A Tribute to Doordarshan : by Kartik Krishnaswamy
The 80s were one of the best years of my life ………this would be true for most of India’s kids who were born in the 60’s and 70’s. Doordarshan was a common factor that bound us all together irrespective of the age group or region where we belonged to. Although the advent of television in India (atleast in the Metros) was way before the 80s – it gained a new meaning with the coming of the 80s. DD became the very soul of the nation and for the next decade and a half to come the entire nation’s schedule was almost governed by DD and its programmes.
Even to this day, the theme songs of serials, those ad jingles and national integration songs bring back some strange kind of nostalgia that can only be felt by people who were a part of the Doordarshan generation. I want to tread down this memory lane and recollect some of those inestimable times…
I was 9. I dropped everything what I was doing to be in front of the television at 8 PM on Wednesdays. Chitrahaar sponsored by Topaz Stainless Blade was a major high for me and this laid the foundation for the filmi fever in me that continues till today. Whether it was Disco Station from Hathkadi or one of the forgettable hits from Teri Kasam – it was always a happy half hour with hopes soaring that atleast 1 song could be sqeezed in towards the end. Those were the most simple, harmless hopes of the 80’s.
News (in Hindi and English) was so prosaic compared to the News programmes that we have today. We had no debates or celebrity chats, no special features or investigations, no Barkha Dutt at Kargil or Sreenivasan Jain in a rain ravaged Mumbai. All we had were a classy Komal GB Singh, Neeti Ravindran with a mole or serious faced Gitanjali Iyer and Minu. Of course, the male brigade of news readers never ceased to impress – be it the Late Tejeshwar Singh or Sunit Tandon. Hindi News screen had its share of news goddesses ranging from Salma Sultan with her mournful looks and rose to boot, Pratima Puri with her cute motherly charm, a ravishing Avinash Kaur Sareen or buxom Manjari Joshi. Also the presence of Sadhana Srivasatava and Jyotsna in our drawing rooms every evening definitely energised us.
Our Dyanora TV had a shutter which was fashionable during the 80s. Every act right from opening the shutters to switching on the stabilizer to watching the Doordarshan symbol rotate and culminate in a Satyam Shivam Sundaram was thrilling. In fact, I remember my grand uncle and aunt switching on the TV right from the time when those unforgettable horizontal lines appeared with a shrill sound waiting for the DD circles to appear patiently. Despite not understanding a word of Hindi – they used to sit and watch even dull programs such as Krishi Darshan, Saptahiki and Kavi Sammelans.
Sundays in most houses meant only Television. The hymns sung by Sardarjis in Sarab Sannjhi Gurbani (the only thing Texla TV was ever known for) co-incided with the early morning chirp of birds. But most of us woke up only in time for Rangoli at 7.45. Although not as popular as Chitrahaar, these medley of Hindi songs based on a particular topic was enough to make most of us children jump out of bed and head straight to the TV. And then followed a stream of serials from Idhar Udhar (a totally confused family), Choti Badi Baatein (a superstitious Sulabaha Deshpande driving her family crazy), Mr.Ya Mrs (Archana Puran Singh & Jayant Kriplani’s family comedy). Of course, the highlight of the morning was Priya Tendulkar’s Rajani. The time when Ramayan and Mahabharat was aired – all these serials took a backseat. Even street dogs were not visible on Indian roads, buses ran empty, morning shows in theatres were cancelled on Sundays. We had pious Hindus in the north light agarbattis and do poojas in front of TV sets right when Arun Govil (as Rama) or Nitish Bharadwaj (as Krishna) appeared on screen. Toddlers to nonagenerians, people of all faiths and walks of life were all glued to their TV sets savouring on Ravana’s anger, Bheeshma’s plight or Draupadi & Sita’s cups of woe. In fact, it was a known fact that the episode with Draupadi vastraapaharan had 100% viewership! No TRP blues for DD then.
Coming back to news - I still do not fathom the reason why my whole family was gathered in full strength to even watch the news for the hearing impaired that was aired every Sunday afternoon. Maybe because of the news mimer’s resemblance to a close family friend from Mysore. Although Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam movies in the regional movie slot were the most sought after ones in that order for us – we hardly even missed a Bangla, Oriya or Gujarati movie thanks to the subtitles.
