EPIC achievements

Ramayan of course became Indian TV8217;s first blockbuster. quot;We anticipated a good response, but we didn8217;t think it would be such a big success,8221; adds Prem. The Sagars8217; other mytho is Shri Krishna which has, so far, earned DD Rs 45 crore.

And when several other producers plunged into making mythologicals, the Sagars moved on to fantasies. Alif Laila based on the Arabian Nights, kept audiences glued to DD every Monday night. Now comes Tilism-e-Hoshruba, another Arabian fantasy. quot;Tilism, which was originally written in Persian, runs into over 50,000 pages,8221; explains Anand Sagar who is directing the serial along with his father and brother Moti.

8220;The Mughal emperor, Babar brought the work to India. He also got along a painter called Samar who illustrated this story in the form of Mughal miniature paintings. Almost all eastern fantasies are inspired by this book,quot; he adds.

The serial focuses on one section of the work, called Dastaan-e-Amir Hamza. quot;Tilism8230; is the kingdom of evil magicians. These forces want to overpower the whole world, and there is this one small kingdom which resists their invasion,8221;reveals Anand, quot;The fight between the brave and the ruthless is led by Amir Hamza,quot; he adds. Anand has employed a team of writers to translate the entire book from Urdu, and although he is sticking to the basic storyline, he is fictionalising it in order to cater to his audiences8217; tastes.

quot;The dialogues for Tilism8230; have been written in simplified Urdu, as was the case with Alif Laila,quot; he says.

In Itihaas Ki Prem Kahaniyan

, a recreation of famous love-stories from Indian history, there is no room for fantasy. quot;We have selected stories which are well-chronicled, like Rani Roopmati and Baaz Bahadur or Prithviraj Chauhan and Sanyogita. Here we have enough references for the ambience, the sets and characters.quot;

The three serials are on the floors simultaneously. So Sagar shoots at a studio in Baroda where he has six permanent shooting floors. quot;At a time, I have about 15 standing sets 8212; stadiums, forts, palaces, and streets. I save a lot of time and money because I don8217;t have to dismantle and recreate the sets,quot; says Anand. These serials have also provided work to a lot of struggling actors, some of whom have graduated from smaller parts to more significant characters.

quot;I spend a lot of time screening new actors. I give them an audition with proper costumes, dialogues, etc,8221; he adds.

And since the entire unit lives on the sets, there is very little waste of resources or time.quot;We can afford to have lavish sets like those used for films, as they are carried over several episodeshence the costs get divided, quot; Anand reveals.

The popularity of their serials makes the Sagars investment and effort worthwhile. quot;My mountaineer friend Harish Kapadia, narrated an interesting anecdote about Ramayan,8221; says Prem, quot;When he was climbing the Siachen range, he took nearly 10 days to reach a sparsely inhabited hamlet, practically cut off from civilization. While negotiating a steep rock, he was hauled up by a man who asked him, 8220;Do you want to watch Ramayan? Come over to my place!8221;