Doordarshan Ki Aatmakatha
Kal Jahaan Basti Thi Khushiyaan, Aaj Hai Maatam Wahaan,
Waqt Laaya Tha Bahaarein, Waqt Laaya Hai Khizaan…
Namashkaar, Aadab, Sat Shri Akaal, Hello… My name is Doordarshan. Naam Toh Sunaa Hoga… After a prolonged stoic silence, I have finally decided to vent my frustration in front of all of you, the discerning public, who have grown up with me, and have subsequently discarded me from your favour, just like you have forgotten about all those toys that you played with and put it in the attic once you grew out of it, or maybe like the children of your maidservant who were your playmates when you were young, but today are a source of embarrassment for you to even recognize! Or maybe like an old acquaintance from whom you had taken a small loan sometime back, but are now avoiding to recognize, just because it’s been too long now, although you can pay him off quite easily.
I know I am not being politically correct here, but as I said earlier, I have decided to vent my frustration to you all! Whether it makes any difference to you, I doubt, but let me present my own case, and be free from all encumbrances, since everyone says I am the product of my own short-sightedness! And to think that my name is Door-Darshan! Haah!
I sincerely think I have always been a propaganda-child, and a female one at that! Having been born in India, the treatment being meted out to me now is not unprecedented, but what hurts is the purposeful avoidance, as if I am a mistake no one wants to own up! There was a time when I was the only child in the entire household, and was the apple of everyone’s eyes. Not that I was brilliant, but I was at least presentable, and all the elders in family had only me to play with. I was so pampered, I never got the chance to grow up, nor did I want to, lest the attention drifts away from me. Being the cynosure of everyone’s eyes became my habit, and I took it for granted, which was to be my bane in the long run. I did not even realize that while I was being played around with, my playmates were also busy in producing other children, sometimes on their own merit, at other times through artificial insemination!
They were the midnight’s children, who had the benefit of hindsight, and my own follies to act as their own ‘what-not-to-do’ dossier. In a moment, my entire lifetime’s contribution to the family was virtually forgotten. All of you, who suddenly started swearing by a BPL Oye! forgot that I had given you the first Superhit Muqabla! Today, you are fed up of the news channels doing the 24*7 analysis of the latest by-elections of the Vidhan Sabha, but it was I who got you all hooked onto the election-results by throwing in some Hindi films during the midnight votes-counting of 1985 and 1989 elections and brought the Unity-in-Diversity theory to practice in every drawing room in India by making all grown-up party supporters as well children of various strata being glued to the screen, bleary-eyed!
The enormity of my loss is still not comprehensible to me, especially since I still have arguably the most robust infrastructure in India, and probably one of the largest in the world too! But what good is all this hardware, when the software produced for some time now has been like Faujiii – the Iron Man…! Aah, those good old days also had a Fauji, and he was certainly not an Iron Man… but he had originality, he had innocence, and he certainly gave me something most alien to me nowadays, TRPs. But all that was during my golden phase, immediately after I began catering to the entire nation in colored extravaganza!
I debuted with the nationwide live telecast of the Independence Day Speech by my Mother in 1982, immediately following it up with the Asian Games in New Delhi. India’s win in the Cricket World Cup the following year cemented my position as the sole provider of entertainment and salvation for the whole country, and when I started showing them the story of their own household in the simplest possible manner through Hum Log, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Buniyaad and Nukkad, I became the most favored child of the household. The agrarian economy of India suddenly woke up and the farmers from all corners started asking questions and getting answers through Krishi Darshan! All the producers of the latest Hindi films wanted to get at least one song-slot on my bi-weekly Chitrahaar! Children could not have enough of Spiderman, He-Man and Didy’s Comedy Show, but they were also being taught history lessons in the luxury of their own rooms through Bharat Ek Khoj. However, I was probably the most favorite of the older folk and the religiously inclined people, who would not let me breathe till I showed them our mythological ancestry one Sunday after the other!
My golden period continued for almost five years, and I did not realize the birth of my competitors around 1991, until they started copying my own program-templates to give it back to me through the language of TRPs and market-share, which I hardly understood or cared about till then… I was too self-absorbed to realize what was eating me inside-out, and before long, I found myself out of favour. I know my mistakes in the hindsight… I did not (or probably was not ready to) grow up with the changing times. I stuck with the same old formula year after year, playing the morality game with an absolute political-correctness and strict censorship! I had still not realized that I had been meant to be a propaganda child all along. I am sure my political bosses had “Ganda hai par Dhanda hai yeh” song playing in their imported iPods in a loop all along… Bosses changed from time to time, but the imported iPod with the desi song remained with the chair, and I ended up being their mouthpiece! Over the period, all I would do or was allowed to do was to show how X had brought glory to our country by doing so-and-so, or how Y had single-handedly put a “Cherry-Blossom-shine” on the whole of India, the previous efforts by other office-bearers be damned!
Today, I have 19 arms, technically reaching even the remotest parts of the country, with an enabled mouthpiece for most of the states individually, and other especially dedicated channels for sports, news, parliamentary affairs, but I have still not mastered the art of TRPs, and my market-penetration in terms of viewership is almost negligible. Nobody watches the programs telecast by me anymore, and two inherent strengths that I always thought would be my savior, cricket and news, have also gone out of my control. Sometimes, my parents have to force-feed my program-contents to the unsuspecting cricket-lovers by denying the exclusive telecast rights to my cousins! That’s my sole achievement these days, when I can claim a dedicated patronage.
I do not blame my competitors, for they have been driven by the economics of perfect-competition and demand-and-supply in today’s world. My grudge is against my own guardians, who have left me to compete with the professionals, but have provided me absolutely nothing to fight with! I am helpless, since I am being governed by the independent Board Members of the Prasar Bharti under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India, and unfortunately, most of those Board Members are the bureaucrats on deputation, bored with their lives, who tune into a BBC or a CNN in case they want an official confirmation of anything that they might have done themselves during the day!
Is my fate also written with the same ink as the other government-owned monoliths in various fields, who are falling sick one after the other, and the only solution to which seems to be euthanasia? I am terribly afraid, and I did not want to go unheard, did not want to bow out without putting up a fight. So, all my old-lovers, my once-upon-a-time patrons, I beseech you to show me the way, or at least to say whether what I have to propose is right. I have the following options available with me at present:
• Give up hope altogether for any kind of revival, and let my life take its own course. Let me adopt mediocrity for the remainder of my life, and remain a propaganda-mouthpiece for all my present and future masters.
