Katha Sagar ( translation:''"A Sea of Stories"'') is an Indian television series that aired on DD National in 1986. The series featured a collection of stories by writers from around the world, including Katherine Mansfield, Guy De Maupassant, Leo Tolstoy,

O. Henry William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include "The Gift of the M ...

Anton Chekov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

etc. Each episode was directed by one of eight well known Indian directors, including

Shyam Benegal Shyam Benegal (born 14 December 1934) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Often regarded as the pioneer of parallel cinema, he is widely considered as one of the greatest filmmakers post 1970s. He has received ...

, Kundan Shah, Ved Rahi and Satyen Bose. Most of the stories in the series were one-episode long.Awaasthi, Kavita (16 May 2016
A touch of class: Shyam Benegal remembers the stories of Katha Sagar
in Hindustan Times. Retrieved 26 July 2020 Many years after its original run, the series was again produced by Prem Krishen Malhotra and Sunil Mehta, founders of " Cinevista Communications Limited".

Plot

The series included about 37 stories based on different subjects like "Fear" by Guy De Maupassant, " The Overcoat" by

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...

, "

A Cup of Tea "A Cup of Tea" is a 1922 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published in ''The Story-Teller'' in May 1922. It later appeared in '' The Doves' Nest and Other Stories'' (1923). Her short stories first appeared in Melbourne in 1907, but ...

" by Katherine Mansfield, and Tolstoy's "

Where Love Is, God Is "Where Love Is, God Is" (sometimes also translated as "Where Love Is, There God Is Also" or "Martin the Cobbler") is a short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy. The title references the Catholic hymn Ubi Caritas. One English translation of thi ...

" (Pratiksha) and many others. Some of the stories were adapted to fit an Indian context but the adaptation embodied the essence of the original story very well.

Episodes

Cast

The series featured some of the best actors of Indian TV & cinema at that time like: * Sharmila Tagore * Shammi Kapoor *

Om Puri Om Prakash Puri (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Bengali, Kannada,English, Punjabi and one Telugu film, as well as independent and art films and also starred ...

* Saeed Jaffrey * Tiku Talsania * Ashok Kumar * Utpal Dutt * Waheeda Rehman * Moushumi Chatterjee * Marc Zuber * Kulbhushan Kharbanda * Anjan Srivastav * Kiran Kumar * Kitu Gidwani *

Archana Puran Singh Archana Puran Singh (born 26 September 1962) is an Indian actress and television personality. She is known for her comedy roles in several Bollywood movies and as a judge in the comedy shows ''The Kapil Sharma Show'' and ''Comedy Circus''. She ...

* Mangal Dhillon *

Shashi Puri Shashi Puri is an Indian actor who appeared in Hindi and Punjabi films. He also did a few Punjabi films including ''Saali Adhi Gharwali'', ''Duja Viah'', ''Udeekan Saun Diyan'', ''Jako Rakhe Saiyan'' etc. Filmography Hindi *''Grahan'' (1972) * ...

Vijayendra Ghatge Vijayendra Ghatge is an Indian actor in Bollywood film and television. He is known for his role of Lala Vrishbhaan in the TV serial ''Buniyaad'' that originally aired on DD National in 1986. Among other serials and several films, he is also kn ...

* Vikram Gokhale * Raza Murad * Parikshit Sahni * Beena * Neena Gupta * Suresh Oberoi * Pallavi Joshi * Supriya Pathak * Bindu *

Rohini Hattangadi Rohini Hattangadi (''née'' Oak; born 11 April 1955) is an Indian actress, known for her work in Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, and Gujarati films, and Marathi soap operas and theatre. She has won two Filmfare Awards, one National Film ...

* Vishnu Sharma * Radha Seth * Satish Kaushik * Bharat Bhushan *

Satyen Kappu Satyendra Kappu (born Satyendra Sharma; also credited as Satyen Kappu; 7 February 1931 – 27 October 2007), was an Indian character actor in Bollywood films. He has acted in 390 films. His most remembered role is Ramlal in the movie ''Sholay'' ...

Benjamin Gilani Benjamin Gilani is an Indian film, television and stage actor who works in Hindi cinema. Early life and career Gilani was schooled at Bishop Cotton School, Shimla. He is a postgraduate from Delhi University having studied and taught English lit ...

Lucky Ali Maqsood Mahmood Ali (born 19 September 1958), better known as Lucky Ali, is an Indian singer, songwriter and actor. With several popular singles and albums, he emerged as a significant figure of Indipop during the 1990s. Early life and educatio ...

* Ajit Vachani * Harish Patel * K. K. Raina * Iftekhar *

A. K. Hangal Avtar Kishan Hangal (1 February 1914 – 26 August 2012) was an Indian freedom fighter from 1929 to 1947 and also stage actor from 1936 to 1965 and later became a character actor in Hindi language films from 1966 to 2005. His most notable role ...

* Anjana Mumtaz * Irrfan Khan * Ravi Jhankal * Pankaj Berry * Rajendra Gupta * Lalit Tiwari *

Sulbha Deshpande Sulabha Deshpande ( mr, सुलभा देशपांडे; 1937 – 4 June 2016) was an Indian actress and theatre director. Apart from Marathi theatre and Hindi theatre in Mumbai, she acted in over 73 mainstream Bollywood films. She als ...

* Dina Pathak * Sulabha Arya *

Rama Vij Rama Vij ( hi, रमा विज, pa, ਰਮਾ ਵਿਜ) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi and Punjabi movies and TV serials. Career Vij is a well known name in Pollywood (Punjabi Cinema in India) and Bollywood. Her debut movie w ...

* Naresh Suri * Urmila Matondkar * Shreeram Lagoo * Meera Madhuri * Suresh Oberoi

References

External links