DD nostalgia

ok....there was a discussion today at the coop dinner table at 6pm....this is at ucla....jan 8th 2006. we ended on the topic of old tv serials that were aired on the good ol' DD...this was in the late 80's to early to mid 90's.....i went on the net to search the serials....and lo....there were the memories thqat came back so i thought i better put them down...found a lot of info from...http://sakshijuneja.com/blog/?p=192....

just for my convenience....i will replicate the whole thing(page) without her concent...hope shew will not sue....this is for makeing sure that this info is not lost....all this in the end.

here is the partial list....hope someone has dvds of all of them....

kiley ka rahasya,
Kakka Ji Kahin by Om puri,
giant robot,
vikram aur betal,
Ramayan
Mahabarta
Chankaya,
wagle ki duniya,
hone anhonee,
karamchand,
malgudi days(1987),http://www.malgudidays.com/ now available at http://www.indiaplaza.com/dvd/pd.aspx?sku=314044&c=0.
stone boy,
space station Sigma,
Nukkad,
Byomkesh Bakshi,
Wagle Ki Duniya (1988),
Karamchand (1985),
Udaan (1990),
Hum Log,
Rajni,
Buniyaad,
Nukkad,
Fauji (this serial made Sharukh Khan and the word “champ” really famous),
Dhek bhai dhek,
Zaban Sambhal Ke,
Lifeline,
Knight Rider,
Pranoy Roy’s “The World this Week” on friday,
reporter (shekher suman),
Yes Minister,
Hercule poirot,
Mungeri Lal ke Haseen Sapne,
Surabhi with the cheerful Renuka Sahane and the “big” man Siddharth Kak,
Didi’s comedy Show,
‘Indradhanush’ - The first desi series based on time-travel,
Cosmos (with Carl Seagan),
the Jacques Cousteau series on his famous boat — Calypso, UFO,
Chunauti,
Subah,
Sanjha Chula (Rama Vij, Shah Rukh, etc),
He-Man & The Masters of the Universe,
Circus,
Ghalib,
---------------------------------


Most TV programmes are nothing more than “bad-parodies” today, not dramas. They often display a high level of tension, frustration, and conflict within the family. Somehow. The norm is middle to upper middle, or high, class families that often live in plush homes in virtually interchangeable suburbs. On the other hand, it seems that the Indian Television is getting over obsessed with the “Reality” show concept. Every damn T.V channel has some talent hunt show going on, be it singing, acting, dancing, fashion….practically everything one can do under the sun. In short, it’s a monumental cultural wasteland on TV — a travesty of game shows, violence, sadism, murder, bad men, good men, private detectives, cartoons etc., and endless commercials — of screaming presenters, tacky shows, cajoling and offensive.
All the above, somehow forces me to miss the “idiot” box that existed before the arrival of “cable” network. Our national channel aka “Doordarshan”, was surprisingly not so ‘doooor’ from it’s viewers needs and sentiments in those days.
Some of the best T.V shows were aired on ‘DD1′ and ‘DD metro’ in the 80s till early 90s. Here is a look at some of them….
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”.
Many other serials such as Hum Log, Rajni, Buniyaad, Nukkad, Fauji (this serial made Sharukh Khan and the word “champ” really famous), Zaban Sambhal Ke, Lifeline, etc…were known for their good and quality storylines, performances of actors and the messages they forwarded. However today, poor “Doordarshan” has been crushed by the cable generation. Gone are the days when we could actually sit with the entire family and watch television, without having the hassle of switching TV channels and ‘remote control’ fights.
For now one could only wish that some of the olden goldies of the “idiot box” would make a comeback. However till then, we the viewers will continue to watch the ’saas-bahu’ sagas and over-hyped “quiz” shows, while our fingers on the remote control flip channels and our head wanting to scream out loud, hoping that so-called “TV gurus” would hear our plead one day.
This entry was posted on Friday, October 28th, 2005 at 9:02 am and is filed under Lists, Humor, India. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
46 Responses to “The old “idiot” box…”
sowmya Says: October 28th, 2005 at 12:08 pm
First time here. Your post took me through a nostalgic journey down DD lane. Indeed the serials of those days were more entertaining than today’s mega sagas. Hope the oldies make a come back.
Melody Says: October 28th, 2005 at 5:08 pm
Wow Sakshi! Those indeed were the days…
Here’s some of the English ones I remember from DD days: Fireball XL5, Knight Rider, Famous Five (used to love these so much that I used to video tape ‘em!), Sherlock Holmes, Different Strokes….