I was not an avid sports buff and hence afternoon was the time I would run out to play with my friends. This was the time when ‘World Of Sport’ used to be aired. However, it was a quick run back home to be in front of the Idiot Box right in time for Spider Man. The facinating thing about the televsion scene in the 80s was that while walking on the road – you could hear the same programme as you pass each and every house. And we would know that we were late if the title tracks were heard as we walked along – Be it “Spider Man Spider Man, Spins the Web Anytime” or even the following programme “Vikram Vikram Vikram Betal Betal Betal’.
The Hindi movies on Sundays was the time when the whole family was at home and settled down cozily in front of the TV sets not willing to budge till the news interval or a regular “Rukavat Ke Liye Khed Hai”( which my cousin always insisted on reading as “Rukavat Ke Liye Raved Hai”). Whether it was an old movie or a new one, never mind even if it was a Sohrab Modi or a Joy Mukherjee Starrer, family was present in full strength. DD was known for its cuts – like for instance when it slashed two much awaited songs and some sequences when Saagar was first aired on National Television in 1989. In fact, Saagar was the first instance of a blockbuster movie visiting us right in our drawing rooms – thanks to DD alone. However as luck would have it the best ones were always slated before the day of the exams.
Weekday Serials were the lifeline of DD and for sometime continued to be the lifeline of the viewers as well. Atleast 2 dozen serials across a span of 6-7 years made a huge impact on the Indian Psyche. Serials dealing with moral stories, stories of day to day Indian families, mythological sagas, historical tales, short stories from across the world, comedy and thrillers alike. The next few pages takes you on a flashback focussing on several of the landmark serials that trodded the path across Indian drawing rooms in the 80s.
Hum Log – In mid 1984, Hum Log became the first Indian sponsored serial. This serial had a startling impact on Indian audience. The Indian public loved the show and the characters became drawing room legends and a very common topic of discussion in all forums. It was a story of an Indian middle class family and their daily life struggles. The unforgettable characters etched in the memory of people are Basesar Ram, Bhagwanti, Lallu, Badki, Nanhe, Majhli, Chutki, Kamia etc. Ashok Kumar appearing at the end of each episode and giving his perspective of the serial was the added attraction.
Buniyaad – Close on the heels of Humlog was another Soap – Buniyaad. As the viewership across the country increased in the late 80s, so did the popularity of Buniyaad. Buniyaad gripped the entire nation with its true-to-life depiction of the struggles of two Punjabi families ravaged by communal riots in 1947. Again like Hum Log, this serial had its share of unforgettable characters like Masterji, Lajoji and Veeravali.
Khandaan – This was the first serial that dealt with big industrialist families. A prime time serial that for the first time showcased the high society life of businessmen in Mumbai. I remember my mom loved Mohan Bhandari. Ketaki (Neena Gupta) was cute too.
Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi – The most popular and one of the first comedy serials to hit the Indian small screen. Growing up in a country where there was a dearth of good comedies on TV, YJHZ was a wonderful breath of fresh air. I remember not missing a single episode of this well directed serial. The kids of this generation look forward to Friday night outs but as kids in the 80s, our Fridays used to be booked and it was Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi ruling the roost for almost 2-3 seasons. Shafi Inamdar, Swaroop Sampat, Satish Shah, Rakesh Bedi and Tiku Talsania were our first ever comical demigods of the small screen. Remember Tiku’s “Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai…..”
Karamchand – Although there were a few serials in the detective genre that came earlier (like Apradhi Kaun and Barrister Vinod), it was Karamchand that was the hot favourite – this was mainly due to the neatly etched out characters and unfathomable genius Karamchand’s coupled with the comical Kitty played respectively by Pankaj Kapoor and Sushmita Mukherji. Carrot….oops Correct?
Nukkad – Monday evenings 9 PM – the 9 PM slot for serials was popularised by this serial. It was a simple story of street dwellers but had so much influence on India’s tele viewers. After Hum Log, Buniyaad and the Epic Serials, Nukkad was the most popular that churned out some unforgettable characters – Guru, Khopdi, Raja, Teacher, Ganpath etc. The same team followed up with acts in Intezar, Manoranjan and Circus – all of them although entertaining failed to match Nukkad’s fame.
Jeevan Rekha – The first serial in the medical genre with Tanvi Azmi in the lead. Very tacky and fast paced and had its emotional moments. Dealt with a large number of medical issues and was very apt for the times.
Ados Pados – Amol Palekar’s first comedy caper on small screen was an instant hit just like his comedy movies. It generated a very ‘feel good’ sensation about neighbours and their daily trivial arguments and activities.
