Ramanand Sagar passed away

Veteran filmmaker Ramanand Sagar who produced the historic TV epic Ramayana died at his residence in Mumbai on Monday night. Eighty-seven-year old Sagar had been unwell for the past three months.He is survived by wife, five sons and a daughter.

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.

His other projects included ‘Shri Krishna’ ‘Durga’, ‘Jai Mahalaxmi’, ‘Jai Ganga Maiya’ and the recent one ‘Sai Baba’ which went on air two months ago.

The Indian government conferred the title of Padmashri on Dr Ramanand Sagar in 2001; in 1996, he was honoured with Sahitya Vachaspati (Doctor of Literature) by the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan (Prayag), Allahabad; in 1997, Jammu University gave him a honoris causa doctorate (Doctor of Literature).