Even used to wait for Pranoy Roy’s “The World this Week” just because only once a week we’d get good coverage of international news!!! Certain things def. have improved at least!!
DesiPundit » The Old “Idiot” Box Says: October 28th, 2005 at 5:37 pm
[…] Sakshi visits the "good’ol days" of Doordarshan. Now that I read her post, I admit that they had some good stuff. Flukes? […]
Abhishek Says: October 28th, 2005 at 5:55 pm
wow…. that’s quite something. though i haven’t actually seen any of them, its easy to draw the contrast of them and today’s serials. a lot has changed, i must say.
btw, cool blog .
Joy. D Says: October 28th, 2005 at 5:56 pm
I do remember those old days of Doordarshan with unparalled fondness. Those serials were real entertainers unlike today’s which revolves around conspiracies and conspiracies within conspiracies without any meaningful story. I thought that through years you become better but not in the case of DD (for that matter many things in India) they went from best to mediocre to worst. May be tt only happens in India.
Rohit Says: October 28th, 2005 at 6:04 pm
Brilliant stuff. One conveniently forgets everything apart from Krishi darshan.
Re wagle family on diwali
I had the same experience when I wore a new Fab India kurta to an aunt’s house and discovered that I matched her tablecloth and bedcover
Vinay Says: October 28th, 2005 at 6:51 pm
aah.. the good ol’ days. I actually started a Yahoogroups to discuss that era a few years back and we managed to compile a good list of what was showing during then. Do visit http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/hinditv and add to the list if you can.
Someone Says: October 28th, 2005 at 7:39 pm
Good ol’days. I love Wagle ki duniya and yeh jo hai zindagi. Couple of other good ones - Mohandas BA. LLB, Dekh Bhai Dekh, hum panchi ke chaal ke.
Now a days I end up watching only Just for a laugh aired late night….I believe its a canadian show.
anon Says: October 29th, 2005 at 12:23 am
You make me nostalgic about “Yeh jo hai zindagi” - I was a total sucker for the show. Come to think it, DD should release these on DVD. I for one would buy it.
krishn Says: October 29th, 2005 at 3:42 am
yeah .. those were the days…creativity was not reigned in by TRP…it pains you to see the same taleneted bunch of satish shah and all being wasted on some really botched up sit coms.
in fact eve in the later half of DD days…. saans was a very good serial.i remember watching one serial in the mornings on sundays which made neelima azeem quite famous. it had long and beautiful name. pity i forgot the name.
there were some nice school based serials and telefilms in those days and once in a while one could catch a nice hollywood flick as well, i remember catching kramer vs. kramer and tootsie in one series of good movies.
i think we should try and compile the list of these gems as i feel that it would be a long long time before we can see something like those
Hiren shah Says: October 29th, 2005 at 8:01 am
You revive some old memories with “Wagle ki Duniya” . It really made me nostalgic and made me remember the old comedy serial “Yeh jo hai Zindagi” which I think came before it. The fare dished out these days is too steroetyped and it is one heck of a task keeping children away from the idiot box.
Kapil Says: October 29th, 2005 at 11:11 am
Sakshi, great post. Re-collecting the past is always fund especially when they are such lovely thoughts in them.But hey, let’s not forget that the same cable network today also gives us access to some other wonderful channels like Discovery, Nat Geo and Travel & Living. Yes, the Saas-bahus should make an EXIT after so many years of sobbing.
Kuttan Says: October 29th, 2005 at 4:33 pm
Nice trip down memory lane. They never let the quality of their programs mire in the bureaucratic red tapism. Some other honrable mentions are Gul Gulshan Gulfam, Circus .
Vishal Says: October 29th, 2005 at 6:53 pm
Anyone remember Neev ? it was a sit-com about a boarding school…don’t remember much else but it was fun show.
madhu Says: October 30th, 2005 at 7:09 am
hmm u forgot junoon… how can u forget KK and thata nagarkar..and ya rangoli..?
Piyush Garyali Says: October 30th, 2005 at 2:40 pm
Well why don’t we see it from another prespective. Those were the days of DD and when I say that I mean it becuase well, there was no competition. So, all the good producers and directors had no choice but to make serial for DD alone and no wonder, they were good.
Another thing which kept the directors busy with making good dramas was the simple policy of 13 episodes per serial that DD followed strictly for many years. I remember “Khithij ke us paar” which, well, was very well made and had a logical ending after the 13th week.
