Thursday, July 19, 2007

Doordarshan Nostalgia


People ask me why I’m no longer interested in Orkut since that’s the cool, hot thing the current zing thing. That’s precisely why I am not. Coolness or hotness is not a benchmark and you don't have to say something is cool because everyone says it is cool. I am interested in friends, true friends who call me once in a while and whom I miss when I don’t see them for a long time. I’m not interested in virtual friends with exception of some people whom I came across through this blog. The energy and time spent in chasing coolness from one stuff to another is sheer wastage and is so boring and artificial by default, not any sort of value addition.


Doordarshan is no longer considered cool and I used to wonder whether anyone watches the government channel anymore . In these days of 24/7 news cycles when Rajdeep Sardesai jumps with excitement on everything from Mumbai bomb blasts to Opinion of Rakhi Sawant on Pratibha Di being the Indian President it is hard to believe that those good old Doordarshan days existed. The days of Junglebook , Mile Sur Mera Tumhara , Mahabharat , Ramayana and Surabhi.

Jungle book had that old music sung by a child when Maugli was being introduced in the title song :). Jungle Jungle ... Arree Chaddi Pehen Ke.. :P


There was this song Mile Sur Mera Tumahra sung by leading actors from all over India in different Indian Languages and also featuring people like Balamuralikrishna . It felt so cool and genuine in those days when they ended it with a grand finale and these days even the patriotic appeals for "Vote for Taj" and the media circus on 'Aha-Miha-Mikaya' processions to garner votes for Taj evokes sympathy at the pseudo-nationalistic pride in the appeals.


There was the smartness of Renuka Shehane and presence of Siddharth Kak in Surabhi , may be the first Indian Programme that started the concept of contests and postal department had to start competition post cards .Cant still believe emails which inundate my life every minute did not exist and many people on those days would not have even heard about the computer. How did people survive with out Google and emails? .Renuka had that 10000 watts smile and the middle class attitude and my mother used to consider her as a daughter who was never born and I used to think of her as a neighbourhood Didi :P.

Then there was Ramayana and Mahabharata , the mythical wars look so artificial these days on seeing them on TV , but those days it was supposed to be cool and you were an outclass in the class on Monday if you had missed Ramayana or Mahabharata on Sunday.Not to mention the daily serials like Malgudi Days and programmes like Chitrageetham and Chitramala which was eagerly awaited by everyone.

Then there was news which came with some typical Doordarshan Music and the elliptical Doordarshan logo.The doordarshan ticker before the news was the default time standard all across India and the news anchors were household names. Still so many of them read news in Doordarshan , I presume.

Then came 1991 . Manmohan Singh presented a budget and cable channels came to India and everybody forgot Doordarshan conveniently and the grand old patriarch is fighting hard to survive.It no longer interferes with my life anymore other than some occassional report which says about the criket telecasting rights fight between DD and a private broadcaster?


These days there are lot of options to watch on anything and everything and Doordarshan has fallen behind because it has followed the same standard of programmes throughout. I am confused what to watch and not to mention all those screenagers who are growing up with their eyes on Screens of TV , PC , ATM , Mobile and what not . But wonder whether they will be having something like Good old Doordarshan days since no body watches doordarshan as it is no longer considered to be cool.




Inspired by all Doordarshan Songs from Rediff Ishare




Doordarshan may not be cool anymore but the old nostalgic memories that each of these songs evoke are still cool .

28 comments:

ancientmariner said...

very rightly said...get nostalgic when i hear the mile sur mera tumhara on TV now a days....sm of my thoughts written down smtime back
http://hallowed-be-my-name.blogspot.com/2006/10/days-gone-by.html

Attribution said...

Totally agree.

The only time I had ever answered any contest was on the Surabhi progm.
It was a must watch for all SST classes in those days. Renuka didi And Siddhart Uncle. :D

Malgudi days was so nice and yes cool in those days.

Does DD still have the Metro channel?

Those regional movies on Sunday afternoons. I saw mathilukal(walls) on one such dark and cloudy sunday.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful post.Made me nostalgic.Truly,those Doordarshan days had a charm of its own.The huge pile of competition postcards in surabhi,ek chidiya anek chidya song,Param Veer Chakra,Potli baba etc were great fun.

Thanu said...

Wagle ki duniya
Deka bai Dek
Were few of my favs frm DD...

DD metro had Super Hit Muqabla...

Attribution said...

How could you forget that very popular notice.