• Follow what my cousins are doing, and insist on airing the following programs in their revamped avatar: Bbuuniiyaaad, Huuumm Lougg, Kkaraamchhaandd, Nuukkadd. (I have confirmed with Jjuumaaannii & Co. about the success-viability of these programs based on numerology, so please do not suggest any spelling-changes. You are, however, welcome to suggest other names, but they must all be numerologically tested and verified by a competent authority.)
• File for divorce / separation / bankruptcy (of ideas), claim alimony (whatever little is due, based on my present contribution) and settle into a life glorious ignominy, and remain to regale the tales of my past achievements with nostalgia to all those who would care to listen. (Baap Mera Ghee Khaya, Haath Mera Soongh Lo)
• Stand up and say no to being taken for granted. Demand my rightful place in the history of Indian Television, and continue to provide those simple but soulful contents that were once my hallmark. It’s a tough task, since the entire infrastructure as well as the mindset has to be revamped, but I can’t take it lying down anymore, there’s my goodwill and past achievement at stake.
Tags: doordarshan, TelevisionMain Chhupana Jaanta Toh Jag Mujhe Saadhu Samajhta
Shatru Mera Ban Gaya Hai Chhal-rahit Vyavahaar Mera
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PFC pe hu to filmy hoo isliye …RDB ki line yaad aati hai ..
doordarshan zindagi jeeney ko 2 tareekey hai ek ..jo ho raha hai ussey honey do …dusra …uske khilaaf lado ussey badlo…
Very well written Satyender Jha ji…Articles regarding Doordarshan are always one of my favourites…because they takes me back to my golden era of childhood. Un dino ki baat hi kuch or thi… and is sad to think that….Kal tak jahan roz diwali si raat hoti thi, aaj wahan ek diya jalane wala bhi koi na raha…
thanks akash. yes, DD is a perennial favorite. i still remember most of the serials that i watched during my growing up years, unlike today’s times, when there’s water everywhere, but not a drop to drink!
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i can still remember each n every sequence of serials like hum log, buniyaad, nukkad, manoranjan, fauji, circus, doosra kewal and many more such, but i cant even remember the names of various serials on pvt vchannels, nor do i care.
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DD is indeed a nostalgia trip. the DVDs of old serials now sell at a premium! i recently bought Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi and Fauji series, and i can tell u, its worth every penny spent. i also have Kachhi Dhoop series with me.
Its a little weird. Cos its wilful avoidance. I actually surf all channels twice over and click very fast to ignore all DD channels. I used to hate them taking us viewers for granted. Their wanting to show stupid social programs. For me its entertainment all the way. Who needs gyan! Anyways thanks to the private channels, I now can spend time surfing the channels!
@ vinay: its unfortunate but true that the DD Sports is the only channel to patronize games like Kabaddi or Kho-Kho or badminton, or any other non-glamorous sport forthat matter.
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pvt channels operate from the profit motive POV, whereas DD has to cater to the govt diktats, rules, and has to remain within the boundaries.
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just as an example, hv u ever seen pvt. banks in India using Hindi in their branches? but all the nationalised banks have it mandatory to observe the protocol of dual language, hindi being the first choice. i think its a great step by the govt, unfortunately we make fun of its rashtriyata.
oh teri… kaminey, dukhti rag par hath rakh diya. its a strange coincidence … just this sunday, my cable wala screwed up & i had no choice but to watch DD for some 23 odd minutes. I did squirm in the beginning and then after a while I found the content was rich enough not to insult my bheja. It was some program about an artist who had opened an art school in far east (not sure assam or meghalaya).
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though the cable guy fixed his error, I continued to watch that program. Especially cuz I was totally clueless about what happens in that part of our own country and it was amazing to see people doing kickass stuff out there & that too only driven my passion and not money. Forget just DD, its sad that we don’t even give a fleeting thought about parts of the country which are off our radar. Such are the times we live in.
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I feel that DD is a parallel movement and you just can’t deny its importance, especially for those people who don’t watch TV for rakhi sawant & other fungi of her ilk. It has stood its ground and despite the cold shoulder given to it by the ‘yo-wassup’ junta, the older lot take it a lot more seriously than the ‘faking news’ about how 2 celebs fought or got cozy.
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Bro, a nice article, very thoughtfully written, i really appreciate. That said, the fact is that the balance of quality ‘info-tainment’ provided must be heavily upscaled, as the people have seen world-class stuff on Nat-Geo, Discovery etc. right in their living rooms. Why would they suffer stuff that doesn’t even come with hygiene-level production values.
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Basically, we need a renaissance wo/man to bring things back on track. The UTV gyus did their bit by bringing Shanti, Swabhiman… dont remember exactly what was that.. some 9-gold slot, which was my fav. back then.
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Remember when you showed the Fauji DVD which just had SRK on the cover we spoke about success sells & how! There were so many other guys who had meatier roles than SRK in Fauji, but the status today is that ther are selling the whole series just on SRK’s face value. When they themselves don’t respect themselves, why would anyone else give a damn, especially when we are so spoilt for choices.
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Bhavnaon mein beh gaya Magik. Will cut it short here. Though we do look at DD with fond memories, DD will have to re-invent itself to gain ground ni our already cluttered mindspace.
hey, thx for the vindicaion. well, its a strange catch-22 situation for DD, to be honest. first of all, the I&B Ministry needs to take a fresh look at the contents and pull up its socks pronto to stand anywhere in the same frame as the more professional channels like Nat Geo or Discovery, like you have mentioned. else, its on the highway to Doomland!
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DD’s case is same as almost all other once-upon-a-time successfull ventures of the govt. like Hindustan Motors or Nationalised Banks or even Air India. they did not grow / reinvent with time, and today nobody cares for them. however, the fact remains that DD caters to such audiences and addresses such issues that the profit-minded business houses would not even touch with a barge-pole!
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DD has to do a fine balancing between quality content as well as covering the financially less lucrative areas like public-awareness programs or far-flung areas of our country (NE, for example). my grudge is against the sub-standard qualities that DD has adopted to copy what other crap is being dished out by other channels.
Among the various characters in Fauji the ones that stood out were that of SRK & the other guy who keeps saying ” I say chaps ” to the others.SRK the star was already born & I used to watch Circus,Dil Dariya,Doosra Kewal etc mainly to watch SRK perform.
Sethu, that “I Say Chaps” is Vikram Chopra, nephew of Vidhu Vino Chopra, and his claim to fame is being the director of Fight Club, apart from having done some tid-bit roles in other films of his uncle.