These days there are so many channels that every Tom Dick and HariPrasad is a producer or a director and every soap-opera (as they call it) seem to have a bunch of ladies all glossed up being shot at exterme closeup, and they call it drama!!
I still miss that 20 minute run of commericals (from 9 in the morning till 9:20) before the start of Ramayana and Mahabharatha. Those were the days when the number of commericals would mean that the serial is really doing good bussiness. I still remember counting the ads and it were some 145 for Mahabaratha
Those were the days!!
K Says: October 30th, 2005 at 4:38 pm
Sigh! DD could really make great serials then, instead of badly done sci-fi things nowadays. Tamas was what HBO would call a ‘Mini-series’ and even though I was too young to understand Hum Log or Buniyaad (I watched StarTrek, Robot, Chitrahaar and Babu Basu’s Quiz Time, I was barely ten) everybody says that they were great. I wonder if someone knows that there are immense commercial prospects for such serials? I would buy a Tamas or Malgudi Days DVD, and so would many others…
One More Reason Says: October 30th, 2005 at 6:08 pm
Ah ! The memory lane. Yeh jo hai zindagi and Udaan were my favorites. If I remember correctly YJHZ was on Friday nights. Once our TV broke down and the repair guy was supposed to get it repaired and drop it back by 5 pm on a Friday. 5pm became 6 and then 7. I still remember how hard I prayed to get the TV back in time
Debashish Says: November 2nd, 2005 at 8:56 am
Good post Apart from those mentioned I recall fondly the Sunday morning show “Aap ke liye” which was hosted occassionaly by Vinod Dua, the comedys shows like “Idhar Udhar” and other shows like the Lucy Show, Star Trek, Johny sokko and his flying Robo, David Attenboruogh’s “The Living Planet”, Vinod Dua’s Parakh, Narottam Puri’s “The Sports Quiz” and the immensely popular “Rajani”. I also liked the Germal TV shows that were telecast at that time like the “Music Laden”, wheer I heard the BoneyM for the first time, and “Telematch”. Then there was the dubbed Japanese serial “Oshin” and the most friendly news readers like JVRaman, Neethi Ravindran, Tejeshwar Singh, Rini Simon, Salma Sultan. Hmmmm…good old days…reminds me of the childhood and the innocent entertainment we had.
Kalyan Says: November 3rd, 2005 at 4:53 am
That was one awesome post. I was on google searching for something and I came across this. It really made me recall a few old nice things that I had not remembered for a long time. “Giant Robot” was one serial that was good too. My favorite serial was always Malgudi days though.
Just wanted to say GOOD WORK! Thats all!
Bye all,Kalyan
Umair Ahmed Muhajir Says: November 6th, 2005 at 5:46 am
Great post (I just discovered your blog)!
madan Says: November 6th, 2005 at 9:04 am
Indeed, things have changed. though we have more coverage, at least of international events and detailed analysis of national events, no one can argue that DD of old times did have quality shows. I’d like to add “Byomkesh Bakshi”, “Reporter”,”dekh bhai dekh” and “Mahabharat” to the hindi list and “Yes Minister”, “Are you being served” and “Hercule poirot” to the English one. Nostalgic and memorable indeed.
Lalit Says: November 8th, 2005 at 7:58 pm
Sakshiloved reading your post and the trip down the memory lane…infact there is a community dedicated to Old DD serials on Orkut (which is a online network kinda thing)
m.n.arvind Says: November 14th, 2005 at 8:42 pm
Sakshi,Gr8 one! was just watching Malgudi Days on POGO along with my friends. So all you Malgudi Fans start watching POGO! That set us talking about the good ol’ days of yore! I would like to add Mungeri Lal ke Haseen Sapne, Vikram aur Betal (which had our “Lord Rama” as Vikram!) and even before that Didi’s comedy Show, Spiderman and later the Science Quiz Programs along with Science Quest.Those were really good ones. Of course Fauji, which launched King Shah Rukh!Remember those days when DD would telecast regional language films and we could get to see all those “Award?” winning films?DD also used to telecast really good movies late in the night whenever there was a film festival happenning anywhere!How about Surabhi with the cheerful Renuka Sahane and the “big” man Siddharth Kak? This show also set a world record or something by receiving over 10 lakh answers for an episode I believe!Thanks a lot for stirring up good cheerful nostalgia!I miss those days!Adios!
Anurag Says: November 15th, 2005 at 6:14 am
Nice post. Just the other day I was lamenting the sorry state of our TV industry now and couldn’t help bringing up the good-old DD of our times.
