Statutory Warning : It is a looong post, since I could not resist pouring my heart out about my feelings for DD
I was just flicking through the numerous channels on the TV.So many programmes.. But I couldn’t watch any for more than a few mins.Comedy progs that did everything except generating laughter, extremely dramatic reality shows...age old saas bahu serials, an old T20 match in another..puffed up journalists asking the silliest of questions for the thousandth time for the day (while supplying dumb “Breaking News” in the bottom) the list was endless.. I couldn’t help but reminisce(seem to be doing that quite a lot nowadays.. am I getting old ??? ) about the olden golden days of the DD.
Still remember the day we bought our first TV set.Man wasn’t I thrilled? Of course, that it had only 2 channels and it didn’t come with a remote control did not seem to trouble me at all.Everyday when I got back from school, mom would say, “go to play, come back after a couple of hours, finish your homework and then I will let you watch TV”.(Good routine na.. it worked wonders!)
The entire household had great fun because we never watched serials that would drag over years but restricted ourselves to programmes that were short and sweet.Tu Tu Main Main, Shriman Shrimatiji, All the Best,Ek se Bhadkar ek,Superhit Muqabla,Surabhi ,Stone boy, Disney time,Shri Krishna,Rangoli, Chitrahaar, Bhaje Payal,Meri Awaz suno etc.The impact of these were so high that we still remember some of the episodes now and laugh it off. Keku, Premaji, Dilruba,koki,sasu ma,Radha etc were always the much loved and eagerly awaited guests. The comedy shows were penned brilliantly and the actors pulled it off so well that they genuinely elucidated laughter unlike the ones now.Perhaps the only viewer who finds today’s comedy shows very funny is the poor tape recorded thingy which is forced to erupt into mindless laughter frequently (giving us a cue that we are supposed to laugh now).We even loved the cranky Baba Sehgal hosting Superhit Muqabla and Anupam Kher in Ariel Mr Gold. The ever smiling Renuka Sahane and Siddharth Kak brought a wealth of info about our heritage and culture without much ado.Even when we didn’t watch serials like Junoon,Kismat,Shanthi,Saahil and all, we liked to listen to their title track.It used to be sooooo good.We spent around 7 hours in a week for TV.An hour each day.. decent bargain I would say. Before we bought TV, we, along with a few others who didn’t own a TV, got invited to watch Ramayana and Johnny Sokko and his Giant Robot at our neighbours’ place.We used to have such a great time then.
There was one serial that stretched over a couple of years and we did watch it without missing an episode.Mahabharat ! Fantabulous stuff.. Sometime back, I saw a retelecast of this serial in one of the channels. The line “Main samai hun” brought back a flood of memories.. feel like wringing the neck of Ekta Kapoor with my bare hands for the bull shit she is giving the viewers and having the guts to name it “Mahabharat”. She also deserves to get killed several times for the loads of trash she dumps into the drawing rooms of unsuspecting viewers(I mean all the K serials here ! ).
The host of efficient news readers like Sumit Tandon,Sukanya Balakrishnan etc were a great plus and the World this week presented by Prannoy Roy.Simply superb.How can I leave the set of movies movies that DD gave us (my personal favourite remains Mr India) and the regional movies on Sunday afternoon.We used to wait for months for that one Sunday when we can watch that one movie in our mother tongue..
Ofcourse I can’t leave out “Mile sur mera tumhara” (trying to sing along and getting it right only when the Tamil portion comes) , “ek anek” and many more such sweet meaningful songs.
Sometimes I try to relive those moments by occasionally catching up with Rangoli or watching clippings of some old DD shows in you tube..but well.. wish those times could be back..I seem to miss even the “rukawat ke liye khed hai”.
Well I am not someone who resists change and scoffs at things just because they are different.Was just wondering why there has to be a compromise on quality when something new takes over.. can’t change be for better.People watch today’s progs mostly because they are used to it.. But if given a choice many would choose good quality programmes over the cheap entertainment.We deserve Ekta kpoors and the likes as longs as we keep their TRPs high.If we become a little more choosy, things might change.... Neither the people nor the entertainment industry is in serious trouble because of the quality of the programmes but it will do a lot of good if some sense creeps into the industry and they give a more quality output.Don’t you agree ??
