All fingers are counting the zeroes in the budget; all eyes are on the spectacular coming together of the genteel calm of Rama and the thunderous tandav of the learned Ravana on IMAX and 70mm-related formats. But a few hearts still beat with nostalgia for the small screen epic that hushed the streets every Sunday morning as families huddled together to watch Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan on Doordarshan 39 years ago.
The prevalent mood renders it relevant to look at what has been happening on a piece of land 70km from Mumbai that the foresighted Sagar had invested in. Papaji (as the Sagar family called him) had bought land in Karjat, which was relatively unexplored in the 80s. It grew in volume as sons and grandsons acquired more acres around it. Although spiritually inclined with two sessions of meditation daily and believing he was chosen to spread the Ramayan beyond the shores of India, Ramanand Sagar was a canny businessman too. To this day, the Sagar Villa he built in Juhu luxuriously houses several generations on different floors, long after the joint family split.
His investments in Karjat also got fragmented over the years. But the Ramayan lives on, on the land that son Prem Sagar inherited and nurtured along with his son Shiv, who studied hotel management in Switzerland. Shiv runs a boutique farm stay there, focussing on organic farming and cultural activities. But ever since a grand temple was inaugurated in Ayodhya, Prem Sagar had a fond wish to build a Ram Mandir on his land. He’d even bought the idol he wanted to install when cancer struck.
Within two months, Prem passed on in August last year. But this September, his wife Neelam, son Shiv and daughters Shabnam and Ganga ensured that they fulfilled his last wish. The Prem branch of the family inaugurated a Ram Mandir on the land Ramanand Sagar had bought, with tutaris (horn blown by Maharashtrians for important ceremonies) heralding the arrival of the idol and lunch served on banana leaves. So, along with the farm stay, this Ram Mandir is also growing into a tourist attraction.
Interestingly, the Sagar farm shares a wall with ND Studios, the ambitious project that art director Nitin Desai had envisioned and was the site where opulent films like Jodhaa Akbar and many of Madhur Bhandarkar’s films were shot. It was also the unfortunate venue where a financially stressed Nitin died by suicide in 2023. Among other truncated dreams, the art director had left behind an unfinished documentary on his rise and volume of work.
The good news from Karjat is that the state government has taken over the orphaned studio as part of its expansion plans for Film City and NFDC’s commissioned work on his documentary has been completed. Two unknown young directors Sachin and Pankaj had their work cut out for them when Nitin died suddenly but had fortunately left behind a vast collection of detailed notes, photographs and work-related memorabilia. Mumbaikars will forever remember Nitin as the art director who created the Lalbaughcha Raja Ganesh idol year after year. With material on Nitin’s work scattered all over, Aruna Raje (who made films like Rihaee with Hema Malini and Vinod Khanna) had to sit up nights to edit and give shape to the content before her. By the way folks, Aruna just turned 80.
As we move closer to the new Ramayana, here’s some confirmation from director Nitesh Tiwari who wonders why people ask him if the epic will be shot on real locations. “Where are the real locations today for what happened during Lord Rama’s time?” he questions. “Yes, we have started work on the 2nd edition and it’s all going to be shot here in India. We will be ready with it by next Diwali.”
You know where all eyes will be this time next year, too.
Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and an author