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The last cult and the last rites of television !
iView Author:
K.J (New Delhi, India)
Email : jainkunal [at]mailcity.com
The last cult and the last rites of television
Before I begin, I suppose we will all agree on PFC that television programming as it is at present in India is dead. There is absolutely zero creative work done with the medium now. It’s all about money, marketing and regression now. But the world I grew up in used to be different. It was a world without ‘Balaji‘ but much more holy.
Growing up in the late 80’s & 90’s, the trend in entertainment was much more different than the current scenario.
Those were the times when cinema was on the verge of death and the footfalls in cinemas were dwindling quickly. Bollywood was incurring huge losses till very recently. A lot of that is attributed to the poor quality of movies that were coming out of Bollywood. But, there was another reason also. Something that movie-wallahs never wanted to accept. In those days, television was better than cinema. Movie lost out to its poor cousin. And it was a knockout.
There were the likes of Basu Chatterjee and Shankar Nag who used to choose their stories first, and their medium later. Here is a remembering of some of the shows on TV which had a dedicated following at some point of time or the other. Of course as with any list, I may have not included some. Forgive me for that. But the ones I list here are the ones which gained a great fan base around the people I lived amongst. And I’ve lived at a lot of places in India. Though some of the listed ones I didn’t like, it doesn’t stop me from acknowledging their cult. So begins-
1) Malgudi Days+ Swamy- Malgudi Days, without a shadow of doubt remains the best TV show ever made in …the world, period! Yes, it’s better than The Simpsons, for the consistency of quality. The sheer simplicity and timelessness of the characters and the towns felt like watching a ‘bicycle thief’ or ‘pather panchali’ with a touch of humor every week.
And the sheer artistry, no frills, dedicated direction of Shankar Nag took it to another dimensions altogether, that none have ever matched.
Sample this: An episode on miser ness- An old man (fairly well off) takes his grandson to the theater on his b’day after much coaxing, but sneaks him in to avoid paying for him and takes a half ticket of himself saying he only wants to watch it till the interval, and just guess the rest of the story by himself. People of PFC think so too. Read this too:
http://passionforcinema.com/thats-passion/
And who can forget ‘Swamy‘, the best loved TV character ever. Brilliant!!
2) Byomkesh Bakshi- This is one show which had the biggest following in my school days among my friends. I and my brother used to discuss endlessly about it. This was the show I used to go to sleep after once a week because i would be too overwhelmed to watch anything else after that. And the music!! The music!! It was so haunting man! Rajat Kapoor is an actor I really, really liked. His work in suraj ka satvan ghoda and making of the mahatma are well acclaimed. But his peak was Byomkesh Bakshi. Basu Chatterjee’s direction was hard hitting. There were many episodes which were also medical mysteries, and the director never shied away from the gore. I was small and those episodes really used to haunt me before I went to sleep. This show put a stamp on Byomkesh Bakshi as the most loved detective of Bengali literature.
Now the ones with mass appeal-
3) Mahabharat+Ramayan- These two shows entered the psyche of Indian audience like no other, but expectedly. The roads became deserted and shops closed during their telecast. In one word: EVERYone in the country watched these shows.
4) Chandrakanta- Sure, it was campy, sure it was the first totally formulaic series on TV, but as long as it remained a first, it makes it to the list. And also because it remained the most watched series as long as it existed and gave us actors like Irfan Khan. It was also an adaptation (though only in name) of the first epic of the modern Khadi boli Hindi. Bad but cult.
5) Flop Show- Do I need to mention this one? Everyone loved flop show. Jaspal Bhatti made us laugh at our own absurdity as a country like no politician can!
This is arguably the first cult TV series of India. The first which I saw being sold on VHS.
6) Discovery of India+ Chanakya- Awesomely directed by Shyam Benegal and Chandra Prakash Dwivedi respectively, these two shows may not have been watched widely, but had some of the most loyal following you’ll ever find. And also because these shows are a must watch for every Indian. To share the tremendous insight Nehru had on the effect of History on India and the story of Kautilya, who provided the first documentation of the Indian way of life and the world’s first economics encyclopedia: Arthashastra. A must for every Indian.
And the animation masters:
7) Jungle Book- Jungle Book marked the first serious foray into animation by Indians. Sure it was a foreign show, but the dubbing in Hindi was done by the likes of Nana Patekar, Shatrughan Sinha et all…
Children took it seriously. And of course the most immortal song by Gulzar:
Chaddi pahan ke phool khila hai!!
