Yep! It’s the Doordarshan day today!
By the way it would be a nice
nostalgic walk for all of us. I meant for those who loved Mowgli, Swami, Renuka
Sahane’s smile, the voice of “Mein Samay Hun” from Mahabharat, the skills of
Byomkesh Bakshi, the songs from Rangoli and many more. And for others who
missed the fun of that era, it would be a nice ride on the slide.
It was fun growing up in the 80s
and the 90s. We had limited choices but all of them were full of life. The same
stands with the TV. We had one nice channel and few little sweet programs being
aired then. Those not only left us with time to spend time on other things but
also made sure we never glued overselves to the Idiot Box with the remote in
hand being utilized to its fullest. And when glued, they made sure, we enjoyed
and also learnt!
When we sit back, relax and stop
our brain for a moment to think about Doordarshan, the second thing that would
flash across our mind would be our favorite serial. The first thing would
obviously be the Doordarshan logo and the Doordarshan tune!
Mahabharat has been one of the
most prominent serial to be aired on TV. The huge colorful set, the Kurukshetra
war when the whole of the screen filled with people, the ever smiling Lord
Krishna, the win of Pandavas, Duryodhan’s hatred, Bheema’s power, Karna’s
unsung heroism and the mysterious Samay. If I woke up early on Sunday’s that
would be only to get fresh and sit in front of the TV at sharp 9 AM for word
Mahabharat to form on the screen with thousands of people indulged in war at
the background followed by a loud “Mahaaaaabhaaaratt”. I had always wondered
who the Samay was, and behind which star he hid (when the voice of Samay came
in, the screen showed a picture of Universe, with stars and few planets and a
chariot wheel rotating at the center) I used to think Samay to be one of the
greatest fellow who knew everything, obviously if he knew what's happening and
that too about the Mahabharat then he ought to know everything, even the
questions that would appear in the next tests! Now to add a small GK onto your
DD Knowledge, the voice of that mysterious Samay was given by Harish Bhimani, a
well-known voice artist. Not to forget the famous Ramayan from Ramanad Sagar
which added up in the mythological section. This serial, at its peak, was so
famous that the whole nation would be in front of the Television watching the
peaceful Ram.
When I recollect my memories of
those days, two of my favourites were Malgudi Days and The Jungle Book. Malgudi
Days was a brilliant work from non-other than the well-known Kannada actor and director
Shankar Nag based on the works of one of the finest writer India has seen, R.K.
Narayan. If you go back and read R.K. Narayan’s work, you would believe how sweetly
these two great men brought to life a complete village with full of us, common
men. The daily life problems of common people and the mixed taste of fun and
pain from them will probably be never so clearly depicted. The naughty
Swaminathan still keeps running in front of our eyes when the catchy score of
Malgudi Days plays in our mind – “Thaana Na Naana” by L. Vaidyanathan. Ah! I
still love that more than any of the songs released recently.
You ought to believe me, if I say
I took a break just now went back to YouTube, searched it, listened to it and
came back! And just for you, my near dear readers, I will list down links of
few select scores which by now you would want to listen to.
Moving onto my next favorite –
The Jungle Book, the animated series based on the collection of stories by
Rudyard Kipling. If you ever watched it, you will obviously have loved it. So
let me directly ask you a question. Who was your favorite? Was it Mowgli, the
hero of the show, Bhageera - the black panther always saving everyone, Baloo – Mowgli's best friend, Kaa – the python with amusing face, Raksha – Mowgli's wolf
mother, Shere Khan – the bad tiger whose voice was given by Nana Patekar. Yes,
Nana Patekar was behind the scenes when you were afraid and also angry on Shere
Khan when he threatened Mowgli! Even this serial had a brilliant catchy score,
written by Gulzaar, starting as – “Jungle jungle baat chali hai pata chala hai…
Arre chaddi pehen ke phool khila hai phool khila hai…”
When we have started remembering
about the good old days of Doordarshan can we afford forgetting Rangoli? No
ways! You switch on Doordarshan at sharp 8 AM and there you can watch Shweta
Tiwari smiling at you reading a letter from one of the fan requesting for an old
gold song. Yes, true, in your nostalgic memory screen it will be Dreamgirl Hema
Malini smiling! Within minutes, she moves away with the screen showing an old
song to which you would definitely start humming to sipping your hot tea. What
a start to your Sunday! Of course followed by reading the Sunday Readers! :D
If these beauties smiled in
morning, Renuka Sahane came on screen with her cute smile during the evening
along with Siddharth Kak, also the creator, in the greatest show Surabhi a.k.a
Amul Surabhi. I know you would be remembering the score of Surabhi, with the tabla
playing at the background and little parts of Indian culture flowing on the
foreground. It has its entry in the Limca Book of Records for receiving the largest measured audience response ever in the history of Indian Television! Amazing! Isn't it? I myself along with
my brother, who of course was the one to give me the answers, have responded to
their Aaj Ka Sawaal, but never won though. I bet on the hard work of the entire
team in reaching out to different parts and people of India and bringing out
the hidden culture of the country. It was one show that taught a lot and at the
same time kept entertaining people.