The title of the post should have been “Nukkad ke kone mein buniyad ki talash mein DD ki dard bhari Fariyad”
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haha. senti ki godown hai tu saale… chal ab dhande pe baithna hai mujhe… phir milenge chalte chalte
Magik – you have a pen. The phrase “Senti ka godown hai tu” was superb.
bro rajeeb, wait till u meet satyendra… you will come up with better phrases yourself! he is one of the best beer-buddy you can ever ask for. cheerz!
There’s this prgoram which comes on Lok Sabha TV I guess.. hosted by Mrinal Pandey.. thats quite informative as far as performing arts and artistes are concerned. I think its only the serials which do not match the quality of the other channels (though other channels are also trash content wise), otherwise DD still has got some very good things to show.
Has Lok Sabha TV stemmed from DD? I’m clueless about the current scenario of TV at all. At my home, I still have only one channel DD, no Lok Sabha or even DD News.
Lok Sabha TV is very much a part of DD, governed by the I&B Ministry. it is one among the 19 arms that i have mentioned in the post.
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you can still catch some old award-winning regional movies every saturday at 9pm, repeated at 2pm the next sunday on Lok Sabha TV. i think this kind of feed is not available on any other channel.
Satyen, DD basically suffered from a reluctance to see the winds of change coming. I still recall in early days of Cable TV , when many I&B officials, dismissed the incoming Cable, Star revolution as a temporary fad, claiming who would want to see “foreign” programs, when desi was available. They could have still continued with their programs, and improved the production values. They refused to do so. Also regarding older serials like Nukkad, Buniyaad, Mahabharat, Ramayan most of them are being aired on the pvt channels, mostly i think on Zee, Sony and Star. And while it’s news reporting is still objective, its told in such a boring and dull fashion, that one loses interest. I seriously don’t recommend, the India TV-Aaj Tak style of “Breaking News”, but the least DD can do is get the audiences involved.
Maybe DD needs to learn from Discovery, History Channel,National Geographic which give out some wonderful content, and at the same time make it interesting enough. The dull school master style of sending a message, will not work.
@Satyendra and Amit
Thanks. I think, Lok Sabha channel is isn’t available in small towns without a cable connection or other DTH mediums like tata sky etc.
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Overall, I can never forget the contribution and impact of DD on my growth and development. I used to watch the regional movies on DD every sunday, also it opened the rich cultural heritage of India before me and made me interested through its concerts and programs on art & culture. More than 80% of Hindi movies, I’ve watched on DD.
Jahanpanah, you hit the nail on the head….I shudder to think what kind of thought process would entire generations who are growing up watching India TV posses.
Not to mention that I learned more about the historical stuffs than any text book through TV serials like Chanakya, Bharat Ek Khoj, Tipu Sultan and many more.
Also I learned a lot abut mythology too.
Also one more issue, is that DD’s base is getting splintered.
Love sports, i would check out Star Sports, ESPN, Ten or Neo. DD used to have some kind of niche market by telecasting the World Cup Football, but even that has been taken over by pvt channels, ESPN telecast the 2006 WC and Ten Sports did the same for 2002 WC. So DD, can’t claim exclusivity there.
People who like documentaries, educational programs as such are going towards Discovery, National Geographic, History Channel, Animal Planet, whose programs are much better than the stuff DD possesses.
There are separate movie channels for people who love watching old Hindi movies, and even Zee, Sony, Star Gold telecast older movies, though in late night slots.
Point is DD right now has not much to boast as it’s USP. Even the fact that its spread to all corners of India, is not a big strength. Because Cable has penetrated almost every nook and corner of the country, and people have a choice.
@jahanpanah, I’m not sure about the connection between Lok Sabha and DD channels but I’m guessing that both are administered by Govt. Lok sabha TV/ DD Sports (to watch TT, tennis which other sports channels do not usually cover)/ regional movies/ documentaries/ regional cultures and issues still have takers on DD, I believe.
However, TV as a medium has not achieved what it could have in terms of generating awareness. Other channels are driven by profit motive read entertainment and DD channels, being in hands of the govt, have different agenda sometimes.
I still find solace in listening to the life story of someone like Bhimsen Joshi or Pt. Birju Maharaj. Whereas if you go to any other channels, they would be covering the life story of Rakhi Sawant.. what can one say..such it goes!
One thing which really mattered in it’s hey days, was that the best of talent, migrated to DD, Hrishi Da, Basu Chatterjee, Ramesh Sippy, B.R.Chopra, Manohar Shyam Joshi, Kundan Shah, Dr.Rahi Masoom Reza, Shyam Benegal, Saeed Mirza, and that ensured the quality of the content was top notch. Most of them are no longer active, or moved into other TV channels.
DD did manage to produce some interesting educational programs, Qila Ke Rahasya, and then Turning Point presented by Naseer. Even Shyam Benegal’s Bharat Ek Khoj, wonderful recreation of Nehru’s Discovery of India.
And the genres were varied, you had detective( Karamchand), partition era sagas( Buniyaad), family soaps(Hum Log), war( Param Veer Chakra), mythological( Ramayan, Mahabharat), folk tales( Vikram Aur Vetal), and those serials based on short stories.
@ratnakar: DD had really good programs on sundays. mahabharat followed by jungle book. then there was fairy tales, street hawk, portrait of a director etc
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these days sundays are so drab :(
And who can forget Surbhi every Sunday night 9:30 pm…man, you could just sit and watch Renuka Shahane smile
That single program increased my knowledge of our country manifold…..those were the days…
Surabhi initially started on Tuesdays 9:30 PM, just after Tehkikaat.
The only TV i watch on Sundays is some sports stuff, or any good movie on Star Movies or Sony Pix.
Even with regards to movies, while initially DD used to show real crappy stuff, later on they showed some of the best movies. I caught JBDY on DD only, as also movies like Paar, Sparsh, Bhavni Bhavai which i rarely find nowadays, except in some late night slot. Even in mainstream cinema, it was through DD that i came to watch Jewel Thief, Amar Prem, Kati Patang, Mera Saaya, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, tere Mere Sapne, Hare Rama Hara Krishna and so many other such wonderful movies.
Ratnakar gaaru, im really amazed to see your association with the golden era of DD. yes, it had probably the widest genre one could imagine. another serial that addressed partition was tamas, which, IMO, was the best ofthat genre.
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apart from the films u hv mentioned, i managed to catch some great films on DD like Achanak, Party, Debshishu, Sara Akash, Thoda sa Rumani Ho Jayen, New Delhi Times, Pagla Kahin Ka….
gosh, the list is endless, i might go ona nostalgia trip right away…
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and then, the serials to die for: Kacchi Dhoop, Katha Sagar, Potli Baba Ki, Dada Dadi Ki Kahaniyan, Star Trek, Gucchhe, Fauji, Doosra Kewal, Saanjha Chulha, Talash, Neev, Mr. Yogi, Manoranjan, Ek Do Teen Char, Appu Aur Pappu, Kile Ka Rahasya…..endless memories
Yaar, is mein amaze hone ki baat kya hai.
