Good bye Ramanand Sagar
Ramanand Sagar, the creative producer, director of India’s first most popular Television series “Ramayanaâ€, has passed away. He was eighty seven.
Though Ramanand Sagar became a household name after “Ramayanaâ€, he had been making films since 1953 beginning with Mehmaan.
One of his most famous hits was Arzoo, starring Rajendra Kumar, Sadhana and Firoz Khan. Arzoo had some of the most melodious songs and I can still hear my mom humming those songs all around the house.
His next major hit was Aankhen (1968) starring Dharmendra and Mala Sinha, an Indianized take on James Bond. Again the music was one of its key assets along with the comedy of Mehmood. The “International Fakir†song got me in splits the first time I heard it.
Another fast paced Bond based movie Ramanand Sagar made, was Charas (1976) with Dharmendra and Hema Malini.
Perhaps Baghawat made by Sagar in 1982, marked the end of costume dramas in Bollywood, because it was outrightly rejected by the audience. It wasn’t until Aamir Khan’s Lagaan that costume dramas found their way back in Bollywood.
Besides Ramayana, Ramanand Sagar’s other ventures in television include Vikram aur Vetaal, Luv Kush and Krishna.
The curtain falls on another movie baron who re-invented himself and his work time and again to adapt to the changing tastes of every passing generation. Ramanand Sagar. May his soul rest in peace.
March 27th, 2006 at 11:32 am
a true inspiration,
he will be missed
May 14th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
I am great fan of Ramayana created by Ramanand sagar, chemistry and apearance of Lord Rama is as true as a person can imagine ,,,this is only one all time famous telvesion serial in indian histroy which i usually watch whenever telecast in Television…in my opinion this big loss to indian televsion as ” Ramanad Sagar”