Couple of days back I came across a "Mahabarath"(BR Chopra's famed television serial) DVD video. The esoteric phrases, gaudy sets gave me a "multitude" to wonder and complain about. Rather than morphing into a "complaint box" , I started hiking down the timeline from my first glimpse of the TV which was once a synonym of Doordharsan.
1983 was the year when television proliferated in the subcontinent (atleast in my part of the world,Visakhapatnam,India).Doordarshan used to start its transmission with a melancholy tune and its logo fading in.
'84 our neighbour bought a black and white television and from then on my mother never needed to search for me. I remember that television for two programs, one :Indira Gandhi's cremation that was aired live, and the other was Giant Robot, that used to be transmitted every thursday around 1630hrs. I was simply fascinated by the gimmicks of the Giant Robot.
The serials original name was Johnny Sokko and his flying robot.
From 1985 I stopped running into my neighbours house as we got our first television Dayonara. In those days Konark and Dynora were hot brands. My dad was so addicted to the News at 2030hrs/2100hrs that no matter where he is, he used to find his way home. For me sundays serials were a treat. Fiction used to intrigue me a lot. Project UFO and Star Trek are two such serials that I never missed an episode.Sharp ( if I remember his name right) was my favorite in star trek
Humlog as most call it the Grandpa of all Indian television serials. It went on air for almost an year, and all of my family used to sit and watch it. At 7:30PM the transmission towers used to switch to Regional news where by we used to get News in telugu.
Slowly television programs started dictating our schedules. If some one asks "can you come at 7 PM ?" , there goes the answer bang "why not at 730PM!!!" (bcos., 700-730PM there is a telugu serial). 1987 we bought our first color television and it was Konark (Orrisa govt's., short lived company),this was the center of all media entertainment in my house till 2003.
Buniyaad goes second in the history book after Humlog. If some one would have taken a viewer rating, these will be the all time high for a decade or so. Alok Naths got his biggest break of his life with buniyaad.
Well if the name Ram sounds Hindu for the rest of the world then for India Doordarshan was
Ramayana. Ramanand Sagar was the pioneer of this epic dramas. This was for the first time in india that people started worshipping the television when this serial was being aired. Arun Govil personified Lord Ram in everyone's mind,and Devika as Sita. I remember that television sales were all time high on account of this serial.
Rajini which used tobe telecasted around sunday 1130hrs was one of those "women empower" kind. Most people know Priya Tendulkar as Rajini, which she was in her real life too. She should have been inspiration to many in some way or the other.
Mahabharat , Sri Krishna, and there goes the whole list of these epic dramas.Slowly I started loosing interest in these as it looked more and more monotonous. A one hour serial will be flooded with 20-25 minutes of advertisements. It tested viewers patience.
Slowly cable television got in and doordharshan was on a downhill. DD started its version ups. DD-1,DD2...DDx. Incidentally this reminds me of my office in bangalore where each of the blocks are numbered the same DD1,DD2!!. (well DD here stands for Design and Development).
I always used to look towards DD for the Indian-Pakistan and Indian -WestIndies matches. One match that haunts me even today is the Sharja tournament finals when Javen Miandad hit a 6 of the last ball of Chetan Sharama.
Fauji was a 9PM serial which I really enjoyed watching, I guess after this sharukhan never had anything to look back for.
If its Quiz Time this it was Siddhartha Basu. He was the most prolific Quiz master I have ever seen, next stands DerekOBrie of the Bournvita School Quiz.
The other serials that I enjoyed watching were; Karamchand where pankaj kapoor makes sure he stammers on " lilly dont be silly ". Nukkad which goes with the title song "..bhukey ko roti ka..pyaase ko paanikaa intazaar hey...!!". UGC programs : were the only educational programs in those days. Vikram aur betaals puzzles and riddles .My Yogi, Chitrahaar, Chitramala, Udaan, Street Hawk, Malgudi Days, World of Sport thats to the best of my memory.
How come I miss the Friday night "The World this Week", which was my all-time favourite. Anchorperson :Prannoy Roy .
The tussle for the remote control in the living room was a virtuous gift of the cable television. 80% of the disagreements between me and my mom was around the channel in question. Beyond 2000 (BBC),X Files(Star Plus),Wonder years(Star World).
I hardly dated the idot box since 2001.
(images courtesy : humaara Google)
1983 was the year when television proliferated in the subcontinent (atleast in my part of the world,Visakhapatnam,India).Doordarshan used to start its transmission with a melancholy tune and its logo fading in.
