If there is one thing that you can ascertain about me after having glanced through my blog, it has to be my love for movies. I cannot call myself a movie buff because I haven't seen many English [or other foreign language] movies, so let me label myself a Hindi - film buff :D [Please not a
Bollywood buff: what does that term even mean anyway?]. And then, there is an important reason for it - I have grown up in a very traditional Indian Hindi - speaking family [and for the same reason, my Hindi is excellent :D, but I lament how less of it I speak today] where the Ekta Kapoor Hindi TV serials, the Karan Johar - Rajshri Productions family dramas are a staple diet. With this post, let me take a trip down the memory lane [television - wise].
I think, it has to do with the time period when I was growing up - the '95 - '05 decade is essentially characterised by the simple, yet elegant Doordarshan being overtaken by the cable TV revolution. I distinctly remember our joy on making this rather 'prestigious' shift, when most of my friends in school still used to watch Doordarshan and that the first TV channel I ever saw was Zee TV, apart from DD National, of course. That this revolution has transformed into a cut - throat competition today, with mushrooming of umpteen number of absolutely shitty channels is an altogether different story.
My memories of Doordarshan are plenty, though faint. Those were the days when
Aaj Tak wasn't an arrogant, self - proclaimed
desh ka number 1 news channel [which I don't believe it is], but was the name of a simple news bulletin on DD. My family used to watch Nalini Singh's
Aankhon Dekhi together on a daily basis. Other memories include watching those awesome adventure serials like
Alif Laila, Shaktimaan and
Chandrakanta with my brother. Of course I do remember those hilarious family shows like
Tu Tu main main, Srimaan Srimati and
Jaspal Bhatti ka flop show! I also recollect watching those music shows:
Chitrahaar and
Superhit muqabla. We also used to watch two shows based on the Indian struggle for independence:
Yug and
Krantikari. Though I didn't like watching any cartoon serials, then, but me and my brother used to watch a foreign show on Bharti channel, whose name I have forgotten, whose format was almost like that of
Takeshi's castle. I have a very faint memory of my mummy liking a show called
Ghutan/Udaan, which I think was about women's empowerment. I also remember watching many other shows on different TV channels, which were originally aired on DD:
Dekh Bhai Dekh, Swaabhimaan, Shaanti [also
Srimaan Srimati and
Tu Tu main main, which I watched on DD as well as other channels]. As a matter of fact, I never watched the epic sagas:
Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan and
B.R. Chopra's Mahabharat on DD [I never could have, they ended before I was born!]. Though later, of course, I watched their re - runs on Star Plus and Sony, respectively. What I don't remember watching however, are classics like
Karamchand,
Byomkesh Bakshi and
Captain Vyom [Though I do remember watching
Tehkikaat and
Raja aur Rancho!]. Other cult hits that remain alien to me include
Hum Log,
Buniyaad,
Fauji and
Circus, of which I don't think there have been any popular/successful re -runs.
From the Cable TV channels, I clearly remember that my parents used to watch
Harsh Chhaya and
Shefali Shah's Hasratein, but as a child I never appreciated the show and found it boring [The show's theme was rather mature: extra - marrital affairs, I guess, but then those were the days, when these words were Greek for us] I remember waking up on lazy Sunday mornings to the title songs of
Sri Krishna and
Sri Ganesh! Other old shows I remember are
Divya Shah's game show
Aao guess karein and the wonderfully innocent
Small wonder [which I'm told by its wiki page, is considered as one of the worst sitcoms ever, wtf?!]. This period is marked by my affinity towards cartoon serials/kid game shows like
Nickelodeon's Rugrats, The legend of the hidden temple, Global guts [We used to organise some sporting tournaments akin to Global guts in our house with friends from the neighbourhood!],
Cartoon Network's Tom and Jerry, Richie Rich, Scooby Dooby Doo [which I never liked :P],
Popeye, the sailor man [which we used to watch day and night and gave a lot of trouble to our parents. Mummy used to ask us to emulate Popeye by eating spinach, but we never listened to her!] and others like the adventurous
Aladin, Duck Tales, to a lesser extent
Tales Pin, Mickey Mouse and friends and a later addition: the lovable
Recess [I used to relate to Mikey, so much!]