I was just flicking through the numerous channels on the TV.So many programmes.. But I couldn’t watch any for more than a few mins.Comedy progs that did everything except generating laughter, extremely dramatic reality shows...age old saas bahu serials, an old T20 match in another..puffed up journalists asking the silliest of questions for the thousandth time for the day (while supplying dumb “Breaking News” in the bottom) the list was endless.. I couldn’t help but reminisce(seem to be doing that quite a lot nowadays.. am I getting old ??? ) about the olden golden days of the DD.
Still remember the day we bought our first TV set.Man wasn’t I thrilled? Of course, that it had only 2 channels and it didn’t come with a remote control did not seem to trouble me at all.Everyday when I got back from school, mom would say, “go to play, come back after a couple of hours, finish your homework and then I will let you watch TV”.(Good routine na.. it worked wonders!)
The entire household had great fun because we never watched serials that would drag over years but restricted ourselves to programmes that were short and sweet.Tu Tu Main Main, Shriman Shrimatiji, All the Best,Ek se Bhadkar ek,Superhit Muqabla,Surabhi ,Stone boy, Disney time,Shri Krishna,Rangoli, Chitrahaar, Bhaje Payal,Meri Awaz suno etc.The impact of these were so high that we still remember some of the episodes now and laugh it off. Keku, Premaji, Dilruba,koki,sasu ma,Radha etc were always the much loved and eagerly awaited guests. The comedy shows were penned brilliantly and the actors pulled it off so well that they genuinely elucidated laughter unlike the ones now.Perhaps the only viewer who finds today’s comedy shows very funny is the poor tape recorded thingy which is forced to erupt into mindless laughter frequently (giving us a cue that we are supposed to laugh now).We even loved the cranky Baba Sehgal hosting Superhit Muqabla and Anupam Kher in Ariel Mr Gold. The ever smiling Renuka Sahane and Siddharth Kak brought a wealth of info about our heritage and culture without much ado.Even when we didn’t watch serials like Junoon,Kismat,Shanthi,Saahil and all, we liked to listen to their title track.It used to be sooooo good.We spent around 7 hours in a week for TV.An hour each day.. decent bargain I would say. Before we bought TV, we, along with a few others who didn’t own a TV, got invited to watch Ramayana and Johnny Sokko and his Giant Robot at our neighbours’ place.We used to have such a great time then.
There was one serial that stretched over a couple of years and we did watch it without missing an episode.Mahabharat ! Fantabulous stuff.. Sometime back, I saw a retelecast of this serial in one of the channels. The line “Main samai hun” brought back a flood of memories.. feel like wringing the neck of Ekta Kapoor with my bare hands for the bull shit she is giving the viewers and having the guts to name it “Mahabharat”. She also deserves to get killed several times for the loads of trash she dumps into the drawing rooms of unsuspecting viewers(I mean all the K serials here ! ).
The host of efficient news readers like Sumit Tandon,Sukanya Balakrishnan etc were a great plus and the World this week presented by Prannoy Roy.Simply superb.How can I leave the set of movies movies that DD gave us (my personal favourite remains Mr India) and the regional movies on Sunday afternoon.We used to wait for months for that one Sunday when we can watch that one movie in our mother tongue..
Ofcourse I can’t leave out “Mile sur mera tumhara” (trying to sing along and getting it right only when the Tamil portion comes) , “ek anek” and many more such sweet meaningful songs.
Sometimes I try to relive those moments by occasionally catching up with Rangoli or watching clippings of some old DD shows in you tube..but well.. wish those times could be back..I seem to miss even the “rukawat ke liye khed hai”.
Well I am not someone who resists change and scoffs at things just because they are different.Was just wondering why there has to be a compromise on quality when something new takes over.. can’t change be for better.People watch today’s progs mostly because they are used to it.. But if given a choice many would choose good quality programmes over the cheap entertainment.We deserve Ekta kpoors and the likes as longs as we keep their TRPs high.If we become a little more choosy, things might change.... Neither the people nor the entertainment industry is in serious trouble because of the quality of the programmes but it will do a lot of good if some sense creeps into the industry and they give a more quality output.Don’t you agree ??
