THE MAN WHO WAS DESTINED TO RE-CREATE THE WORLD OF THE GODS ON EARTH

Ali Peter John

He had a tough and troubled childhood. A scar on his forehead reminded him of his cruel stepmother till the end of his life .It was the kind of life that made him a very sensitive boy .

As he grew up, he was more and more sensitive . A bout with tuberculosis (TB) led him to write his first book,"Ek TB patient ki diary". The book made him a popular name in both India and Pakistan (before Partition). He got married at a very young age and had five sons and a daughter.

The writer in him found a very grim subject in the partition , during which he and his family crossed into India. The ravages of the partition was what made him write his next book,"Aur insaan mar gaya" (and humanity died). The book added to his name that he had earned after his first book and the short stories he wrote in magazines . It had a foreword by the well-known writer and filmmaker Khwaja Ahmad Abbas . It was the most talked about book in literary circles and was translated into several languages all over the world . He was on his way to a future of which he was not sure .

He landed in Bombay with his family and realised that he had nowhere to go. One morning, it is said , he went to the sea in Juhu and cried out  to the sea .He told her the truth about his life and his family and also told her that he had come to her seeking her help in a city where he didn't know anyone. A huge wave came and surrounded him and he felt very safe , secure and welcome .That was the moment when he decided to change his name from Ramanand Chopra to Ramanand Sagar , officially .

It was some friends who were successful writers who asked him to try writing for films where they said he could make good money. He wrote the story of Raj Kapoor’s "Barsaat" which was a huge success and both Raj Kapoor and Sagar never had to look back.

Sagar and his family had now moved into a room in Bhatia Building in Mahim and his sons , Subhash , Shanti, Prem, Anand and Moti went to the nearby Don Bosco High School and his daughter also went to a convent school.

It was time to take another big step . He moved south and wrote some of the very successful films made by Gemini which was the leading company of the times .

He came back to Bombay and directed his first film, "Mehmaan ", which turned out to be a flop but he didn't give up hope he kept writing and had his own office in Kardar Studios in Parel where he had big film makers for company. He formed his own company , Sagar Art International ,a banner which was going to be one of the most reputed banners in the years to come .

He then moved his office from Kardar to Natraj Studios where other leading filmmakers like Shakti  Samanta ,F.C.Mehra , Atma Ram (the younger brother of Guru Dutt) and Pramod Chakravarthy also had their offices .

His banner grew into a leading name after he Produced and directed films like "Aarzoo", "Aankhen" and "Geet"among others . His sons , also joined him in the company. Subhash went on to be a Producer on his own , but made films in Hindi and Gujarati under his father's banner . Shanti was with the company till he decided to branch out on his own and made films like "Daraar ", "Premparbat"and "Aakhri Daaku"which was directed by Prakash Mehra before he became a big name. Prem became a leading cinematographer after passing out of the FTII with a gold medal and was the Cinematographer of all the films made under the banner of Sagar Arts till he met with an almost fatal accident while shooting for his father's film , he however returned and directed his own first film, "Hum tere aashiq hai" with Jeetendra and Hema Malini and later took to marketing and made Sagar Arts a big name Internationally . Anand was a successful director and Moti a writer. Their sister had got married settled down in Delhi . In the meanwhile , Sagar had come up with his own Bungalow called Sagar Villa in which he had floors for himself  his five sons and their families . This Bungalow was just a few minutes away from the Sea where he had gone asking the sea for help when he was a nobody and new to Bombay.

The banner however took a downward swing when some big films like "Baghawaat", "Romance "and "Salma" flopped at the box - office. There was darkness in the office and some in the Industry even predicted doomsday for the banner, but Sagar had faith in his God...

It was during this bad phase that he decided to make a mythological film. He even launched "Gopal Krishna" with Shashi Kapoor in the title role and launched it in the presence of the then deputy Prime Minister , Mr. Morarji Desai who was known to be an anti -film man and had never seen any Hindi film at least , in his life. The film however did not go beyond the  launching stage , but God's grace continued to be with Sagar and showed him a new way out of the darkness.

The small screen (Television) was growing popular and after doing a great deal of study and research , Sagar decided to make "Ramayan" a serial based on the epic . It was a brave , but risky step , but Sagar knew that he had to take it . He received the strong support of the then government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

He took his time to cast actors and knew that he didn't want and couldn't take stars. He finally settled for Arun Govil to play Ram, Deepika Chikaliya to play Seeta , Sunil Lahiri  to play Laxman, Arvind Trivedi to play Ramvaan and Dara Singh to play Hanuman. Little did he know that he and these actors were  going to rule the hearts and homes of millions for years and create history.

The hole of Ayodhya was set up in Umargaon , kilometers away from Bombay . Sagar took great pains to see that everything was as realistic as possible and his team gave him all the support he needed.

It took months to complete the first few episodes and when Ramayan was telecast, there was some kind of a divine revolution all over the country which slowly spread all over the world.

It was a new experience to see millions of people sitting at home on Sunday mornings waiting for the "Ramayan" to start.People of all religions saw it and it became a part of every family.This new festival lasted for a year and now lives forever.It is only this morning that Doordarshan has revived the telecast after more than 33 years .

Sagar became a cult figure and was even worshiped by people . Arun Govil, Deepika, Dara Singh and others couldn't live normal lives . They too were treated like the Gods they played. Deepika , Arvind Trivedi and Dara Singh even went to parliament . The serial , surprisingly was also popular in Muslim countries like Pakistan and the Gulf countries and even in communist countries like Russia and China .

It was supposed to have a big hand in bringing the BJP to power and some of the top leaders of the party were and still are grateful to Sagar . It is also said to be one of the major reasons to revive the interest of people in India which was now known as "The land of the Ramayan" .

It is interesting how only some months ago ,a coffee table book written by his son , Prem Sagar and researched by his grandson Shiv Sagar on the success of the serial and Sagar was released and was also a big success all over .

Sagar may have done many other things in his life , but he will always be known as the man who brought alive the glory of another time, another place and another world, a world of the Gods .