In addition to the ones listed here, some other awesome serials used to do rounds back then.
‘Stone Boy’ - I haven’t come across many ppl who remember this one. Sigh. It was the perfect childhood fantasy.
‘Indradhanush’ - The first desi series based on time-travel. Marvellous.
‘Faster Fene’ - About a teen-age detective. Was funky stuff.
‘Honi-Anhoni’ - Amongst the first horror/supernatural series on TV. Gave me my first nightmares
‘Byomkesh Bakshi’ - What can I say.
Ashok Says: November 15th, 2005 at 6:54 pm
Interestingly I found this site while googling for Malgudi days DVD. It is great see the nostalgia of 1980’s DD programs. I would like to add YATRA by Syam Benegal as one of my favorite serial. The other day I was watching National Geographic’s “The Great Indian Railways” and it took memories back to YATRA serial.
sriraj Says: November 17th, 2005 at 6:01 pm
Guys,
How about Cosmos (with Carl Seagan), the Jacques Cousteau series on his famous boat — Calypso, UFO, Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, Chunauti, Subah, Sanjha Chula (Rama Vij, Shah Rukh, etc), all those crappy Bengali serials based on every quintessential Bong author, Ek Kahani, Bangalore DD had “The Odd Couple” & “Around the world in 80 days”, Star Trek, Johnny Soko & the Flying Robot, The Old Fox (I know Mumbai DD had this too — my roomie used to watch it), Telematch, Yes Minister, Hasya Kavi Sammelans during Holi (KP Saxena, Dubey saab from Gwalior, etc), Idhar Udhar, Spiderman, He-Man & The Masters of the Universe, Circus, Fauji, Khandaan (what a cast — Shreeram Lagoo, Vivek Vaswani, Girish Karnad, Neena Gupta, Mohan Bhandari, etc), Ghalib (I did not like it, too tragic and sad but my roomie, who digs Ghalib swears by it and the ghazals of Gulzar saab and sung by Jagjit saab), Jeevan Rekha/ Life line — probably the best medical drama I’ve seen — it beats St Elsewhere, it beats ER, you name them….Jeevan Rekha was uber (what a cast — KK Raina, Shabana’s sis-in-law and Baba Azmi’s wife — can’t recollect her name — the lady with beautiful eyes, the Marathi actor who plays the chaste Mahrashtrian — his name begins with “A”, can’t recollect his name either, Pankaj Kapoor, AK Hangal saab, etc) — that series had the BEST soundtrack for TV that I have heard in a long time (was it Usha Khanna or Vanraj Bhatia who gave the music for that?) — Vijaya Mehta did a splendid job on that series — superb cameos by accomplished actors like Shafi Inamdar and oters whom we saw a lot on TV but really do not know their names. we had World of Sport on Sat/Sun? afternoons with people like Dr Narottam Puri, Anupam Gulati, Kenny Lal, etc. Dr Puri used to have a live sports quiz program too on nights (monthly program?), do people recollect Sabeera Merchant’s What’s the Good Word — I belive that was a production of Mumbai DD, on Mumbai DD they used to show Chiman Rao with Dilip Prabhavalkar — believe it or not we saw that program in Blore in the early 80’s before Blore DD started making its own programs (since ‘82?), Marathi news ancohrs like Pradeep Bhidye and that lady (can’t recollect her name — very famous lady), Mumbai DD had Aamchi Maati Aamchi Mansa (Our Soil, our People) — Marathi version of Krishi Darshan, late 80’s had Ulta Pulta, Flop Show, that irritating Deepak Malhotra (some Deepak, forget his name) on DD’s breakfast shows.
Sakshi, I just wanted to reitrate that I’d love to be younger in today’s generation rather than we grew up. Why? Simply, because of the innumerable choices kids today have. It is simply astounding. Some of the programs mentioned on your blog are par excellence. However they were few and far between and it is important for usto acknowledge that. We waited ofr Hum Log, we waited for Buniyaad on Tues and Thurs, we waited for Nukkad on Mnday, we waited for Chunauti on Sat(?) — my point is it was frustrating then, although looking back, nostalgia is so sweet to taste. I think today with the internet and cable it is so much more fun. However, those times were definitely more innocent — no doubt about it. Were they as innocent as when our parents grew up?? Definitely not.
Thank you for this blog. I am missing so many other nuggets and memories. My roomie, who is now in his early 30’s, recollects much more than me. I was quite young, relatively speaking.