Now let's talk of the 21st century and Ekta Kapoor's invasion of the Prime Time. She has been subjected to enough criticism for her serials, and its a taboo to talk of these serials in a group today[:P], yet there are a lot of memories attached to those silly serials, which used to keep all of us glued to the television.
Who can forget the innovative video of the title track of
Kyunki with
Tulsi introducing each member of her family to the audience. Title tracks of almost all the serials were indeed melodious -
Desh Mein Nikla Hoga Chand, Saara Aakash, Ghar ek mandir, Koshish Ek aasha, Astitva ek prem kahani, Kalash, Kasamh se, Kkusum, Kumkum et al.
That never ending desire of seeing
Anurag and
Prerna united (and then that bastard,
Mr. Bajaj came into picture and spoiled everything x-().
Parvati's character in
Kahaani, and her amicable relationship with every member of the family (from
Dadi and
Vandi mausi to
Shruti and
Sonu). And many others!
But then suddenly, I came to college, leaving TV behind [who would've imagined life without TV!] and all those little things that hardly mattered then, became memories that I value and cherish and that keep me reminding of those good old times!
My memories of Doordarshan are plenty, though faint. Those were the days when Aaj Tak wasn't an arrogant, self - proclaimed desh ka number 1 news channel [which I don't believe it is], but was the name of a simple news bulletin on DD. My family used to watch Nalini Singh's Aankhon Dekhi together on a daily basis. Other memories include watching those awesome adventure serials like Alif Laila, Shaktimaan and Chandrakanta with my brother. Of course I do remember those hilarious family shows like Tu Tu main main, Srimaan Srimati and Jaspal Bhatti ka flop show! I also recollect watching those music shows: Chitrahaar and Superhit muqabla. We also used to watch two shows based on the Indian struggle for independence: Yug and Krantikari. Though I didn't like watching any cartoon serials, then, but me and my brother used to watch a foreign show on Bharti channel, whose name I have forgotten, whose format was almost like that of Takeshi's castle. I have a very faint memory of my mummy liking a show called Ghutan/Udaan, which I think was about women's empowerment. I also remember watching many other shows on different TV channels, which were originally aired on DD: Dekh Bhai Dekh, Swaabhimaan, Shaanti [also Srimaan Srimati and Tu Tu main main, which I watched on DD as well as other channels]. As a matter of fact, I never watched the epic sagas: Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan and B.R. Chopra's Mahabharat on DD [I never could have, they ended before I was born!]. Though later, of course, I watched their re - runs on Star Plus and Sony, respectively. What I don't remember watching however, are classics like Karamchand, Byomkesh Bakshi and Captain Vyom [Though I do remember watching Tehkikaat and Raja aur Rancho!]. Other cult hits that remain alien to me include Hum Log, Buniyaad, Fauji and Circus, of which I don't think there have been any popular/successful re -runs.
From the Cable TV channels, I clearly remember that my parents used to watch Harsh Chhaya and Shefali Shah's Hasratein, but as a child I never appreciated the show and found it boring [The show's theme was rather mature: extra - marrital affairs, I guess, but then those were the days, when these words were Greek for us] I remember waking up on lazy Sunday mornings to the title songs of Sri Krishna and Sri Ganesh! Other old shows I remember are Divya Shah's game show Aao guess karein and the wonderfully innocent Small wonder [which I'm told by its wiki page, is considered as one of the worst sitcoms ever, wtf?!]. This period is marked by my affinity towards cartoon serials/kid game shows like Nickelodeon's Rugrats, The legend of the hidden temple, Global guts [We used to organise some sporting tournaments akin to Global guts in our house with friends from the neighbourhood!], Cartoon Network's Tom and Jerry, Richie Rich, Scooby Dooby Doo [which I never liked :P], Popeye, the sailor man [which we used to watch day and night and gave a lot of trouble to our parents. Mummy used to ask us to emulate Popeye by eating spinach, but we never listened to her!] and others like the adventurous Aladin, Duck Tales, to a lesser extent Tales Pin, Mickey Mouse and friends and a later addition: the lovable Recess [I used to relate to Mikey, so much!]
Now let's talk of the 21st century and Ekta Kapoor's invasion of the Prime Time. She has been subjected to enough criticism for her serials, and its a taboo to talk of these serials in a group today[:P], yet there are a lot of memories attached to those silly serials, which used to keep all of us glued to the television.
