanand Kashmiri and finally Ramanand Sagar.
 
In 1942, as a TB patient fighting with death in a sanitarium in Tang-Marg, Sagar fought with grit and indomitable will with death. And it was there that he wrote a column diary of a TB patient serialised in Adab-e-Mashriq -- a highly rated magazine in the 1940s. It caught the fancy of the literary world including Krishen Chander and won him acclaim.
 
He made a significant contribution to the literary world 1943-49 with his Jwaar Bhata (High and low tide) in 1943, Ainey (Mirrors) the next year; Jab Pahle Roz Baraf Giri (The first day when it snowed), Goura in 1948 for a stage play enacted by thespian Prithviraj Kapoor among others.
 
In 1947, Sagar had to flee to India with his family. Penniless, his only possessions at that time were five annas and a trunk full of manuscripts that described the horrors and destruction, witnessed by him during those turbulent times.
 
The manuscripts were the basis for his widely acclaimed novel Aur Insaan Mar Gaya. In 1948, he wrote his life's masterpiece -- the novel Aur Insaan Mar Gaya depicting the horrors of the 1947 Partition. Acclaimed as an all-time classic in Urdu and Hindi literature, it was translated into several Indian and foreign languages. The English version And Humanity Died was published in 1987-88.
 
Ramanand Sagar the filmmaker was born in 1936 with the silent movie Raiders of the Rail Road. In 1940-41, he was signed as a leading man for the film Koel and as Abhimanyu in an unfinished film Krishna at Shalimar Studio, Poona.
 
In 1942-43, he was invited by director Mehboob Khan and by writers Krishen Chander and Monto to come to Bombay. His entry into the world of films took place when he wrote the story, screenplay for Raj Kapoor's superhit Barsaat.
 
In 1950, Sagar launched his production company Sagar Arts and the first film was Mehmaan (The Guest). In 1957, Paigham (starring Dilip Kumar, Raj Kumar and Vaijayanti Mala) won the Filmfare award for the best dialogue and thus began the golden period of his film career.
 
Sagar's magic touch as a producer and director was felt in his evergreen music, massive productions, spectacular locales and big star casts. His group of companies produced over 25 motion pictures till 1984 with over 15 of them being box office hits; some of them crossed 75 weeks theatrically; some have become evergreen hits in the annals of Indian cinema.
 
The blockbusters include silver jubilees -- six in a row -- including Ghunghat, Zindagi, Aarzoo, Geet, Lalkar, Hamrahi, Charas, Pyaara Dushman, Ram Bharose, Bhagawat and a diamond jubilee Ankhen.
 
In 1985, the Sagar group was the first film family to enter television production. Starting with the mega-hit serial Vikram aur Betaal; fairy tales such as Dada Dadi ki Kahaniyan; mythological tales such as Ramayan, Shri Krishna, Alif Laila, Jai Ganga Maiya, Gurukul and Ankhen. The Sagar group logged 2,000 hours of television software in 15 years.
 
Ramayan has been hailed as a modern day miracle and its creator Ramanand Sagar as the modern day Valmiki and Tulsidas. Following its trailblazing success was Shri Krishna which earned over Rs 100 crore.
 
His other projects included Durga, Jai Mahalaxmi, Jai Ganga Maiya and the recent Sai Baba that went on air two months ago.
 
The Indian government conferred the title of Padma Shri on Dr Ramanand Sagar in 2001; in 1996, he was honoured with the Sahitya Vachaspati (Doctor of Literature) by the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan (Prayag), Allahabad; in 1997, the Jammu University presented him a honoris causa doctorate (Doctor of Literature).

 
With inputs from PTI
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