Old Doordarshan Serials

[rahul]

Hamara Bajaj, Very old ad

[rahul]

Lalitaaji Surf Ad

[rahul]

RajKumar Hirani in Fevicol Ad

[neha]

Hi Rahul thanks for such old videos.. You have done a great job.

[neha]

Tamas (1986) -

Director : Govind Nihalani

Main Leads : Om Puri, Deepa Sahi, Amrish Puri, Bhisham Sahni, A.K. Hangal, Manohar SinghDina Pathak and Saeed Jaffrey.

The serial is a story of partition in India, in the year 1947, which interweaves the lives of the young innocent people caught in the Hindu- Muslim and Sikh – Muslim tensions during partition. Based on the book written by Bhishma Sahani, it looks at how extremist elements of both communities infuse hatred in the communities, and finally how realisation dawns as to the futility of violence. It consisted of out-standing performance by all the actors and especially Om-Puri as ‘Nathu’ and Bhisham Sahni as ‘Karmo’.

A writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court, asking that Doordarshan be restrained from airing the show. The grounds for challenging the airing of the serial was that the serial was likely to promote disharmony and hatred on grounds of enmity, ill feeling among different religions and it was likely to train people to use criminal force or participate in criminal acts.

Wagle Ki Duniya (1988)

Director : Ravi Oja

Main Leads : Bharati Achrekar and Anjaan Srivastav.

‘Wagle Ki Duniya’ was based on charachters created by famous cartoonist R. K. Laxman. It was a marvelous entertainer, which, in some ways, embodied TV’s ubiquitous appeal over the language barrier. The concept was simple and clean, which only focused on the world of the quitessential common man ‘Wagle’. Each episode is a separate story about this middle class family and their day to day, almost mundane, yet exciting life. Anxieties, anticipation, apprehensions, appreciations, appalling incidents, … all form a part of their small and simple world. The serial was as much loved in North India as it was in the South.

There was this one episode from the serial, which I somehow always remember during the Diwali Festival. In that, Wagle goes shopping for new fabric that was to used for the new curtains for their small house for Diwali. He forgets how much meter he was required to purchase, by his wife. And he lands up buying much much more then needed. Now to use the extra fabric, the family decides to use it by making shirts and other household items, out of it. So on Diwali eve, we see the whole family in same clothes, with same curtains, dinning mats and bed sheets….it was simply hilarious.

Karamchand (1985) -

Director : Pankaj Parashar

Main Leads : Pankaj Kapur and Susmita Mukherjee

Pankaj Kapoor made a debut as an unforgettable carrot-chewing detective in this serial. It was a perfect blend of ‘mystery’ and ‘comedy’. Susmita Mukherjee was equally unforgettable as Karamchand’s assistant ‘Kitty’. It was probably the first detective show on Doordarshan. Whenever Susmita Mukherjee tried to help by adding her bit, she was given a instant reply “Shut up, Kitty” by her boss, the ‘gajar’ eating private detective Karamchand.

The chemistry between the two was amazing and show not only brought instant popularity to the leading actors but also gave the vegetable ‘gajar’ a whole new identity make-over.

Malgudi Days (1987) -

Director : Shankar Nag

Main Leads : Master Manjunath

Every one of us would have grown watching ”Malgudi Days” which was the top serial in the Doordarshan. Malgudi Days was basically a collection of short stories based on the people of a fictitious place, Malgudi. Malgudi is a small village situated on the banks of river Saryu and the whole story revolves around the people living there.

Apart from that, it is one of the greatest works by a great writer R.K. Narayan and who can forget the lyrics of the title song…“Tana na aa tana naanaa aa tana naanaa naaa”…still feel like singing it…..

Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984) -

Director : Kundan Shah and Manjul Sinha

Main Leads : Shafi Inamdar, Swaroop Sampat, Rakesh Bedi and Statish Shah.

‘Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi’ was the official first ever ‘ sitcom’ of the Indian Television. It was about a couple, a brother-in-law, and the trouble they get into. Usually staid and boring sarkari broadcaster developed a sense of humour on Friday nights. Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, the tale of fun couple Raja and Renu forever quarreling in sweet banter became an instant laugh riot across the nation. The roads would usually be empty in most towns come 8.30 pm. London video stores would await periodically for the copy of the serial’s tape. The box-office openings in cinemas were affected, as actor Jeetendra once complained.

And Shafi Inamdar and Swaroop Sampat became your next-door neighbors, whatever your neighborhood.

Fun facts…..‘Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi’ trivia

* Kishore Kumar sang the incredibly famous title track Yeh Jo Hai, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi.

* Farida Jalal made her comeback in television with the serial.

* The entire serial was shot on a single camera set up.

* The line 30 years ka experience hai was actually written by Satish Shah himself.

* The first episode that was shot of the serial was actually the first episode on air as well. The serial had no pilot episodes.

Udaan (1990) -

Director : Kavita Choudhary

Main Lead : Kavita Choudhary and Shekhar Kapoor

Udaan, a television serial based on the struggle of a woman aspiring to be an IPS officer. It was a story of a girl named “Kalyani Singh” who joined the police force and with her hard work and sheer determination went on to become an ‘ASP’. The story was written by also written by Kavita Choudhary was inspired by her older sister Kanchan Choudhary who went on to be appointed as Director General of Police of Uttaranchal, becoming the first Indian woman to head a state police force.

It was one the first serial to showcase “women empowerment”.

[reema]

Ek anek..

[reema]

Old Doordarshan Documentary

[reema]

Alif Laila title song

[reema]

School chale hum

[reema]

Malgudi Days