My growing up years were during DD’s Golden Era, so its part of my memories.
Interestingly if you look at some of the big names today, all started with DD.
Shahrukh Khan- Fauji, Circus
Ashutosh Gowarikar- Kachi Dhoop
Aziz Mirza-Circus
i remember the first english serial of India A Mouthful of Sky giving a standing foothold to so many talented actors like Sameer Soni, Ranjiv Mulchandani, Milind Soman, Simone Singh etc. like that, there were many other names that came to be known what they r today due to DD’s patronage.
mahesh bhat had directed that and it was penned by shobha de.
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they later worked again in swabhimaan which was another fantastic serial.svetlana in silver estate. it had ronit roy, manoj bajpai and ashutosh rana
Well it had Rohit Roy and not Ronit Roy.It also had Kitu Gidwani,Deepak Parashar,Sandhya Mridhul,Anju Mahendroo,Mita Vashist etc.certainly an interesting serial.it was aired along with Mandira Bedi’s debut serial-Shanti in the afternoon slot.
What was the theme of the serial Swabhimaan? I don’t even remember.
Swabhimaan was a business saga.Naseer Abdullah ( a business baron ) is dead and Rohit Roy is the son of his first wife ( Anju Mahendru ) while Kitu Gidwani is the 2nd wife.So there’s some kind of power struggle.
@sethu: yes, rohit roy…that was a typo. in fact, pankaj berry also made a late entry as svetlana’s brother lenin. for some weird reason, DD started beeping out the name ‘lenin’; still wonder why that was done. naseer abdullah played keshav malhotra, who died in a car crash in the serial :(
The list also includes stone boy, Charitraheen, Paramveer Chakra, cartoon named Pinokeo… I am feeling happy that people still remembers ek do teen char, if I am not wrong it use to come on saturday roundabout at 4 pm…
Another gem of DD was Mile sur mera tumhara… and even today DD sometimes plays it…
Mile Sur Mera Tumhara was the thing to die for, and i learnt certain ters / words from so many languages thru that..! and the biggest guilty pleasure was see the then reigning stars AB, Jeetu & Guruji in the same frame.
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i had a personal link with the song, as one of the boys (gora chiita-sa) who is standing with mashaal in his hands towards the end (when the background music is playing in a cresendo) was my classmate. unfortunately, he cud not see / meet any of the stars since their shot of the gang of kids was taken separately.!
absolutely right kuch words to seekh hi gaye the.. for instance majha tumjha…, bane sur jo tharo maro bane aapne sur niharo… and the best thing was to watch Big B, Jeetu ji and Guru ji in one frame and i think Jeetu ji were in middle..u know there was certain kind of smile on my face when they use to appear at screen.. koshish rehti thi ke palak bhi na jhapke…
At loksabha TV, today also sometimes DD shows certain episodes of Bharat Ek Khoj….
Hey… does anybody remembers thumak thumak… with some lines like bengan raja aate hain…school se aane ke baad wohi dekhta tha…
yes akash, i do, and i used to run from school to catch it everytime. it had the premise of a bro-sis duo who do not like vegetables, and how they r transported to the world of vegetables where baingan is the raja. i rem some of the song, which went like: Shanivaar Ke Din, Munna aur Guddi Ne, Gur Ke Saath Saath Roti Khayee…. jiyo jiyo jiyo mere baingan raja…!
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Oh my God… U are the very few ones I know who remembers thumak thumak… U remember the song also…
If I am not wrong once bor-sis were going at their maternal grand mother and they were passing from some jungle and they encountered with a wolf so to get escape from wolf they passed that jungle by sitting in some dholak.. kuch aisa hi tha… but my friend its great that there are certain people who use to watch thumak thumak…
dekho kahani,thumak thumak, samjho kahani,thumak thumak.thumak thumak,thumak thumak,thumak thumak !!!
certainly do remember it.Baingan Raja was good fun.
It was part of Afternoon transmission, a two hour broadcast specifically targetted towards kids and their mothers. It started with a childrens’ show and after that some serious serials catering to women started. Those serials were the founding fathers (or rather mothers) of the soap operas that get shoved down our throats these days. But they were much better in quality then.
Interestingly both Shahrukh Khan( Fauji, Circus) and Ashutosh Gowariker( Kachi Dhoop) started their careers with DD.
Others i can recall
Aziz Mirza-Circus
Renuka Shahane-Circus
Bhagyashree- Kachi Dhoop
I think Aziz Mirza had already made a few films before Circus namely, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai (Naseerudding Shah, Shabana Azmi) and Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan (Dileep Dhawan)
one of my personal favourites was a serial named kashish which had Sudesh Berry and Malaika Singh as the main protagonists. Sudesh played her boss who was very stern with her in the beginning, and though she has a soft corner for him, she gets frustrated from time to time due to his arrogance and indifference. dont know whether ppl even remember tht serial or not, coz i hv not met many who do so..!
@satyendra: it was a nice serial. kalpana iyer played sudesh berry’s mom and she was the one who plotted the entire thing alongwith her doc, so her son would would fall in love with malvika tiwari. not malaika singh
What Doordarshan needs right now is people who can come up with some really good ideas.
One reason why NGC, Discovery, History Channel do well is not just their programes, but the way they have come up with stuff, that are educative at the same time entertaining.
NGC came up with the Udaan show, where participants were selected on TV, for Air Force training, and then we were shown the actual training process.
Both NGC, Discovery and of late History Channel, are giving programs on India, that go far beyond the “Exotic India” aspect. I recently watched a program on History Channel, about LTTE, and Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, it was excellent.
yes gaaru, i also happened to watch both Udaan on NGC and LTTE program on History, and loved them.
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i have also watched a program on Pappillon (Henri Charriere) and the actual locations of the three islands of French Guyana where he was held captive, including the solitary confinement cell where he had inscripted his monicker (Pappillon) on the walls.
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what ails DD today is the lack of identifying its target audience and its appropriate positioning among the viewers. IMO, it doesnt need the clones of various saas-bahu and other reality / song-dance serials that are flooding other channels. it needs to create a niche for itself, a la History, NGC, Discovery.
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of course it has to cater to the political propaganda as well, but thats a small price to pay for the mileage that it will get from its other dedicated infotainment programs.