8) Ducktales/Talespin- Foreign shows that they are notwithstanding, these shows dubbed in Hindi formed an integral part of the awesome Sunday programming of DD.
These two shows were watched by every child who grew up in that era. And have been an integral part of every child’s formative years ever since. Tell me who does not want to be Uncle Scrooge? A loving family, money to swim into, and a new adventure to go to every week. This is the life I’ve always wanted to live ever since.
9) Batman The Animated Series- The most loved superhero in the world, this show brought back seriousness to animation. The storywriting was flawless, the animation jaw dropping. This one show gained a massive fan following world over, won multiple awards, and changed the face of animation world over.
To top that, its appeal cut across ages, and even the big guys in my colony who would not let us play cricket with them lest we get hurt would watch it without shame.
10) Shaktimaan- The impact this show had can be gauged by the number of attempts kids made to die in order to get Shaktimaan to save them and the media furore it created. As appropriate with comics, it was campy to the core. But one adjective which cannot be removed from it is cult. Krrish can’t even dream of such a following. At its peak it was the no. 1 show on television.
11) Rajani- The kind of activism this show created among women has now permanently become a part of media history archives. This show brought back the housewives to the TV set, who have not left it ever since. The first and the last cult for women in India.
And now the last of the cults-
12) Movers & Shakers- For the most part of its life, the show was bad, but for some small period, it was the awesome-st thing on TV. It was no.1, and Shekhar Suman became the highest paid TV star, whose power required the might of Amitabh Bacchan to break. He brought dirty jokes to the bedrooms of India, and got away with the most political incorrectness that anyone has in this country ever.
13) KBC- Why? Simply because this was the first show which brought in money, star power, super TRPs and a marketing juggernaut which continues to define Indian television today. Marked the return of Amitabh Bacchan and made every chai-wallah, paan-wallah, Govt. Babu, housewife, a real GK enthusiast, thereby increasing the collective IQ of the nation. The initial contestants were an embarrassment, but they got just about okay by the time the show died its natural death. And ofcourse the inimitable AB got the hang of the job as a host by the beginning of KBC (dwitiya) where he began and ended the show with brilliant anecdotes of life and for once proved us to be the son of the poet whose writings created the name ‘Bacchan‘. And that is when the show found its dedicated following.
14) Star Bestsellers- Though not watched by most of the public, this show genuinely showcased the talents of some of the promising directors and scriptwriters. And since they were free from the constraints of commercial cinema, some of the mini-movies were wonderfully weird, bold and heartfelt.
It gained quite a fan following among the chosen few.
15) Office Office- A camp free TV comedy after nearly a decade found instant fan following. Each episode is marked by a consistent quality of humor and a genuine satire on the system instead of a juvenile take like OSO.
16) Band of Brothers- HBO had just about found it’s footing in India and this show which has probably the biggest cult of TV ever, also found its audience in India.
Honorable mentions- nukkad, wagle ki duniya, dekh bhai dekh, karamchand, yeh jo hai zindagi, mungeri laal ke haseen sapnay.
Since then, I’ve stopped watching TV. The audiences have started returning to theatres, the idiot box is now run by idiots who don’t even know how to spell the names of their own shows.
Foreign shows suck, desi shows rot. 200+ channels and not one show to wait for. The rule of pulp fiction has already begun on TV.
This also serves as a eulogy for the Idiot Box.
R.I.P.
Indian Television
31 Responses to “The last cult and the last rites of television !”
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Well, the miserable housewives of the north belt deserve to be tortured more! By making KKSBKBT a superhit, they buried quality forever. Ekta started it and everyone is doing it!
I was flicking through channels the other day and there was nothing interesting coming up, not even on Animal Planet so I decided to stop at Star Plus…Some family drama serial! Out of the 22 minutes, all I could see for 15 effing minutes was the reactions of the actors! Zab Zab Zoooom!! Zooooooom!!! Turn around and Zoooooom!! From sideways Zooooooooom!! From neeche Zooooooooom!!!From Peeche Zooooooooooooooooooom!!!
hahahahaha!! I could not understand why all these actors were so shocked the hell out of as no one was talking about the story anyway!!
i wonder when are we going to come up with tv series such as LOST ..its awesome …
good post..
u can also read on old doordarshan days
http://passionforcinema.com/doordarshan-down-memory-lane/
:-w
More than Lost, I love Desperate Houswives and Grey’s Anatomy!! Simply fantastic!! Prison Break is one more great series!