"Rukavat ke liye khed hai"

:)

Return-2-Innocence said...

Some more program names that were really quite good:

HumLog
Lifeline
Circus(I think that was Shahrukh's 1st program on TV)
Even siddharth basu had a good quiz program on TV those days.

And on DD Metro there was :


MTV used to come for 2 hours(with Rahul Khanna as the MTV most wanted anchor)
Crossword show hosted by Kittu Gidwani
Dallas
Boy meets world
Blossom
of course the last 3 were american shows but nonetheless pretty good ones
DD"s comedy show used to come once in a while , street hawk, knight rider etc etc.

Even some of the UGC programs were quite enlightening even if some were boring.

Return-2-Innocence said...

Some more program names that were really quite good:

HumLog
Lifeline
Circus(I think that was Shahrukh's 1st program on TV)
Even siddharth basu had a good quiz program on TV those days.

And on DD Metro there was :


MTV used to come for 2 hours(with Rahul Khanna as the MTV most wanted anchor)
Crossword show hosted by Kittu Gidwani
Dallas
Boy meets world
Blossom
of course the last 3 were american shows but nonetheless pretty good ones
DD"s comedy show used to come once in a while , street hawk, knight rider etc etc.

Even some of the UGC programs were quite enlightening even if some were boring.

mathew said...

man u are evokin too much of nostalgia...Doordarshan now seems to be the best thing we could get!! ;-P

wanderlust said...

that was nostalgia pure and simple.
can't imagine watching even a single episode of today's sops after watching 'nukkad', 'buniyad', 'gul,gulshan, gulfam', 'fauji', - the list is endless. not to forget the veritable feast for children on sunday mornings.

Anonymous said...

Sitting before my system in the fully lit cubicle,with the humdrum of the office around,I just heard Mile sur from your share..and.....oh God..I just closed my eyes went all till my native place where I spent all those good days with Doordarshan!
Left me totally DD struck!!

chitra said...

True. Nostalgia. Chitraha, Humlog, buniyad, Yeh jo hai zindagi : All rocked.

similar is the status of vivid bharathi of AIR. :(

But hese government sponsored channels have to take the initiative and be competitive. That sarkari attitude and red tapism is not going to get them anywhere. They will remain sheer memories.

Flyaway Mind said...

screenager??too good a term :) my parents never allowed cable connection at home while we were studying.. later it became like a habit & till date at home nobody bothers to switch on the tv. we are quite the uncoolest family!!! :D oshin is another serial of those era which i loved watching

Scribbles said...

I rarely watch tv now... and almost every1 I know cant just grasp the fact that am staying alone in a flat in this metro with no tv... I smile when they ask me "but why??? How can u manage without a tv.." and then gimme ideas on how to buy one..that its not really expensive and blah blah... I never felt like watching tv back home either...Except during those DD times.. not that its the best.. but surely the tv serials then had some substance.. I remember a malayalam serial about a young boy, his sis , a circus... then serials based on good mallu novels... These were 12 -13 episode ones... not mega serials..and they were not about crying all the time...
yes chitrahaar...chitrageetam...i remember that these two programs and one serial were the only ones i used to watch on weekdays... ITs not about adapting to the change but truly these were refreshing programs...

Ajith Prasad Balakrishnan said...

"There was the smartness of Renuka Shehane and presence of Siddharth Kak in Surabhi , may be the first Indian Programme that started the concept of contests and postal department had to start competition post cards " -- Man.. I remember buying bunch of postcards of 15 paise and sending it to them .. :)

And yeah, over ramayana, I was a small kid then..And I cried a lot when I missed the episode in which Ravana was killed..Fortunately some neighbor had recorded it..And I stopped crying after seeing that :D

Anonymous said...

I just played the "mile sur mera tumhara" clip here in office and believe me everyone got nostalgic. Some shook hands with me. Thanks NC.

This piece was one my favourites. Every sunday was to start with this national integrity clip after rangoli. And then go onto mahabharat, spiderman and fairy tales. Then the afternoon starts with the deaf and mute news followed by the regional movie subtitled. Then the evening hindi movie, Sundays were special. Today every day is Sunday on TV.

As a kid i was not much interested in the serials but as far as i know they used to be of high quality than the current Kekta Kapoor soaps. And wow Surabhi and Chitrahaar.... No words... Thanks NC for bringing back the memories.

Neihal said...

couldn't agree more NC. I am myself a huge fan of old DD.

Alex said...

NC,

:)

'Cool' would cease to have no meaning if the same things continued in fashion even today.