Great read Satyen. Brought back all memories(most of your articles do) and also the comments section is another good read.
DD Metro showcased some wonderful movies and not to forget ‘Wagle ki Duniya’ with Bharati Achrekar and Anjaan Srivastav in the lead.
Now talking about what Ratnakar has said, I think DD needs more quality and focus. Apparently, new ideas and people who just dont wish to work for fame and money. I think we can get such people and what lacks is interest. However, re-playing the serials which we loved is another beginning in DD. I really love watching Lok Sabha channel for the sense it makes and never blink my eye watching ‘Mile sur mere tumhara..’. New ideas can emerge from old works, and I am sure if DD has the people and management to do it, it can surely awe us and make us watch what we really love.
Watched one episode of Udaan….al seemed so staged….NGC n esp History love to spice up such shows that makes it all authentic…but its all dressed up to up the whoa factor…n it does…
i also remember the opening sequence of Kile Ka rahasya, one of the best suspense serials of all times… Yeh Hai Abhishapt Kila, Barason Purana, Bhool Ke Bhi Issme, Tum Mat Aana…
and the signature whistle tune…and the palm imprint on the walls
there was another very informative song about the power of unity, where a girl is showing a slightly younger boy how he can pluck the fruit from the tree with a bit of planning.. the song went like: ek titli, anek titliyan… daana chugne baith gayi thee… the animation was not so great, but the simplicity wud blow u off…
tht was Gulzar saab’s creation
thanks yaatri, tht was a gud info. and to think tht i hv done a few articles on Gulzar, and claim to ‘know’ most of his works. now i know the reason of its connection of impactful message with simplicity.
If there is simplicity , Its Gulzar saab only :-)
there was one more regarding cutting of trees where one guy stops someone from cutting trees and gets beaten. Then he makes some tarzan like sounds to call his friends and all together stop the trees from being cut. Finally they all dance around the tree
Yep, the name was “Ek aur Anek”, this animation is still discussed in may forums and blogs. It was about unity. There is a website somewhere in the internet cloud where you can download it and watch.
Dekho dekho ek gilahari
Peeche Peeche anek gilharian
Ek Titali
ek aur titali
ek, ek, ek karke
anek titalian
…….
Lastly,
ban gayi himmat
ban gayi takat
remember……….LUCKY ALI made his debut thru DD………..Aanjani Raho mein Tu kya dhunnd ta phire………..dat song…..was g8
some of personal fav’s – Byomkesh bakshi, Kabir, Ghalib, Kahkashan, Ajanabi, Karamchand…this was only possible in that era…surely was a golden one – Ghalib and Bharat Ek Khoj are the best ever shows on Indian TV…thanks DD for that !!
I remember an older post on DD where the comments section had crossed 350 or so….seems like this one will be an encore
Ek titli anek titliyan…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LLh54NEYjE
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Mile Sur Mera Tumhara…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gstRrEmTcBc&feature=related
Baje Sargam Har Taraf se Goonj Bankar….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpW2aXc9xQ8&feature=related
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The Light of Freedom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P68WBjaqSbI
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I watched the last video just a few days ago after a very-very log time and it brought tears in my eyes.
kya dino ki yaad dila di…who can forget it was DD who first introduced us to programs like, start-trek(there was even an indian version called Sigma later), he-man, bodyline,streek-hawk, knight-rider, nat-geo(there used to be a 1hr program on sunday morning), didy’s comedy show. DD may not have had great production values but thay had great balance in their programming. It had something for everyone.
Do you guys remember a serial “Ye kshitij door nahin” which had Tushar Dalvi, Supriya Pilgaonkar and Vikram Gokhale. It was about widow remarriage, a very short and sweet series.
Yes I do remember it.Its actually Kshitij Yeh Door Nahin- a nice serial indeed.
Aah Bodyline, what a serial, the Ashes in all intensity. And it was DD that introduced me to the Oscars in 1984, and from then on barring couple of times, i ensure i have never missed the ceremony. Thanks to DD, i got hooked on the Oscars, Olympics(1984), World Cup Soccer( 1986) things which i have never missed since then.
Even in early days of Star TV, had some fabulous programs on Star, Remington Steele, X Files, Wonder Years, L.A.Law, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, before the saas-bahu assault made me avoid it.
Bodyline. Is it the same serial which stars Hugo Weaving?
Yep Hugo Weaving as Douglas Jardine, there is a scene where he explains to his team mates how to implement Bodyline using salt and pepper canisters, in the train’s dining car, awesome.
Oh yes. The scene ended with a wine glass depicting the batsman falling and wine splattering all over the tablecloth. Weaving’s smile after seeing the wine fall was awesome…over the top but awesome.
Yes that’s the one…Hugo played Douglas Jardine and Gary Sweet played Don Bradman
One more thing i liked about DD was the way it gave importance to Indian literature, with serials based on works by Mahasweta Devi, Prem Chand, R.K.Narayan, as also the Short Stories by various authors.
Was there any serial named Maila Aanchal based on the book of the same name by Phaneeshwar Nath Renu?
yes jahanpanah, the serial was Maila Aanchal, based on Renu’s book of the same name, and it had the theme song that went like… Batohi, Suni Liya Hamaro Baat.. (its actually in Maithili, so the pronunciation is slightly different than how u wud read it in Hindi). what an amazing serial…!
I wasn’t exactly sure and I don’t remember about it at all but my family members used to watch it.
Jaspal Bhatti’s Flop Show- Satire at it’s best.
Dekh Bhai Dekh- Excellent sitcome
Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne- What a performance from Raghubir Yadav. Its sad our movie makers can’t think beyond casting him as a village idiot.
I want to add one more
Samundar
come to think of it DD even in those early days had covered almost all genres which today these so called new-age channels are still recycling. Take jeevandhara for e.g, a serial on doctors and their lives, which had tanvi azmi. And what do we have today in the name of a serial based on doctors ‘Dil Mil Gaye’(an absolute crap of a serial). Then there was Indradhanush(which apparently had Karan Johar in a bit role though I don’t remember, the main lead was played by Akshay Anand) and Stoneman(which had manjunath or swami from malgudi days) in the sci-fi genre whereas we do not have any good serials today dealing with sci-fi elements.
When India TV provides, sci-fi, horror & Mystery 24/7, why do we need serials for those.
@sudip: there was sigma too
Yeah Sigma, an indian version of Star-Trek. It was a decent attempt considering the times it was made in.
There was one more similar-looking series , which I think was made by Ketan Mehta and had Milind Soman. Forgot it’s name.
