Old DD hindi serials...a trip down memory lane!!!

Deepa's latest posts http://lordlabak.blogspot.com/2006/08/mega-serials-i.html are about the Mega Serials which are churned out tirelessly every now and then and telecasted on the leading television channels in India which leaves the audiences tired and frustrated...I agree with her. These days serials are about women weeping, conspiring, marrying and re-marrying, in short about them turning from angel(s) to bitch(es) or vice versa...

There were a couple of tamil serials telecasted on Doordarshan in the 80's and early 90's which educated and entertained the audience(s). Some examples include "Thulaindhu Ponavargal", "Rail Sneham" etc...I have forgotten the names of the rest so if you could think of some, post them as comments...

Since hindi was my second language, I used to spend time watching hindi serials since school days...Some of them were really good unlike these days K serials...What made them so good was the storyline, dialogues, screenplay, and amicable characters...

Who can forget the Devki in Humraahi( it was played with charisma by Himani Shivpuri)? Devki played the vamp character with splendour and we could not help liking her inspite of all her plots and gossips...

Then there was Pavan Malhotra who played "Junior Station Master" in Intezaar...I even remember the name of the character he was in love with in that serial...Nia! The senior station master was played by Rajendra Gupta, another good performer.

The DD guys then also ventured into making historical classics...Mrignayani with National Award actress Pallavi Joshi doing the title role with Mohan Bhandari playing the Rajput king who falls in love with Mrignayani...The two set the screen on fire with their on-screen chemistry! I remember the BGM of the serial whenever someone was carried in a palanquin "Gun gunaa...gun gunaa...gun gunaare gun gunaa".

Then there were Buniyaad, Mr Yogi, Circus, Udaan, Mongeri Lal Ki Haseen Sapne...Nukkad and Naya Nukkad were wholesome entertainers...

Then there was a mischievous romantical serial called Farmaan with Kanwaljit Singh playing a naughty and haughty nawaab...

Doordarshan left no territory unexplored. Rajit Kapur played the lead role of a detective to perfection in "Byomkesh Bakshi" which made every viewer grip with curiosity. The lead character was inspired by Sherlock Holmes.

There was another serial called "Tehkikaat" featuring Vijay Anand (He is actor Dev Anand's bro and an accomplished director himself. I remember him well for his Kora Kaagaz movie) and Saurab Shukla unravelling mystery after mystery...Vijay Anand played the lovable Sam D'souza with Saurab Shukla as his assistant...If I am not wrong, Shekar Kapur directed this serial!

'Pachpan Kambe Laal Deewarein' was a good one too with Aman Verma and Meeta Vashisth. It tackled the story of a young man falling in love with a woman who was older than him and was a professor cum hostel warden...

Who can forget "I say chaps" mouthed by Abhimanyu Rai in Fauji? Every school gal then fell in love with SRK then...Shah Rukh Khan won the heart of millions of young girls by playing the role to perfection. I even remember a scene where he frantically searches for the sandals of his lady love (Fauji Doctor) just to dance with her...

Then there were classic epics namely Ramanand Sagar's Ramayana and B R Chopra's Mahabharata...They rocked! Infact the gulutis are known to prostrate whenever they see NTR potraying Lord Krishna on screen...The northie audience were not any lesser than that. Everytime Nitish Bharadwaj (Lord Krishna) came on screen, they knelt on their knees and almost worshipped him...

In short, the serials of those days had good story line, catchy and well meant dialogues, stellar performances from every actor, fewer commercials and more important a reasonable duration!

In a concluding note, Madame Radhika said in the Selvi Kondaattam show that these days serials are about Women Empowerment...Are wheeping, cursing, conspiring route(s) to empowerment?Raam Jaane!!!