Subah – RD Burman’s ‘Aye Zamaane Tere Saamne Aa Gaye’ went to become the most popular serial theme song of those times. Touching upon Campus life and impact of drugs on Indian youth – the serial was lapped up and most awaited by us during those days. The serial came to an abrubt halt midway paving the way for another college cum drug saga in the form of Chunauti.
I would like to take a break from serials here and reminisce some of DDs good old stock programmes other than serials, movies and news. These programmes had us all enthralled for many years and a tinge of nostalgia bites us while we listen to them. Mile Sur Mera Tumhara was the most popular and well made filler. It brought out the patriotism in us and took it to dizzing heights. It is a pity that the present generation of kids have never seen the video of Mile Sur Mera Tumhara. In a neatly packaged 6 minute video, it gave us a glimpse of India’s vast cultural diversity.A similar video was the one which had all the sports personalities bearing the Asian games torch and running. All the big names in Indian sports were there and this was much before the advent of Sachin Tendulkar and 90s brigade of cricketers. It was a very heartening clip indeed.
There was another program on the ‘life of a flower’ or ‘Pushp Ki Abhilasha’ in Hindi that started off something like ‘Chaah Nahin…… And then there was this very neatly made national integration cartoon about two conical headed characters fighting over an apple tree when they realise the greatness of the Apple tree after tasting the fruit ! and then all of them do a very endearing dance around the tree. God knows how many times, my cousin and I have attempted this dance.
While on national integration, another one that races past my mind (and am sure the first one that comes to everyone’s mind) is the cartoon clip of a girl teaching a moral story to her kid brother – Ek Chidiya Anek Chidiya Ek Titli Anek Titliyan. My brother and I have enacted this entire song several times over when we were kids. Sadly, nobody shows it on Doordarshan anymore (forget other channels). Everyone is too busy making money out of never ending game shows and over the top soaps.
Back to serials:
Malgudi Days – This was definitely special to the family and we hardly missed out on any episode of this serials in both its seasons. Very well crafted and directed by Shankar Nag and was one of the masterpieces of the small screen. The author being family to us – we totally shut off the external world out while watching this. Needless to say the serial gained so much popularity in the coming years – we were proud that Malgudi had made it to the drawing rooms of all Indian households.
Mr.Yogi – This was probably the first time all of us noticed the late Mohan Gokhale putting up a class act. His expressions and performance was the winning combination that worked for this Ketan Mehta serial. It gave us new shades each week and hence the interest was always alive.
Fauji – As teenagers we just loved Fauji. The sheer adventure of army life depicted on television gave us a new thrill and the hero in the serial was a rage among men and women alike – and continues to be !
Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne – Mungerilal along with Kakkaji Kahin and Phatichar introduced new comic characters to Indian entertainment. However Mungerilal had a classy edge over the other two serials simply due to the way it was narrated. Mungerilal’s dreams was something that the common man could identify with.
Wagle Ki Duniya – Talking of the common man – the creator of the same gave us one masterpiece of a serial about the woes of harried husband Wagle and his enduring wife Radhika. Being one of RK Laxman’s creations, the family was partial to this serial and even got the epiosdes recorded in the then popular VCR. This serial came as a whiff of fresh air when comedies were dying out of Indian television – this being perhaps on of the last of those comedies shown on DD.
Udaan – The Lalitaji from Surf Ads shocked us all with this tremendous performance. A very touching tale about the grit of a young lady – this serial actually had many young women in the country thinking on the lines of taking up jobs in the police force.
Children’s Serials – Before these jetsetting age of computer games, cartoon networks and gizmos, we innocent children were put on a staple diet of DD’s children serials that came in plenty. We lapped them up for the lack of anything else but soon were hooked. Serials like ‘Tenali Rama’, ‘Appu Aur Pappu’, ‘Babaji Ka Bayiscope’, ‘Ek Do Teen Char’, ‘Dada Dadi Ki Kahani’, ‘Faster Fenay’, ‘Indradhanush’, ‘Sara Jahan Hamara’, ‘Khel Khel Mein’ and ‘Kachchi Dhoop’ were some of the most popular ones for us kids.
Short Stories – While RKN’s Malgudi Days was by far the most well made and popular short story series in the 80’s, there were a handful of other programs that featured some gems in the form of short stories – Ek Kahani, Kathasagar, Shakti, Darpan and Khazana were the significant ones. Some of these stories were really potent and hard hitting. I personally loved watching these and acted as good fodder for thought.
