There is a programme on Times Now called Total Recall. It has nothing to do with the Arnold starrer action flick but rather a sort of a rewind of programmes and items that used to appear on TV in its earlier days.
One such episode which I managed to catch after a tired day from office was on advertisements. It brought back such refreshing and warm memories of years gone by that you can’t help just wondering how times have changed and how technology is helping that change and that too at a pace far more greater than ever anticipated.
Although TV formally came to India in 1959 it was only in 1982 that the common man came face to face with this wonderful machine during the Asian Games held in New Delhi. It was such a craze that people used to flock to homes having TVs to watch whatever Doordarshan could dish out for a limited period each day. (Today’s kids having the luxury of not less than 7-8 dedicated children’s/cartoon channels would be puking at the idea!) I could still remember that our family was among the first in the locality to have a TV and we used to take out the TV in the courtyard so that the whole leikai could come and see. Every Monday would be time for Chitramala - a collage of songs from across India bundled in half an hour of pure, uninterrupted joy (there was no commercial breaks, you see!!) and weekdays would be Chitrahaar time, by far the favourite programme of the younger lot as it showcased the latest songs (you can hardly called it that as no blockbusters or movies released not earlier than 5 years ago were shown). While people would be on the look out for a “dhamakedar” Amitabh starrer or a tear jerker from Rajesh Khanna week after week, however, one would be fed with classic performances from Nashirrudin Shah, Farukh Sheikh, Om Puri or just to break the monotony a Jeetu or Mithun would be dancing around the trees, wooing either Sri Devi or Jaya Prada…
Anyway, coming back to the advertisements, to start with, there were no advertisements in the beginning and words like “see you after a short break” were unheard of. However, there were many beautifully constructed short films carrying Public Messages, mostly from the stable of Films Division. One can still hum, “ Chanda ek, shuraja ek, ta re anek…” the short film carrying the message of unity, it was such a catchy tune. Then there came the early ads with many catchy jingles – “tandurusti ki raksha karta hai lifebuoy…”; “washing powder Nirma…”; “ vicko turmeric ayurvedic cream, twacha ke raksha kare ayurvedic cream”; the very humourous – “chal meri luna…” and “jor laga ke heisha…” both of which featured a young and struggling Rajkumar Hirani; “I’m a complan boy, I’m a complan girl…” (the boy was Sahid kapur and the girl was Ayesha Takia) and who can forget, Lalitaji, who never forgets to say “surf ki kharidari mein samajdari hai..” and the ever naughty “Ravi” in tow ( Ravi is said to be based on Alyque Padamsee himself)
However, one has to admit that even during those early days, Doordarshan managed to come out with some of the most memorable soap operas and the characters became household names and superstars overnight. “Hum log”, anchored by the inimitable dada Muni who manage to say Hum Log differently in each of its more than 50 episodes, and which is being copied by standup comedians even today, started the trend. “Master Haveli Ram, Lajjoji” were household names much in the trend of today’s Tulsi or Parvati. Then came “Tamas”, the epic saga on partition, shot with almost “film like” sets and techniques. A slew of serials dwelling on comedy then hit the small screen. Memorable among them include – “Nukkar” with its title track – “bade sahar ki ek gali mein basa hua ek Nukkar…” became the tune in most people’s lips and characters having characteristic, rustic street names like “Guru”, “Khopdi”, “Ganpat”, “Tambi” broke the norm of having “formal, scholastic names”. Another serial that people enjoyed much was “Yeh zo hai ZIndagi”. And much before Ekta Kapoor’s “K” series bombarded almost all channels with women oriented themes, the serial which broke the male bastion were “Udan” and “Rajani”. Udan was the story of a young village girl ( played by “Lalitaji”…It is widely believed that the character played by Lalitaji was in fact based on the true story of her own sister… Choudhary, who went on to become the DGP of Uttaranchal/uttarakhand)who despite the many hardships and hurdles ,realize her childhood dream of becoming an IPS officer. Shekhar Kapur, who did a cameo role in the serial was also a big hit during those days. Rajani, on the other hand was about the housewife nextdoor who raised her voice against social injustice. Her character and performance were so powerful and lifelike that Priya Tendulkar was better known as Rajani then her original name.
Another very popular serial of that time, especially among the youth was “Fauji” starring a young, short, dark and not so handsome Shah Rukh Khan and youngsters copying the characters would initiate a conversation with, “I say chaps…” And then came the epics – first the “Ramayana” and then the “Mahabharata”, both of which broke all previous records of viewership, and Electricity department had to face the consequences if the light goes off when the serials were on air.
Another very memorable development that took place around the time was the coming together of some of the best artists of the day in patriotic and public messages. “Mile sur mera tumhara…” was one such classic. It had many versions – one having classical musicians like Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj, Bala Murali Krishna, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shiv Kumar Sharma etc, the other having classical dancers like Mallika Sarabhai, … Another classic was the rendition of the national anthem by the maestros of Indian music. Some of these have resurfaced again recently in satellite TV.
