Mumbai, December 12
For millions of television viewers in India and abroad every Sunday morning was a celebration viewing the epic serial 'Ramayana' that made its producer-director Ramanand Sagar a household name.Dr Ramanand Sagar,87, who died today from old age complications in Mumbai after a legendary career in filmmaking, was born in December 29, 1917, at Asal Guru Ke near Lahore, with a silver spoon in his mouth.
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 original name Chandramauli to the present one. 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 called 'Pritaam Pratiksha' for the Srinagar-based Shri Pratap college's magazine.
The editor was impressed but was not convinced that he had actually authored the work and so wrote as a footnote that "the editor could not vouch for the originality of the article.
"Sagar was later thrown out of his house after he refused to accept the dowry system and had to struggle for a living. The young Ramanad 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.
— PTI