All the best,
Sriraj
M. K. Girish Says: November 18th, 2005 at 1:28 pm
Hi Sakshi
It was memorable to go through your nostalgic Tv serials of yesteryears.One more really good serial comes to my mind that I would , anyday, love to watch. It was called “Kahaan gaye woh log?” - a serial that dealt with inspiring stories of yesterday’s superheroes, in the background of India’s freedom struggle. Many of them brought tears to my eyes. It was a serial, produced by Actor Manoj Kumar. Why can’t these serials be made available on DVD?
M. K. Girish.
Sriraj Says: November 18th, 2005 at 5:03 pm
Guys,
Some more inputs…do you remember Phatichar (Pankaj Kapoor), Shyam Benegal’s Discovery of India, what about Yatra (also a Benegal creation) with Om Puri — superb cinematography, captured the whole panorama of our nation, I remember a serial with Sudesh Berry and Mita Vashist on Mon evenings (this was more of early 90’s), do you recollect on Wed evnings there used to be a program on B’wood personalities — it had a catchy tune — and I’m not referring to a song-dance thing like Chayageet or Chitrahar (this was again, early 90’s), and of course, do you remember Tabassum’s program via Mumbai DD (man, I’m forgetting it’s name), also Vinod Dua used to interview celebs on Delhi DD. Also, what about those boring UGC programs. A lot of the geeky kids in my school loved those programs, Paintal had acted in a series called Sarfarnama (?). Do you guys recollect they had shown The Godfather in 1992 in 13 episodes — with Tom Alter as the moderator/emcee/host? Do you recollect an obscure German program for kids called Peter’s Toy Box (I guess they showed it on Sat/Sun)? Does anyone remember them showing The Famous Five — I guess they had made those in the 70’s in Britain but they showed it on DD in the late 80’s/ early 90’s.
Sakshi, I think you ought to start a blog for TV ads of the 80’s too. Some gems : Gimme gimme gimme Vijaya Butter, Khao Gagan Raho Magan, Jo biwi se kare pyaar woh kaise kare Prestige se inkaar, Aramusk ad with Deepak Malhotra, Dinesh suitings with Sunny Gavaskar, Thums Up with Shastri(?), Sunny & Patil, Dinesh ads with Shastri, Richards, Border (during ‘87 Reliance Cup), of course the ad that revolutionized India as we see her today — Pepsi ad in ‘90(?) with Remo and Juhi…the list goes on..I think janta should be able to contribute much more.
Sriraj
sadanand joshi Says: November 18th, 2005 at 5:40 pm
Did any of you manage to loctae DVDs/VCDs for Malgudi Days, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, & Tamas? In case you do, please drop me a line. And yes, the Ramayan episodes of Bharat- Ek Khoj. Thanx in advance.
BHAVANA Says: November 29th, 2005 at 1:04 pm
hELLO Sakshi ,i would like to have CD or DVD of the serial yeh jo hai zindagi??Wher can i get it give me full Address for it please
gr8buddy Says: December 2nd, 2005 at 8:36 am
News to all you malgudi fans, here is a link to the site which hosts the mp3 of the lovely sound track enjoyhttp://www.arjunprabhu.com/blog/archives/2005/11/15/malgudi-days-title-song/
Aparna Says: December 7th, 2005 at 7:57 am
My family had actually recorded about 6 episodes of “Wagke ki Duniya” on VHS. I even had the one with Shahrukh Khan…remember he stars as a brat who accidentally runs into Mr. Wagle and both of them spend a harrowing two days waiting to lodge a complaint at the cops. I remember thinking then …this guy is so cute…he shhould act in movies…well…he did. Those shows were so much better than the “saas bahu” nonsense thats dished out.
Akash Says: December 8th, 2005 at 6:54 pm
Hey…nicely written.Finally someone has discussed about the good old serials.The main thing that stood about those serials were humility and simplicity,they did not preach unlike the ones running now.It didnt seem fake then.Talking about comedy you forgot jaspal bhattis’ “the flop show”…i feel that was the best indigineous comedy and satire series..not just a copy of foreign shows.
shivani Says: December 9th, 2005 at 7:45 pm
Hi, even i want to buy yeh jo hai zindagi dvds,please let me knwo if anyone is selling on my email. thanks a lot
Abhishek Pandey Says: December 11th, 2005 at 6:12 pm
Thanks for starting this great post Sakshi.In my opinion “Chanakya” was the best serial of all times, though it was not an entertainer, but the research, direcion and acting (all primarily by Dr. Chandra Prakash) was awesome. Anyone has any clues if its CD/DVD is available.Among others I liked, Indradhanush (time machine funda), Buniyaad, Tamas, “Fir wahi talaash” (whose shooting was done in JNU), Mahabharat, Chunauti etc. were good ones.
