Ramanand Sagar

Ramanand Sagar (born Chandramauli Chopra; 29 December 1917 – 12 December 2005) was an Indian film-television director, producer, and writer. He is best known for writing and directing television serials Ramayan (1987–1988), Luv Kush (1988–1989) and Shri Krishna (1993–1999), which broke several viewership records globally.

Sagar was born at Asal Guruke near Lahore. His great-grandfather, Lala Shankar Das Chopra, migrated from Lahore to Kashmir.

In 1932, Sagar started his film career as a clapper boy in a silent film, Raiders of the Rail Road. He then shifted to Bombay in 1949 after India's partition.

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.

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 wrote story, screenplay and dialogues for Gemini classics like Insaniyat (1955), Raj Tilak (1958) and Paigham (1959), the 1959 classic featuring Dilip Kumar, Raaj Kumar and Vjyanthimala fetched him Filmfare Award for Best Dialogue. Sagar's collaboration with Gemini Studio proved to be fruitful for his career. Gemini's owner SS Vasan was impressed with Sagar's professionalism and advised him to direct films again. Under the Vasan's tutelage, Sagar directed Ghunghat (1960) and Zindagi (1964) for Gemini Studio which were successful commercially and critically. He even wrote the Shammi Kapoor and Sadhana starrer Rajkumar (1964) for another South Indian banner. Ghunghat and Zindagi's success gave him the confidence to re-start his career as a producer and director. Sagar moved back to Mumbai and re-christened his Production House as Sagar Films. The first film under the Sagar Arts banner was Rajendra Kumar, Sadhana and Feroz Khan starrer Arzoo, which became a blockbuster. He won Filmfare Best Director Award for his spy thriller Aankhen. 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 Baghavat 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.