Long Stories – These were termed Telefilms – a term that was new to the Indian vocabulary. Mahesh Bhatt’s Janam and Govind Nihalani’s Tamas were an absolute rage in the late 80’s. Being too serious for my consumption at that time – I conveniently dropped both these from my must see programs on TV.
Quile Ka Rahasya & Honee Anhonee – Gosh ! These serials gave us the goose bumps. Not classics in that sense of the word but definitely something that we lost sleep over. The former especially – I could never watch it all alone and memories of all us cousins huddled together to watch this serial comes to mind.
Noopur – I seldom missed any episode of this serial mainly due to the fact that it had Hema Malini in the lead role. In fact, she set the ball rolling for big time film stars to step into the small screen with ease and grace.
Yatra – Geogrpahy was already one of the subjects that had fascinated me in my teens – this serial came as a boon to me. I enjoyed the stories of passengers travelling across the length and breadth of India and diversity of the country was very beautifully shot.
Talking of these serials, that rocked us in the 80s, I can go on and on. There were other programs in plenty that we got hooked onto and writing about them will take me reams of paper. Some noteworthy serials were Air Hostess, Paying Guest, Aa Bail Mujhe Maar, Chote Bade, Hakke Bakke, Issi Bahane, Kahan Gaye Woh Log, Kissa Shanti Ka, Panchi, Kashish, Trishna, Wah Janab etc. Other programmes that gained immense popularity were Quiz Time, The Mathemagic Show and Contact. However Siddharth Basu’s Quiz Time (sponsored by Amul Chocolates) was the winner and was the first ever Quiz progamme that we got exposed to. Tabassum’s Phool Khile Hai Gulshan Gulshan, Chitramala (medley of regional film songs), Tele Match and Surabhi were the other favourites that were a huge hit among the viewers.
Special Days – DD decided to treat us movie hungry people with abundant films during election seasons. While Prannoy Roy talked away endelessly about his swings – we eagerly waited for the late night films. Staying awake to watch these movies – even black and white ones – was a thrill by itself.
On the contrary, DD left no stones unturned to ensure that whole nation plunged into mourning during the untimely demise of any popular political figure. In fact, all of us were rather agonised by the week long sarod vadan or santoor vadan. This truly was a depressing time for the entire family since our only source of entertainment was aborted.
Another area where DD scored low – was in terms of its cuts – 8:30 PM, time for news –a prompt switch over, it didn’t matter if it was the last over of the cricket match and India’s fate hung in balance or the final game of a thrilling Martina Navratilova Vs Chris Evert’s Wimbledon finals or the nailbiting climax of Gumnaam.
Commercials – Ads were something that we longed to watch on the small screen. There were only a few commercials telecast before the start of a program and never in between like it is today. Each AD actually oozes nostalgia today and the actors in these Ads were themselves some kind of demigods. The most popular of them all was (and is till today) the Nirma AD. The other major jingles that would take anyone down memory lane are:
Jab Main Chhota Ladka Tha badi Shararat Karta Tha – Bajaj Bulbs
Suno Suno O Babuji Kahan Chale – Vimal Washing Powder
Hawkins Ki Seeti Baji Khushbu Udi – Hawkins Pressure Cooker
Jo Biwi Se Sachmuch Kare Pyar – Prestige Pressure Cooker
Limca before the picnic Limca after the picnic – Limca Limca
La La La La la – Liril Soaps
Boost is the Secret of My Energy, Our Energy
Baraatiyon Ka Swagat Pan Parag Se Kijiye
Tandurusti Ki Raksha Karta Hai – Lifebuoy
Kachua Jalaao Machchar Bhagao – Tortoise Coil
Wah Bhaiya Badan Ke Liye Doodh Badam – Colgate Tooth Powder
Only Vimal Only Vimal – Vimal
I love you Rasna
As the 80s, drew to a close and 90s emerged, DD was fast losing its popularity – thanks to the onslaught of cable television. The 90s did see some initial spurt of quality serials before permanently being washed out by the Zee TVs and Star Plus es.
Good Serials in the 90s were very few and far in between. Only ones that made any noise were Sword of Tipu Sultan, Gul Gulshan Gulfam, Chandrakantha, Chanakya, Mujrim Hazir Ho, Vyomkesh Bakshi, Ulta Pulta, Shaktiman and Dekh Bhai Dekh. By the time Swabhiman and Shanti came – popular DD serials were pushed to the afternoon slots since the prime times were hogged by Zee Antakshari, Bold and the Beautiful, Tara, Santa Barbara and the likes slowly paving the way for the immensely avoidable SaasBahu sagas of today.