'84 our neighbour bought a black and white television and from then on my mother never needed to search for me. I remember that television for two programs, one :Indira Gandhi's cremation that was aired live, and the other was Giant Robot, that used to be transmitted every thursday around 1630hrs. I was simply fascinated by the gimmicks of the Giant Robot.
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From 1985 I stopped running into my neighbours house as we got our first television Dayonara. In those days Konark and Dynora were hot brands. My dad was so addicted to the News at 2030hrs/2100hrs that no matter where he is, he used to find his way home. For me sundays serials were a treat. Fiction used to intrigue me a lot. Project UFO and Star Trek are two such serials that I never missed an episode.Sharp ( if I remember his name right) was my favorite in star trek
Humlog as most call it the Grandpa of all Indian television serials. It went on air for almost an year, and all of my family used to sit and watch it. At 7:30PM the transmission towers used to switch to Regional news where by we used to get News in telugu.
Slowly television programs started dictating our schedules. If some one asks "can you come at 7 PM ?" , there goes the answer bang "why not at 730PM!!!" (bcos., 700-730PM there is a telugu serial). 1987 we bought our first color television and it was Konark (Orrisa govt's., short lived company),this was the center of all media entertainment in my house till 2003.
Buniyaad goes second in the history book after Humlog. If some one would have taken a viewer rating, these will be the all time high for a decade or so. Alok Naths got his biggest break of his life with buniyaad.
Well if the name Ram sounds Hindu for the rest of the world then for India Doordarshan was
Ramayana. Ramanand Sagar was the pioneer of this epic dramas. This was for the first time in india that people started worshipping the television when this serial was being aired. Arun Govil personified Lord Ram in everyone's mind,and Devika as Sita. I remember that television sales were all time high on account of this serial.
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Rajini which used tobe telecasted around sunday 1130hrs was one of those "women empower" kind. Most people know Priya Tendulkar as Rajini, which she was in her real life too. She should have been inspiration to many in some way or the other.
Mahabharat , Sri Krishna, and there goes the whole list of these epic dramas.Slowly I started loosing interest in these as it looked more and more monotonous. A one hour serial will be flooded with 20-25 minutes of advertisements. It tested viewers patience.
Slowly cable television got in and doordharshan was on a downhill. DD started its version ups. DD-1,DD2...DDx. Incidentally this reminds me of my office in bangalore where each of the blocks are numbered the same DD1,DD2!!. (well DD here stands for Design and Development).
I always used to look towards DD for the Indian-Pakistan and Indian -WestIndies matches. One match that haunts me even today is the Sharja tournament finals when Javen Miandad hit a 6 of the last ball of Chetan Sharama.
Fauji was a 9PM serial which I really enjoyed watching, I guess after this sharukhan never had anything to look back for.
If its Quiz Time this it was Siddhartha Basu. He was the most prolific Quiz master I have ever seen, next stands DerekOBrie of the Bournvita School Quiz.
The other serials that I enjoyed watching were; Karamchand where pankaj kapoor makes sure he stammers on " lilly dont be silly ". Nukkad which goes with the title song "..bhukey ko roti ka..pyaase ko paanikaa intazaar hey...!!". UGC programs : were the only educational programs in those days. Vikram aur betaals puzzles and riddles .My Yogi, Chitrahaar, Chitramala, Udaan, Street Hawk, Malgudi Days, World of Sport thats to the best of my memory.
How come I miss the Friday night "The World this Week", which was my all-time favourite. Anchorperson :Prannoy Roy .
The tussle for the remote control in the living room was a virtuous gift of the cable television. 80% of the disagreements between me and my mom was around the channel in question. Beyond 2000 (BBC),X Files(Star Plus),Wonder years(Star World).
I hardly dated the idot box since 2001.
(images courtesy : humaara Google)
3 comments:
nice post :)
hi bro,
thanks 4 remembering those days, thru ur article.
in those days i too use to watch these progrms daily. especially if sunday comes means , i use to watch the all progs on that day. like 4m morning he-man,after noon regional movie, evening superman/spiderman,after that telugu movie , in night surabi,circus etc. ieven forgot some name of some programs.
as u like , i also love that progs, mahabharat, gaint robot etc.
Mainly i love to watch malgudi days,
thanks for pogo 4 playing it again.I too used watch all the progs whatever u saw.
But there are no such type of progs in DD1.Except for sports i am not watching that channel.
Finally thanq once again 4 remembering those days.
janardhan
there used to be a serial on three boys, one who joined the army, one joined the IAF and the youngest kid wanted to be a navy officer...it ended abruptly...but was really cool...what ws that called?
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