Captain Vyom. Awesome serial it was. Is it on Youtube?
I think the name of the serial was Jeevan Rekha (Lifeline). Had AK Hangal as the chief doctor and another guy who resembled Rajendra Kumar as one of the other doctors. I used to look forward to Tuesdays for Jeevan Rekha and Wednesdays for Fauji and Thursdays for Honi Anhoni!!
Jaane Kahaan Gaye Woh Din…
this article is featured on timesofindia.com in the hotklix section on the right! http://timesofindia.hotklix.com/content/entertainment/movies/Doordarshan-Ki-Aatmakatha
I was nostalgic while reading this article. I believe the soltuion is pretty straightforward. Treat Doordarshan as a business entity and hire professionals to run the show. The diplomats are not qualified enough to run a business of this magnitude. However, that also means that government has to give up some control on the business.
Are Jha yeh tune kya kar diya.Sabkto senti bana diya yaar.DD will always be a nostalgic topic for most of us.Be it the serials,cricket,tennis,football telecasts,Chitrahaar,Hindi feature films,regional films on Sunday afternoons and so many more such stuff.Do you remember the Sports Quiz by Dr.Narottam Puri?I used to love it.
I even adored some of the news readers those days – Sangeeta Bedi being my favorite
I also used to like sports programs like Sunil Gavaskar Presents,Thats Cricket ( hosted by Ravi Shastri ) and so many more stuff.Will try to recollect more such stuff soon.
@sethu: there was another program by amarnath/vengsarkar where sachin as a 14 yr old boy was introduced to us. he showed some fine stances and various shot-making skills. he even spoke on camera about his practise sessions. man! this child prodigy was first spotted on DD.
@ rals: my god, i remember that program by vegsarkar but didnt know / realise that sachin had been featured at such a young age! thx for the trivia!
Rals/Jha-
That program was by Mohinder Amarnath & yes I do remember Sachin being interviewed.Vengsarkar has never hosted any T.V show or done commentary ( on a regular basis ).I think these programs were early indicators of the fact that people like Ravi Shastri,Sunil Gavaskar,Mohinder Amarnath etc were quite media savvy.
yaar, iss post ka intention DD ki majboori aur apathy dikhana tha, but kya karen, comments section nostalgic ho gaya by gawd!
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yes, my fav newsreaders – naam jyada yaad nahi hai, ek to Avinash Kaur Sarin, there was another some Salma…, then there was this small frame guy with full beard, another was the guy who became the villain in Jalwa..
crossposted on my blog
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The answer to jaane kahaan gaye woh log is as follows
1) Shivendra Kundra is one half of Kundra & Bansal, an international law firm. Whatever happened to his moustache!
2) Usha Albuquerque is a Delhi based career counsellor.
3) Sunit Tandon is into theatre and is a big shot at National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) whose movies we used to despise before any masala behemoth started on big screens. (or was it FD?)
4) Shammi Narang, I saw of him last in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool (2003)
5) Tejeshwar “roar” Singh is a big publisher.
6) Neethi Ravindran, who I have also encountered on recorded messages on telephones and service providers, is a big voice expert and offers professional voice services.
7) Rini Khanna and Sukanya Balakrishnan are on Facebook :P ;)
If there was a mini celebrity who could make me drink wine at 8 or 9 it was Sukanya Balakrishnan (”in aankhon se mujhe peene do” hai hai! ;))
8) Ved Prakash is a journalist, and with a media school; the last I met him was in 1996 at Kendriya Vidyalaya Gole Market, New Delhi.
9) Bhaskar Bhattacharji has had to honor an early appointment with God.
God bless these souls!
Tejeshwar Singh died nearly 2 years ago ( Dec 2007 ), he had a lovely voice.
Salma Sultan
Sunit Tandon (small frame guy with a beard)
Tejeshwar Singh (later became a villain in Jalwa).
When i was 5 year old shaktimaan started and I dont remember a single episode i missed it.
Many of u forget that there used to be a channel DD-Metro which was compatible to then cable channels. What govt. did was to replace the channel with DD News which is the worse idea ever. They sudnt have closed DD-Metro coz it had every thing what a channel sud have. But what we get inplace was DD-News channel with repeating news telecast and late news with poor style of presentation. Nobody even dares to watch DD-NEWS.
Yes DD Metro was awesome.It had Superhit Muqabla and so many good serials too.It was as good as Zee or Star Plus which were the main competitors at that point of time.
@sethu: in fact, superhit muqabla triggered off philips top 10 on zee and other countdown programs. it was so successful that they even hosted SuMu awards
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also, they had another program on DD called ek se badhkar ek which shankar mahadevan. he was awesome in that
Yup. I’ve watched Ek se Badhkar Ek. Awesome countdown show.
Couldn’t watch Superhit Muqabala because DD Metro wasn’t available in my town. :(
Yes Rals Superhit Muqabla was as popular and as good as Philips Top 10.The title track of Su Mu was by Baba Sehgal.
I remember Ek Se Badhkar Ek as well.It had Kartika Rane and Mukul Dev among among others.
DD was getting out of touch so govt. passed a bill that all indian ODI cricket matches are compulsary to be broadcasted on DD national.
Doordarshan was very happy and relaxing to know that. It was dancing in enjoyment of getting too many viewers.
But a blow came T20 CRICKET started and became popular. ODI is fading away and ppl want to watch T20. Which DD cant broadcast since law is only for ODI’s. NOW I M THINKING WHAT DD WILL DO ?? IS IT GONG TO PASS ANOTHER LAW IN PARLIAMENT FOR T20.
Watever, DD is itself responsible for its fate. Why dont it spends money to buy rights even it earns such a huge amount from advertisers in cricket matches than any otHer channel.
I THINK DD IS KINDA SELFISH IN THIS CASE.
This is a very good article of Doordarshan. Doordarshan is the first channel with whom TV come to picture. For we Indian TV is Doordarshan.
Change is required. Suggestion is that Doordarshan have to increase its picture quality compare to all other private channels.
As mentioned in list Buniyad, Nukkad etc.. how do we forget mythological serials RAMAYAN and MAHABHARAT which is only introduce on Doordarshan.
i still remember on Wednesday and Friday at 8 PM i was waiting for “Chayageet” and “Chitrahar”.
Doordarshan is at its place. it has no competition with any one. TRP doesnt matter for Doordarshan and its watcher.
since mention of DD Metro has come up, i must say that it had great program contents and the presentation was also not as bad for the times either!
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i remember every yearend there used to be this program from 10-10:30 pm onwards, running into the next year, with loads of entertainment, song-dance, stand-up mimics, the works…, and our entirefamily used to religiously watch it n wait for the official DD clock to show 00:00 to greet one another in the family.
