By Vasundhara Goyal
Unlike most of my friends and
relatives, I grew up watching Doordarshan TV serials. Obviously my parents
thought cable channels were a bad influence on society and to impede me and my
brother from wasting our valuable time on soap operas, they decided that it was
better to feed us a few Holly-Bolly DVDs every month. They figured it beats
trying to stomach a badgering family drama sequel every half an hour and doing
away with our studies. With time, the craving for cable TV dwindled. Initially
there was DD1 and DD2 which later on became DD
National and DD Metro. I didn’t find it difficult to get
used to Doordarshan programmes.
For those who were born in late
80's and early 90's, Doordarshan has a special place in their heart. Those were
the times we got up early morning to watch He-Man, Chandrakanta, Danu, Alice
in Wonderland and Mogli (Jungle Book). We stayed up very late
to watch Shaktiman, Alif Laila and Reporter.
My favourite commercial of Dhara Cooking oil that featured Parzaan Dastur as a
small boy who runs away from home, but returns on time to grab the hot jalebis
his mother made to lure him back, gave way to my craving for jalebis every
Sunday. Till date, I cannot start my Sunday without them. A few years later DD
Metro was abruptly shut down and we were left with DD National only. Some of
the shows were Re-telecast on DD National and another channel, DD News was
introduced.
Indian television has seen two
eras, a Doordarshan Era and a Post Doordarshan Era. The Post Doordarshan Era is
of less significance to me as I was in my early teens when the cable connection
at my dwelling was dropped. I grew up watching Tarang in the
afternoons when my Mom was asleep. Three movies a week on
Friday-Saturday-Sunday with Bioscope showing a movie in parts on
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday being the icing on the cake. Those myriad letters
read on Bioscope made me wonder how in this Post Doordarshan Era, there are so
many spectators who not only watch but have the time and interest to send so many
letters one after the other. I personally felt, watching Doordarshan, (when
everyone else was watching Roadies and Splitsvilla on MTV) was an obligation
for me. It was probably a better option compared to watching James Bond movies
over and over again.
Fauji, a TV series on Indian Army was aired in the year 1988
with the lead role played by Shahrukh Khan (who was then शाह रुख खान). His television début was Dil Darya and
he also had recurring roles on Circus, Umeed and a few
more. Doordarshan has launched many a leading actor, but now it is on a
downward spiral. Doordarshan has lost its charm in the pursuit of meeting
industry benchmarks set by the likes of Sony, Starplus and ZeeTV. Once in a
blue moon, I pamper my eyes with Dish TV and Tata Sky transmissions at my
friend's place, but all I just do is keep switching channels until I get bored,
pick up a paper and start writing. 80's and 90's was the time when a single
channel educated, informed and entertained with its Sunday spree. I just
couldn't afford to miss my weekend feast. What I had seen in my childhood was
certainly a class apart. The erstwhile gamut of Fauji, Buniyaad, Nukkad,
Ye Jo Hai Zindagi, Shrimaan Shrimati, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Udaan, Aarohan and my
favourite cartoons Talespin and Duck Tales that accounted for my daily bread
and butter of entertainment are now history.
It’s almost 5-6 years from the
time I had started preparing for IITJEE; I have lost touch with DD’s programmes
and telefilms. At times I go through some of the old videos of Malgudi
Days andTimba Roocha (a series portraying a friendly ghost
and the moral stories he narrates), uploaded on Youtube. No one can forget the
quintessential Indian song "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara" that was
aired first on Doordarshan. I have a valuable collection of old DD TV series (Bharat
ek Khoj, Udaan, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Vikram Aur
Betaal and my next one about to arrive, Alif Laila) that I
have been collecting for the past 2 years. I reminisce watching Aarohan, starring
Pallavi Joshi, her struggle through Naval Training and Udaan featuring
Kavita Chaudhary as an IPS officer which made me take up NCC in
college. Byomkesh Bakshi and Tehkikaat were
some intelligent detective series with unpredictable plots and
solutions. Till date whenever I read Sherlock Holmes, I can think of only Rajit
Kapoor in his boots with K.K.Raina in the guise of Dr.Watson. I got my passion
of reading psychology books and silently reading people's gestures from Sam D'
Sylva (Vijay Anand).
A recent Advertisement of Aamir
Khan's new production 'Satyamev Jayate' (another TV series that was on
DD) has renewed my interest in Television. I am so looking forward to watch it.
I wish this new serial brings back the lost dignity of DD.