I think Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi deserves much more than a mere “honourable mention”.
Anyway, any idea if Discovery Of India (Shyam Benegal) is available on DVD or any other format? That was one series that is worth seeing again and again, and in my opinion, beats the best programs on History Channel.
I watch TV..ONLY DURING DINNER..to gulp my food down in embarassment..I cringe at the quality of News, sports, serials, Reality shows and all else..so, I concentrate on gulping my food faster..it helps!!!
Watch History channel and Pix!!they are a little better!!!
machhar ….it may be your pov ..but for me nothing like lost ..it has so many new stories to tell ..the characters are fantastic and each one of them grows with the series …also every character has got its own space ….
Oh yeah, SET Pix shows some great movies and Zee Studio too! Star Movies and HBO are becoming worse day by day!
News? Times now is OKAY except the fool Arnab Goswami, NDTV…well they have pretty women…Headlines and CNN IBN are getting worse by the day…Let’s not talk about India TV and Live Indias!! They are hilarious! Snake in the temple, , man riding bike standing up, boy peeing differently, they make these BREAKING NEWS!! hahaha!!
Zoom is BAD! Why do they show us again what we read in Mumbai Mirror in the morning? Goodtimes? Poor quality and desperately trying to ape TLC!
It’s been centuries I even stopped at Star Plus, Zee TV’s….except for the Saregama Challenge etc.
Star World and Zee Cafe are good.
So that leaves us only with Discovery, Nat Geo, History, Animal Planet and AXN!
Did I mention Comedy time in Sun TV? :D
NDTV plays some good stuff ….the big fight and we the people is pretty good …all hindi news channel suck big time …really they do ..
Yah,good stuff by star world and zee tv.
I have also come across a website for Indian books.It is quite a nice website.There are all kinds of books,catering to all age
groups
Baba Ramdev, What advertising man! You should sell books about “How to advertise online without making it look like spam”!! HAHA
nice article!!!
in tamilnadu i remember watchin serials like
“kai allavu manasu” by the best “K balachander”
“rayil sneham”
and ya “pennu” by Suhasini maniratnam
i rem njoyin “circus” and “Mr yogi” but dont rem much now …
and ya
WONDER YEARS
FALL GUY
CRYSTAL MAZE
REMINGTON STEEL
BAY WATCH
STREET HAWK
KNIGHT RIDER
OPRAH
JAY LENO show
and later
TAKEN
LOST
COPS
i loved the first 2 seasons of “APPRENTICE” later they started adding lot of masala!!
and ya “rockstar INXS” “rockstar supernova”
and one of my fav comedy shows was
“WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY?”
my god … shit .. i have watched a lot of TV ////
arre i forgo to mention
pepsi ungal choice
madans thirai parvai
top 10
kadavul padhi mirugam padhi …
i am not wriin more .. i have been a bad kid .. so much of TV ..
Indian television in the 80’s was believe it or not way better than American televison in the 80’s content-wise. Sure we had 2 channels and the Americans had dozens but show like Hum Log, Tamas and Buniyaad had the simplicity and depth a Dynasty or Full House could not compete with.
Now it’s the other way around. American TV has shows that can compete with the best American films in terms of script,budget and actors.Shows like Lost,24 and cable series like HBO’s Big Love and Showtime’s Weeds (not shown in India because well the former’s about a man and his 4 wives living together and the later’s about a Suburban single mother who’s a drug dealer)or The Wire are better than most films.
Indian TV has instead of moving forward regressed to the point our Dynasty-like soaps which are exactly the same have dominated TV for close to 10 years and there is no end in sight!Talent matters and there is none in the television industry neither writers nor actors. In the 80’s a Govind Nihalani or Ramesh Sippy had no qualms about doing TV. Today even if a Karan Johar directs a serial it will be bloated and cliched.
But if the Americans got over the 80’s and progressed to the refreshing irreverence of The Simpsons,Seinfeld and South Park in the 90’s to more complicated shows of present maybe there’s hope for us.Maybe.
wow,
i remember watching all the above mentioned serials and loving them and hoping the half hour would never end and waiting eagerly for next week.
i also loved timemachine, high school serial called Neev, mungerilal ke haseen sapne, wagle ki duniya and many others…..