Shailesh bhai
Sachi aapne ruladiya beetein dino ki yaad dila kar.
There is a song in the movie Nikaah sung by late Mahendra Kapoor.
The words are,’Beetey hue lamhon ki kasak saath tho hogi, khwabon mein bhi jo chahe mulakaat tho hogi’ this sums up the relation that we have with our good old DIDI. Really who can imagine of having seen all the Grand Slam Tennis Tournaments Free of cost. Nowadays we are paying to watch the programs but those days it was shown free of cost. Really hats off to DIDI.
Speaking of Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, reminds me of this patriotic song, that was aired last year, excellent one titled Bharat Anokha Raag Hai.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddF1bZPwFBU
Issue is that Doordarshan, can’t just rely on past Glory and Nostalgia factor, it has to reinvent itself, and by that i don’t mean the “Raakhi Ka Swayamvar” kinda shows.
What it could do is improve the Production Values of it’s programs, most of which are still stuck in the 80’s. At a time when slickly produced programs, with good content on NGC, Discovery, History are flooding the airwaves, DD programs are still reminiscent of older times.
Major issue facing Doordarshan is the talent crunch, Prannoy Roy started NDTV, and he took with him some of the best talents available. Bhaskar Ghosh later migrated to Star. Bhaskar Bhattacharjee who came up with wonderful programs like Alpha Plus, and was one of the most forward looking persons, unfortunately died at a younger age.
Byomkesh Bakshi…Rajit Kapur…Basu Chatterji…Great title music…
I am not for Doordarshan doing the “Reality Shows” or the India TV-Aaj Tak kinda “Sansani Khabar”, but the least it can do is change it’s settings, even now most of the News reporting is so dull, pedestrian. The backdrops, the tempo everything is vintage 80’s, and it sticks out badly. DD could do a revamp in that aspect.
I gues earlier, when DD was the lone broadcaster, they were affected by the “chalta hai” attitude. And now, I think, they are affected by the “its-too-late” syndrome.
However, I do agree,DD has a real good chance now to regain some of it’s lost glory even if it means, to begin with, recycling old prgramming in a new package. I guess the motto should be first to get the eyeballs back and then make it hard to go away with some better offerrings with more focus on content.
This is the difference between the old retarded and exhausted ministers trying to run a country, cant even put a doordarshan on the competition of Indian media, leave the world’s competition. What the hell they can run the country cant even run a channel. Huh…..
The nostalgia for Doordarshan was not very high in the 90’s, because Zee, Sony, Star managed to come up with serials like Tara, Banegi Apni Baat, Saas, Tu Tu Main Main and programs like Close Up Antakshari, Saregama. Also the picture quality of the movies shown on Zee, Sony, Star was much better than DD’s, and in their initial days, Zee & Sony, did show a large number of older Hindi movies, mixing it up with the latest ones. So DD was not being really missed.
But the “Saas Bahu” assault in the first half of the decade, and the “Virtual” Reality shows in second half of the decade, has started to make people nostalgic for the DD programs. Doordarshan indeed has a golden chance on it’s hands now, to capture the market. The moment is waiting for it, question is are the men in charge ready to take it with both hands?
spot on observation ratnakar. the problem lies in untangling the bureaucratic mess that DD finds itslef in, as well as the vested interests of the powers-that-be. i had pointed out a similarity trend between DD and other govt organisations which have failed to stand the test of time. yes, the time is ripe for DD to take a proactive step and reinvent itself!
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anyways, on a lighter note, does anyone remember the typical term used by the news-weatherperson: “garaj ke saath chheente padne ki sambhavana hai”, i always correlated this term with someone having an upset tummy, and making a mess in the WC crapping!
and the icnonic “rukawat ke liye khed hai”
Is it any wonder that two recent articles(this one and Ratnakar’s article on Disco “Prabhuji” Dancer) which primarily take you down memory lane has crossed the 100 comments mark.
Sudip, its a cycle, kinda “My Gen Better than urs”, in the 80’s people felt nostalgic for movies of the 60’s and 70’s, in 90’s the nostalgia was for 70’s flicks( not the 80’s still, bad memories don’t go away too soon), and in this decade its for the 80’s and 90’s. Trust me when the new Gen grows up in the comming decade, they will begin to feel nostalgic for the movies of the Noughties( yeah that’s what this decade is called).
One of my biggest guilty pleasures on DD was Chandrakanta.It had some good music,decent star cast and interesting characters.Shahbaaz Khan,Mukesh Khanna,Pankaj Dheer,Rajedra Gupta,
Irrfan Khan,Akhilendra Mishra,Kruttika Desai,Shikha Swarup,Kalpana Iyer,Durga Jasraj etc all left their mark.
One thing interesting was that quite lot of the actors had double or more roles like-
Irrfan Khan ( Somnath and Badrinath ),
Rajendra Gupta ( Pt.Jagannath and Shani)
Kruttika Desai ( Sabya, Amba, Vish Kanya )
Unfortunately I couldnt see the ending as it was controversially taken off air.Though it was later shown on Sony I’m not sure again if it was completed there.
Pretty meh serial. Based on the novel by Devki Nandan Khatri but the content was far different.The serial got stuck in the mansions of Shivdatt and lost the focus on the main characters Chandrakanta and her prince charming.
The serial always used to end on some cliffhanger.
Despite being created by a female (Neerja Guleri), it has no respect for its female characters. Many of its female characters baring few had survived attempted rapes. Despite being a good fantasy these things made the serial a no-no for me.
Does anyone remember “What’s the good Word”…much before I got inroduced to Wren and Martin this was my window to the english world. There was one more quiz show hosted by Ronnie Screwvala which was pretty complex(at least for me at that time)
What’s The Good Word was hosted by Sabira Merchant, in fact WTGW and Quiz Time motivated me to extra curricular activities, especially Quizzing. The only quiz i recall seeing from Ronnie was Mashoor Mahal, each show featuring a celebrity. Loved Quiz Time, Discovery of India Quiz, SAARC Quiz as well as Alpha Plus.
Some of the best & delightful things about Doordarshan, (fortunately these shows are still telecast on DD)
1. National programme of music – Support to Indian classical music & artists.
2. News & features covering our North East.
3. Special programmes in various languages of India.
4. Encouragement to folk arts & the artists of Bharat.
5. Specific programmes helping our farmers, village & cottage industries.
Nice anandk.
sometimes I think whether DD being the only channel was a boon or bane for the viewers. Some people like me (I was still a child) didn’t like to watch those programmes but since there were no other option they had to watch it. Now, I think it truly helped me to know various things about India, its past, heritage etc. It was like bitter fruit, you don’t like it but it is really useful for your health. When the options are many you get what you like and that may be harmful for the health.