Jade said...

Nice little nostalgia trip. I think the difference between Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, and today's patriotic appeals is that the former was genuine and actually prompted by patriotism. Today's stuff is purely for commercial purposes - and what's worse is that it shows.

neermathalam said...

nice post....

I miss rangoli and turning point....
:(

N A R I YA L C H U T N E Y said...

Wow:) . So many fans for the old DD :) . I missed out on all these comments when I was working with the net and the products and god knows what else :) .It was equally nostalgic to go through all these comments and realised that I missed out on rangoli , chitrahaar and obviously rukhavet ke liye Khed hein :)

Anonymous said...

I agree..

DD programmes were far better than those being telecast now.

Who can forget Barbappa, Mickey & Donald? DD had shows for all age groups. Sunday mornings were reserved exclusively for children. I remember we were allowed to watch Sunday's programmes only if homework was completed. It was worth the wait.

The charm is lost in the current days. All serials have a stereotype storyline. It would definitely poison a peaceful family. Since there is round the clock telecast, people are glued to TV

Wish to switch over to the good old days of DD with the restricted telecast time of 11pm.

Anonymous said...

Does someone remember the "Amul Surabhi".... Where can I get the starting song? I didn't find it in YouTube...

Neena Padayatty said...

Im late but cant help commenting on this one.We were sharing our early TV experiences in our class the other day and my friends came up with most of the programs u have mentioned..Tipu Sultan,Alif Laila,and the Bible stories were among them too...All of us agreed that the 4'o clock movie on Sunday was the highlight and most awaited event on any weekend and wouldn't be missed for the world.Im sure none of the new age channels the cable provides will enjoy the privilege of being as cherished as DD.Really nostalgic post!

scorpiogenius said...

Hey, thanks for the 'mile sur mera tumhara' maaaan!!:))))

Of course DD lost its sheen completely with the advent of other Sat channels...But what an advent it was buddy..what an advent!

You know what, I got the opportunity to watch the so-called new generation channels recently, and the news coverage is nothing less than a 'fart'.(you can read 'farce' if you want to).. Jeez, such third rate news coverage and comical panel discussions, it almost drove me mad...

DD is much much better boss, at least they wont telecast breaking news like "Amitabh Bacchan ko Tand lagee" and so on...

Unknown said...

Like nostalgia can never be obliterated same with DD. I hv been part of the set up during the highest pedestal DD was and names mentioned conjure up all kinds of memories. Let the people say anything about DD, realisation will dawn some day on what a news channel is all about...its not Hema's birthday or Sidhu's guffaws or some non descriptive cave where Pandavas lived or telling people that Hanumanji spoke Kannada et el...Too much has been said about Krishi Darshan..lets ponder just once whether farmers or people in the rural areas do also hv desire to watch their genre of programmes ? No wonder,all private channels are drifting towards Regional telecasts/flavours. Why ? We understood that long back and did it !!!
I am glad people miss DD. But DD too has wavered a lot. And all because of wrong policies,interference of bureaucrats. They are the real culprits to ruin such a big organisation. I too miss my times with DD.....

Anonymous said...

WOW..So many fans for DD!! We switched to cable television a few years ago. From then on, we have been watching DD only for the occasional cricket matches.Recently, I had a chance to watch the 'Mile sur' and another one, 'Bharat bharat' song on DD. It was then, that I realized how much I had missed DD(for a few years!).

Reading through the comments left by readers, I am reminded of some goldies like Amul Surabhi, Alif Laila, Chitrahar, Rangoli.. (the last 2 are still being shown, I gather). Then there was this detective story 'Suraag- the clue' on Mondays. I still remember how my friend and myself used to discuss the episodes on Tuesdays. Feels great to remember those days (sigh)...

ANURAG SHANDILYA said...

I truly agree with the blogger that Doordarshan has always been great broadcaster, they always broadcast good quality shows and I think that private satellite channels can never be compared with its programs' quality. Today itself, I still use to watch DD atleast for an hour and compulsorily at 8:00 pm for News telecast. They always provide proper and summarized News of the day at 8.00 and 8.15 pm in English and Hindi. I appeal all people of this country to avoid these private TV channels as they are cutting our pockets. I have placed my views on my blog in this regard:

http://anuragshandilya.blogspot.com/2008/09/paid-vs-free-to-air-channels-please.html

Anurag said...

The World This Week
Turning Point

We never missed those
Ah those days ...

Rating