Ramanand Sagar

Dr. Ramanand Sagar was born on December 29, 1917 at Asal Guru Ke, near the city of Lahore, Pakistan (then part of Hindustan). During the British Rule itself, Ramanand began his film career with a silent movie called "Raiders of the Railroad" (1936). Subsequently, he went on to make, what is now known as a masterpiece, "Aur Insaan Mar Gaya". Following freedom of India from the British, Ramanand launched his very own production company during the year 1950, calling it the Sagar Art Corporation, and began this by making a movie called "Mehmaan". Sagar Art Corporation and Ramanand Sagar have to their credit over 50 Hindi movies, including blockbusters such as "Insaniyat", "Ghunghat", "Peghaam", "Aankhen" (1968) "Geet", "Bagavat", "Lalkar", "Kohinoor", "Zindagi", Aarzoo" are just to name a few. Ramanand created history when he made the television serial "Ramayan", reportedly the longest running serial in India, which featured the life and times of Bhagwan Shri Ram, and his eventual conquest over Lord Ravan and his evil empire in Lanka. Ramanand was currently involved in making another epic on the life of Sai Baba, which is to air Sunday nights in place of "Kaun Banega Crorepati" as it's host Amitabh Bachchan has been hospitalized. He was presented India's highest Honor "Padamshree", and became known as Padamshree Dr. Ramanand Sagar. He used to reside in his family home called "Sagar Villa" in Juhu, Bombay. Before that they lived in a flat behind National Hospital in Dadar (West), Bombay. At the age of 87, Ramanand had not been keeping good health, and unexpectedly passed away on Monday December 11, 2005 in the evening. His funeral procession consisted of several hundred family, close friends, and Bollywood's actors like Arun Govil, Deepika (who played Ram and Sita respectively in Ramayan), Poonam Dhillon, Bhagyashree, Ravindra Jain, etc. The funeral pyre was lit and last rites performed by Ramanand's eldest son, Subhash, at the Juhu-Vile Parle Crematorium on the morning of December 12, 2005. Ramanand is survived by his wife, a daughter, and four sons (Subhash, Moti, Prem, Anand).