Andhera Kaayam Rahe – a trademark
quote from Kilvish, the archenemy of our Hero, Shaktiman still keeps ringing in
our ears. The way Shaktiman flew, did miracles, solved problems, saved people,
saved the city, all of his qualities amused us in childhood days. Right when we
were amused by his talents and tried holding our right arm up in the air and swirl
around just like him, there used to come the cute irritating Pandit Gangadhar Vidyadhar Mayadhar Omkarnath Shastri. I agree we all have grown up, grown smart, in the age of Iron
Man 3, but still back in our childhood days, Shaktiman was our real hero!
Byomkesh
Bakshi, a simple yet smart detective always mesmerized me when he solved witty
cases just by observing what others failed to and thinking differently. Though
the series seems to be influenced by Sherlock Holmes, it gave a pure Indian
touch to the cases and the detective skills.
Coming
on to the Family Drama section, can the Indian Television Industry ever forget
the first Indian soap opera – Hum Log? It brought in a whole new life to the
Television history setting in a new era of family dramas, emotions, daily
struggles, aspirations of middle class families. In short, a glimpse of a
common man’s daily life. It was neatly scripted and beautifully enacted by the
cast and was specially narrated by Ashok Kumar. To add upon the spice, Dekh
Bhai Dekh was another serial a comic series depicting the life of the three
generations of the Diwan Family and the daily fun that goes on inside their Bungalow.
I feel this is one serial that brought in a whole package of Joint Family with
all different characters living together loving each other.
Besides
these, there have been many top serials in Doordarshan that have been having the
highest TRP during those times. While the serials like Chanakya, The Sword of
Tipu Sultan gave a fine historical education to the people; Gul Gushan Gulfaam,
Shanti, Swabhimaan and many others entertained people with the drama; the ones
like Vikram Aur Betaal, Sindabad the Sailor, Chandrakanta, Captain Vyom, Disney
Hour (with Dusktales, TaleSpin, Aladdin, Quack Pack etc etc etc) kept the
children glued to TVs until they got scoldings to finish off the boring
homeworks!
How
about the comedy serials like Mungerilaal Ke Haseen Sapne, Wagle Ki Duniya, Tu
Tu Main Main, Nukkad and many others including Jaspal Bhatti’s Flop Show. All these showed a neat meaningful comedy and
a perfect hint of humor and made us laugh out of our troubles and tensions. We
adapted to this humor and became obsessed with the way these great guys made
us forget our tensions, brought out the laughter in us. Tenali Rama was so
talented and taught us a completely different and humorous way of looking at
problems and issues.
There
have even been many detectives who walked on the television screen beside
Byomkesh Bakshi, like Vijay Anand in Tehkikat along with Saurabh Shukla as Gopichand
adding a humorous touch to the show. How many of you, as kids, taught eating
carrot would help in solving the mysterious cases just like Karamchand? If
these guys were the greatest detectives of Doordarshan, kids also matched up
with these guys in the series, Ek Do Teen Char! Chaaro milke saath chale toh karde
chamatkar!
The
romantic hero of Bollywood, who now rules the Silver Screen, Shahrukh Khan, was
once the cutest face of the TV playing his part as Abhimanyu Rai in Fauji and
Raghavan in Circus, both serials being very fine entertainers.
All
in all, Doordarshan not only was just a channel, it was a part of our life. It
covered every section of the society and brought in a program for every age. It
was always educational and always worked on entertaining people with neat and
pure work. While it showcased the Indian culture one day, it entertained the
kids other day, if it kept the people busy with its drama; it sent them on a
chase along with its mysteries. If people cried with a show, they laughed their
stomachs out from the fun on the screen. It was an era of real television, a
time when ads were aired between the serials and not vice versa as of today’s
age. I do agree time changes, competition come in, we have to keep running
along with the changing time but once a gold always a gold! It Never Rusts!
The
same Doordarshan taught us many nice things. This channel has been so down to
earth that it even brought in the famous serial Krishi Darshan for spreading a
lot of useful information to the farmers! To add upon all these, the most
famous, Mile Surr Mera Tumhara, sung by prominent figures of India including
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was promoted by Doordarshan! It always portrayed the true
India and the real Indian lives. It still is thriving hard to make a stand
among the other wealthy channel that have zoomed high above it.
Life
moves on, time flows on, changes come in, pages turn over, we switch on the
channels from our remote but memories never change nor even fade away. The Doordarshan
logo will still be first thing I can recover from my mind when I search for ‘logos of Indian channels’ in my memory!
Leaving
you all into your Nostalgia…
Vishal…
As
I Promised –
- List of Doordarshan Serials (because I am sure I have not recapped all the serials of Doordarshan and may even have missed few of your favourites but the fault is of my limited memory)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_programs_broadcast_by_DD_National2. Doordarshan’s Signature Tune3. Malgudi Days ( my favorite )4. The Jungle Book5. Ramayan6. Amul Surabhi7. Mahabharath8. Mile Surr Mera Tumhara9. Dekh Bhai Dekh10. Gul Gulshan Gulfaam11. Vikram Aur Betaal12. Ducktaleshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzpqk7by80A
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