Abhishek
Ameya Narvekar Says: December 11th, 2005 at 6:34 pm
One of my friend had called up the production office in Bangalore which have the rights to “Malgudi days” , they said it is going to be released on DVD in NY and NJ somewhere around middle of December 2005 and in India it will be released in Jan 2006. Lets see.
http://www.malgudidays.com/
PADAMRAG TV INTERNATIONALNo: 4/54, 1st Main, Tata Silk Farm,Basavanagudi, Bangalore - 560 004, INDIA
Ph: 26760705/26769704Fax: 26763860E Mail: padamrag@vsnl.net
I emailed them but did not get any response. Its better calling them as my friend did.
Ameya
Vishal Says: December 12th, 2005 at 7:39 pm
Growing up i watched Byomkesh Bakshi and malgudi days, Now i am in US and i miss those shows, can anyone tell me where can i get VHS or DVD for those shows?
Sri Says: December 23rd, 2005 at 4:35 am
Malgudi Days, DVD is available now, just google for it, several site hits
brought back, Nostalgic memories of childhood, hmm good ol’ 80s
Vikrant Says: December 29th, 2005 at 7:34 pm
Hello Friends,Do you all remember the TV serial “GIANT ROBOT”, it was the best serial in those days, Can anyone give me a link to that series.
KM Says: January 2nd, 2006 at 12:41 pm
An excellent post. Good Old days of DD. Anyone remembers Yugantar, Mr. Yogi & Kakka Ji Kahin by Om puri & Shail Chaturvedi. Apart from these Fursat Mein that was on Sunday Mornings. Then the suspense Serial Kile Ka Rahasya with its typical Title song.And the nation binding songs like Mile Sur, Baje Sargam etc. Not to forget Ek Chiriya
Arun Says: January 3rd, 2006 at 12:01 am
NUKKAD : One most entertaing serials with an awesome cast.GIANT ROBOT: My schools use to show this serial during breaks .. TV was not common in those. Myself and a friend ended making a cartoon series based on Gaint Robot.
Sunil Says: January 4th, 2006 at 12:33 am
Hi Guys,
Malgudi Days is now available on DVD ….. check http://www.agumbe.com/ for details.
Sunil
SPK Says: January 7th, 2006 at 4:57 am
Chankya serial is now available on DVD (8 volume set). It is a great serial. Except that thelast 3 episodes (Vishnugupt tries to bring Rakshas back to Patliputra) is a little lightweight.
richa Says: January 7th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
hellocould you please send me the email address or permanent add of KAVITA CHAUDHARI the director of UDAAN serialthanks
varadh shetty Says: January 8th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
actually todays serials have become bakwass. The bakwass serials credit should go to Ekta kapoor who is making the serials. I thank a lot to the doordarshan, still now i think sony/star/zee cant beat doordarshan that serails. in which no peoples were left outside the streets when the serials were started in doordarshan after 8p.m. i was running from tution to see the giant robot serials and if i miss even one part i felt so much bad. My favorate were i think everyhting whether marathi/hindi serial all were good. Marathi serials like ek shunya shunya, gotya, hello inspector, avhan, chimanrao, jopi gelela jaga jhala, ase pahune yetil, etc and in hindi it was kiley ka rahasya, giant robot, vikram aur betal ramayan and mahabarta of course, chankaya, wagle ki duniya, hone anhonee, show theme, phool kile hain gulshan gulshan, karamchand, malgudi days, stone boy, ascharya deepak, ek do teen char which was coming on sunday and dada dadi ki kahaniyan, and baingan raja, and of course the movie name which they tells in saphtaki at last. and chitrahaar and chayageet. chitrahaar had new songs and chayageet some old songs. the spiderman, He-man, singhasan batisi, We were lucky enough to see these serials. but todays generation they r not that much lucky to see these serials even though there r 1000 channels but still nothing can beat the DD serials. i luved it and still i remember the moments of those days. if possible pls show these serials again or make such serials which has a sense, a reality, not like saas bahu serials kachra i dont know what is the end of these serials. i think any child can write these today serials stories. because there is no need of sense and mind. and ekta kapoor on what basis she is getting awards god only knows. boycott these ekta kapoor serials/ ekta kapoor she is full pagal and the characters are all pagals.