Anyone remember ‘Khandan’ ? First ever soap on Indian TV, i think. Neena Gupta, Shriram Lagoo…
Still remember the title ‘rishton ki dastaan’
dir. Sridhar Kshirsagar & produced N – Nimbus in the end. :-)
Yeah…it also had Mohan Bhandari…but was it the first ever soap..i’m not sure…hum log and buniyaad came before Khaandan
Yeah you are right about Humlog ref. IMDB Humlog 84, Khandaan 85 and Buniyaad 87.
Ideally credit of First ever Soap will go to Biwi Natiyon Wali ( Mother of Seema Bhargav, Badki of Hum Log, played central character in it) which was followed by Dadi Ma Jaagi, which was based on a good concept. Dadi recovers from a coma after many years and she has to handle all the new changes came in the world during her coma years.
Hum Log became very special because though it was started as a fixed story initially but later Late Manohar Shyam Joshi played with the characters and plot as per the happenings in the society at that time. IIT JEE, PMT, Ham honge kamyab, Cricket(1983 world cup’s memories were fresh at that time), racket sending people in middle east etc.
Perhaps it was started in same month when Indira Gandhi talked to Rakesh Sharma. Things were happening. Later other serials might have better production values but the way Hum Log touched the common men life, no other serial could do.
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Shridhar’s Khandan had ensemble cast. Jayant Kriplani, Tanuja, Neena Gupta, Dr Sriram Lagoo, Vivek Vasvani etc. If I can recall correctly Shekhar Kapur also entered this serial at some point. Khandan was the first ever TV serial where its leading female characters were shown in swim suits at swimming pool.
Subah – title by RDB ’subah ko kar salam’. college students, drugs and stuff…
Was obsessed with the title song, finally got it about 2 yrs back.
with google, google and some more google.
Subah marked the debut of Suchitra Krishnamurthy as also Salim Ghouse. If I remember correctly it was made by Bharat Rungachary.
Technically Subah is not debut of Salim Ghouse as he had already appeared in small roles in many films before Subah presented him in a big role.
Thx for the clarification Rk…I was under the impression Subah was his debut and he got into films only on the basis of his perfomance in Subah.
I think the initial story line of Subah was based on Tamil writer Sivasankari’s novel ‘Avan’ – one of the first tamil novels on drug abuse.
Also loved old fox, Street hawk, DDs comedy show, european telematches, hercule poirot from Granada.
i totally agree with the views of the writer, i have seen doordarshan since my childhood, fron KRISHNA on suday mornings, then BHOOMI and now Kahani Dharti Ki, but i must confess, there has not been a sufficient change in the quality of our programmes, i mean they have always tried to imitate the other daily soaps which is most distressing, i mean where are programmes like bhoomi and gitanjali gone…??? and what movies we screen on sundays is most disgusting….
indeed for a trp our channel must incorporate some radical changes, and anyways there are still some people who see doordarshan on the first place, including youths too….
BEST WISHES
@sudip, the two sci-fi serials were Space City Sigma and Captain Vyom, the latter starring Milind Soman.
A few more gems:
Faster Fenay (Remember?)
Gayab Aya
Udaan (Kiran Bedi-inspired lady cop story, starring Kavita ‘Lalitaji’ Chaudhary!)
Mitti Ke Rang (”badle nahi kabhi ye…mitti ke rang, mitti ke rang!)
Nupur (Hema Malini and Shekhar Kapoor)
Kadwa Sach (cheesy, campy “moral ” stories starring a brilliant Ham Maestro named Tariq, the guy who played opp Moonmoon Sen in the classic “Bahaar Aane Tak”)
Rajlakshmi (Awesome adaptation of Sharatchandra’s Srikanta, starring Farooq Shaikh and Sujata Mehta)
Rajni (the lovely Priya Tendulkar)
Ghutan (Renuka Shahane)
Aisa Bhi Hota Hai (Vintage Indian Ripley’s beleive it or not!)
Yatra (story of travellers on a long train journey; Om Puri)
Kakkaji Kahin (Om Puri again!)
Kahan Gaye Woh Log
Phir Wahi Talaash (Depressing but ok)
Potli Baba Ki (Gulzar Saab and an army of puppets)
Saptahiki
Duck Tales/ Tale Spin (kha-kha-khatra bachna diwano…jab ajnabi lage peeche tumhare…)
Cosmos
He-man and the Masters of the Universe
Blossom
Knight Rider (David Hasselhoff)
Faerie Tale Theatre
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (the Jeremy Brett series, I think)
Oshin
And…even The Master was a part of the bandwagon: SATYAJIT RAY PRESENTS (his son Sandip Ray directed the series), a collection of short stories, detective fiction and sci-fi stories created by him; Shashi Kapoor plays the sleuth Feluda in one of the episodes (”Kissa Kathmandu Ka”) with Alankar Joshi ‘Watson’ing (as Topshe) , and ‘Jatayu’ played by Mohan Agashe!
Wow that’s a great list Amborish…wasn’t Yatra made by Shyam Benegal
@Sudip, yep! He did for the Railways…
Hey Guys…I just stumbled upon this article – http://8ate.blogspot.com/2009/09/50-years-of-doordarshan.html#more – which also relives the golden era of DD. It also has video links to program that was aired on DD’s 50th birthday. Vintage Stuff this is!!
Sudip, Glad you liked it!
There seems to be a retro marathon going on at this post
Dear Satendera ji,
A mind blowing article, hats off to you. You have taken me to the sweet memories with the Great DD.
THANKS A LOT
Nicely expressed story, but very sad. Thanks Jha Ji. I thank all members of the Doordarshan team who still force me to remember my past. Thing is Doordarshan can/should not go beyond boundary that all private channels are doing (Ganda hai par Dhanda hai yeh). Other thing is-there is supply because of the demand. Mind of our Y-generation, even old people, has been rotated who don’t like to watch anything clean (fully dressed people) and inspiring. They want Mirch & Masala while watching. We don’t sit to watch with our mind and heart, but still try to watch, and answer is private channel. Jaise ki hum individual level par dekhte hain ki jo aadmi accha hota hain imaandar hota hain us ko suffer to karni parti hain, so the our beloved Doordarshan. I pray for urs recovery, jis se ki aap phir se apne ghar ke aankhon ka taara ban saken.
A salute to Doordarshan.