The good old days of hindi television…
While having dinner in the cafeteria, the conversation took a twist and we ended up discussing the old doordarshan serials. The ones we remember and the ones we don’t. It was the time before Zee TV and Star TV came into being. All of us agreed on the point that all these oldies were far more sensible then the crappy sas bahu sagas we are tortured with today. In fact all of us enjoyed watching those soaps. I didn’t watch much TV that time also, but I was able to recall a few names.
My favorite was Malgudi days based on the writings with the same name by R K Narayan. The sketches that used to come in the credit roll were awesome. I can still remember them. And the Taana na taana na na naaa tune is still fresh in my mind! Amazing, I will say.
My other favorite was Jungle book based on the book with same name by Rudyard Kipling. I was so in love with the central character of the cartoon series that I named my newly born brother Mowgli (the name of the boy in the cartoon serial). And I used to like Jageera and Bhaaloo too! So was the madness that I used to wait for the serial every Sunday morning. And mind it, very religiously I used to wait. I used to get up early in the morning, finish my entire daily chore (including homework) and then sit along with my brother in front of TV set and wait for the jungle jungle baat chali hai theme song!
Next come Disney hour. I remember Ballooo from Tailspinand Loui Doui from Duck tales. This one was also my favorite.
Then there was the other sensible and meaningful ones like Udaan. Udaan was considered to be based
on the life of Kiran Bedi. The lead actress Kavita Joshi became really famous after this serial.
And how can one forget the great Mahabharta and Ramayana. I don’t remember much but my mom tells me that people used to leave all their work to watch these serials. The roads used to be all deserted. The shops used to be all closed. One can consider these two serials to be most famous and widely watched in the history of Doordarshan.
There were some others like Sea hawks, Nukkad, Chandrakanta, Chankya, Vyomkesh Bakshi and many more.
There was also a soap called Humlog. This can be considered to be phenomenal in the history of Indian television. I rarely watched it, but then , I have studied about this in my Media history classes and so, I can call it the first ever soap opera on Indian television.
I also remember a serial known as Stone boy. I hardly remember anything about this one but for a small kid. I used to find this one very mysterious. May be because of its theme music.
Any way, I can can go on and on.
The cruxes of the post is- most of Doordarshan serials, if not all, were worth watching and are worth remembering.
April 21st, 2008 at 8:25 pm
i remember disney hour….!!! baloooooo…i was so addicted….in the hols i used to be a regular during both the morning as well as the evening shows…it was just too cool….!
btw nice blog…shweeeet!
May 25th, 2008 at 12:35 am
gotta tell you….you have very strong memory.
June 26th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
what I remember of stone boy was that a school kid went to a trip and climbed the mountain to find a stone which used to be a boy some centuries earlier. this stone comes to life as ’stone boy’ and was visible only to this school kid. the kid takes stone boy back to the city with him and then there were scenes of things floating, teachers getting confused and all that.. i used to be crazy about stone boy during childhood, the serial was stopped being telecast in 1992.
October 5th, 2008 at 12:06 am
i like the serial on doordarshan
karamchand
zamana badal gaya hai
surabhi
parakh
October 8th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
guess what! we were discussing the same things over lunch today and happened to speak about all these shows u mentioned.
You bet they were far much better and sensible.
I personally still crave for the likes of these serials. Wish we could do something to have them re-telecasted.
I remember one serial in particular which was mungerilal ke haseen sapne. It was hilarious. And then there was the same actor as a lead actor in another with a donkey as his ride and he being known as the wise man in town. Could anyone help me with the name of this serial?
January 25th, 2009 at 12:11 am
I like the serial udaan.Can u plz tell me where i can find its theme song
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Hi,
Even I have been desperately looking for Theme songs of Udaan and Jeevanrekha/lifeline, remember that one. Another good show…
will highly appreciate any pointers.
N
October 4th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
hi..does anyone give me the links to any of the serials like stone boy if u know them
February 5th, 2010 at 7:28 am
@ sandhya : the main character name was kwaja nasaruddin i guess & prog may be his kahaniya
some more serials worth remember :
comedy :
dekh bhai dekh (thursday)
zaban sambhalke (thursday)
Shriman shreemati (tuesday 8.00 pm)
All d best (friday )
Detective :
tehkikaat
reporter (shekhar suman’s serious role !)
suraag (recent serial of 2k+ era)
then superhit muuabala and on …..
March 8th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
This is to reply Sandhya The name of serial was “Mulla Nasaruddin” the one who used to sit on donkey.