I remember watching byomkesh bakshi and my sister and i thought he was sooo cute and in one of the episodes, he saves a damsel in distress (he later marries her) and consoles her by looking into her eyes and saying,’daro mat, mein hoon na’!!!
i swear my sister and i had goosebumps watching him say that!!!
@macchar, haha…i was just discussing the same thing with my friends yday abt the tv serials today and how they show the shocked reactions of actors from various angles with the zoom zoom effect!! my friend said they have one line agenda for each episode. ‘ aaj pooja/shika/xyz tulsi/parvati/xyz ke ghar jayegi’. and they play the whole episode on that agenda!!
- Oh those good old DD days… now and then someone writes about the good old DD. But in those days we just used to follow cause there was no choice. And used to dream about when we would have those 24 hour channels so we could watch television all day and night. Unfortunately the 24 hour 200 channel package is here but the quality and grip has left the building.
Strangely enough, the quality of television has shot up in the USA. In fact I see the quality of programs much much better than 90% of the movies made in Hollywood. There was a recent article which I don’t remember where I’ve bookmarked which shows this rise in quality of television programs affecting independent cinema.
I guess HBO is the one which would crush all the usual networks here every year with it’s superior programming list. That’s when NBC, CBS etc etc. woke up and the result is we have a lot of good prime time programs - as to what I hear. Don’t see TV so don’t have much to say - though I rented the recent Season one of Heroes out and if I didn’t know it was television series, I would have mistaken it to be some Hollywood big budget movie.
And ofcourse my favorite war drama is a tele-series - Band Of Brothers - i am a big fan of this 6 part series and no war movie comes even close to this television drama, in my opinion. Darn, I need to write a post on Band Of Brothers.
By the way the “Chaddi Pehen ke phool khila hain” was composed by Vishal Bhardwaj!!! I bumped into him a few months ago at a restaurant in Hollywood and this song came up in our discussion and he wanted to know if I had a digital copy of this song, cause he doesn’t!!! If anyone has a digital recording of this song, could you please forward this to Vishal.
Apparently, KSBKBT is a huge draw in Afghanistan. It has done a lot towards good India-Afghani relations! Tulsi is a hit there as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK_TnmNJqao
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htSiPYWD35U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9RVgTX55vo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=vikram+betal&search=Search
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7OkWpfTz1U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2760NU_jVM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd9nXfhuddQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBbSbCczYeM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy-eimsdIsw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58LJ0gG183Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoeBaKfllRE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tITnrXn8lsI
Good Ole Doordarshan
Alone, I pronounce you King of Links for December!!!
Did someone miss Chitrahaar and Chhaayageet ?
It was IMHO one of the biggest attractions for us and though we did not had TV those days, used to flock neighbors houses to listen to some mesmerizing songs
ALONE let me also pronounce u the King of “jugaad”
Gr8 links man
Gr8 post i remember my grand ma touching the feet of SITA in the tele [:)]
With 24×7 programing and unlimited advt support,TV content will definately get thrashy.
Alone, you are the man!!
@ OZ, I have the song
Vivek can you send it to us via Projekt iView… I’ll forward it to Vishal
Did Vishal give music for the “EK teetli….anek Teetliyaan….chanda ek….taare anek….” animation thing which used to come on DD?
vishal must have been a kid when that was made… gosh I must be 9 or something when I first saw that on DD
coz i saw the ek titli video on u tube….was written composed by Vishal Bharadwaj…hence the doubt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdxfN4ZhzO8
I was in love with Byomkesh Bakshi :d
why don’t men wear dhotis anymore?
it is soooo sexy
and wanted to name my son Chanakya!!
Sab TV ka asar…………..
K
@ Oz, I’ve sent the song to the address given at Projekt iview. Hope u got it.
No mention of “Chtrahar”? That was long before the countdown shows came and i still remember trying to catch glimpses in between my homework.
Other great shows to remember would be :
1) Start Trek
2) Indradhanush( Did anybody seen this , was actually interesting one)
3) Swabhimaan(Long before all saas bahus took over this one ruled)
4) Ados pados
5) Idhar udhar
6) Nukkad
8) Superhit Muquabla
9) Karamchand
10)Fauji
They should release all these on DVDs now… would be a good buy..