The serial was designed for children and families, but the allotted time slot seemed to be a disaster…But Vikram aur Betaal created history on Indian television with the India Today magazine talking about its ‘… electronic special effects coming to Indian television …’ and how ‘ Vikram aur Betaal has unveiled an electronic era …’ The idea was to take a classic story and make it both engaging and deeply meaningful.
In the mid-Eighties, when TV had taken off in India, Sharad Joshi, scholar and columnist of the Indian newspaper Navbharat Times, and I got down to the roots of Somdev Bhatt’s twenty-five stories of the Indian classic Betaal Pachisi, the foundation of the TV serial Vikram aur Betaal. There were zero buyers for Ramanand Sagar’s vision and Ramayan. After a month of hobnobbing, I came back empty-handed. Close friends advised me to put some sense into my father. A few politely instructed their secretaries to see me out of their office.
He got pamphlets of Ramayan and Shri Krishna printed, announcing them to be launched through video cassettes bought me a round-the-world air ticket, gave me contact letters to some of his richest overseas Indian friends and sent me off on a business trip to collect funds for his mammoth dream project. After all, we were a successful production house and things were going fine for us in cinema, so why would we even think of moving to TV? Who will watch a serial about mukut-mooch (crown and moustaches)?īut Papaji was firm. The industry people thought that the Sagars had lost their mind. My life’s mission is to bring to mankind the virtuous story of Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram followed by the one with sixteen virtues, Shri Krishna and finally, the story of Maa Durga with infinite shakti.’ He announced to the three of us, ‘I am leaving cinema … I am getting into television. Papaji went into deep thought over his glass of red wine. We were stunned! It was a colour TV-something we had never seen till then. It was unbelievable to see a solid wooden cabinet with no film tape or cassette playing a film on the screen. He switched on a button and soon, we were watching a French film in colour. Having served the wine, the French-Swiss man pushed a solid wooden rectangular cabinet of wood to face us and opened its front door to reveal a screen of glass. After a hard day’s work, Papaji ordered a jug of red wine.
In 1976, during the course of shooting for the movie Charas in Switzerland, Papaji and the three of us-Subhash, Anand and me- were sitting in a very tiny roadside cafe in the French part of the Alps town Les Deblecaire. Eco India, Episode 134: Modern day home owners in Tamil Nadu look to the past to build eco homes.Why the UK bill that gives its government the power to strip people of citizenship is so frightening.The big news: Fresh curbs loom in several countries as Covid cases surge, and nine other top stories.A visit to North Sentinel island: ‘Please, please, please, let us not destroy this last haven’.Conspiracy for Punjab sacrilege case was hatched at Ram Rahim’s Dera Sacha Sauda, say police.‘Your English in Marathi accent is so sexy’: The popular video trend continues with a new version.‘It’s inhumane’: How a clunky US visa system has kept Indian H-1B holders away from their families.BWF World C’ships, semifinals as it happened: Srikanth defeats Lakshya Sen to reach final.‘Decoupled’ review: R Madhavan and Surveen Chawla rescue comedy about a failing marriage.‘Don’t be alone at home with your daughter, the devil may descend on you’: SP MLA Abu Azmi on TV.One of the oldest surviving historical accounts of India was written by this Korean Buddhist monk.Man killed in Amritsar after allegedly attempting sacrilege at Golden Temple, say reports.