Have been thinking of more serials/ads etc from the DD of yore.

1. Udaan was amazing - compared to the current crop of women-career theme, Udaan was actually a career serial. These days we have "Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin" and "Yeh Meri Life Hai" which start out promisingly, but fizzle out after 3-4 months and we are left with the same old scheming mother-in-law, the machinations of evil relatives, muhawaawaa villains and a degenerate story line. How I wish there were more serials like Udaan. Kavita Singh suited the role to the hilt.

Probably the best thing about the serials of those days was the fact that they had a fixed time-span. Thus, the directors made them with a taut story line, tight direction, minimal wasted-time in elaborate religious festivals, family functions, social melodrama and rona-dhona. Todays serials have a carte blanche, make-it-as-long-as-you-can, so they end up being more as ads for the latest fashion than a real stroy line.

I think the best comparison can be with a not-so-recent Star Plus hit - "Star Bestseller". A serial with the mandate to show the story in a single hour. So, no superfluous dialogues, no long triple-shots-of-the-same scene-from-the-same-angle. Just a good story, isn't that what we want!

2. It wasn't that DD was all good only. There was a bad serial with poor characterisation and poor direction called "PC 1008" - Kanwaljit played a Police Constable with a penchant for a line "Main Har Baar Sahi Wakt Pe Sahi Jagah Pahunch Jaata Hoon". A really bad detective serial, if there was ever made one. I fail to understand what was the need to add 1008 in the end of the PC?

3. Talking about good detective serials, one of the better ones was called "Tehkikat" which had Vijay Anand (hero from the movie Kora Kaagaz) as the detective and Saurabh Shukla (Kallu Mama from Satya) as his sidekick. Very nice direction and a fairly lovable serial.

4. There was an excellent real life crime series called "Police File Se" - That had a bit of narration of the crime, a fairly subdued re-enactment of the crime and an overall aura of a serious and not-loud serial. Unlike today's crime series which are too sensationalistic for my liking, this was good. A better serial today of a similar genre is "CID" on Sony.

5. A lovable serial called "Mriganayani" with Pallavi Joshi in lead. A good opening credit songs which has a line "Mahachatur Mrignanayani". It had some nice dialogues! I still remember one "Char Din Baad, Puno Ki Raat, Panchayat Baithigi, ???? Ahir or ????? ???? Ka Faisla Hoga". The ???? represent words that I have forgotten.

6. A good serial called Maila Anchal. Based on a story by Phanishwarnath "Renu". Forgotten most of it, except that it was good! Another good one was "Raag Darbari".

7. There was Nutan in a serial called "Mujrim Hazir" - "Kaliganj Ki Bahu" and the haunting sounds of the Kahaars "Hun Huna Re Hun Huna, Hun Huna Re Hun Huna"

8. You might enjoy this link about Mangal Dhillon. An old actor from those days, with a permanently constipated look :-D

9. A great serial was Chunauti - a favourite when we were growing up. Another great serial was Neev. Am I confusing these two with each other?

10. I really liked Tamas. Om Puri with his intense acting was great. Deepa Sahi, Bheeshm Sahni, Deena Pathak, Devkinandan Pandey were amazing. Hats off to Govind Nihlani for that amazing social docu-drama!

11. There was quiz time with Siddartha Basu. And Alpha Plus - a nice quiz plus running on a track to prove your physical worth! Then there was another Sunday morning which I never understood - Money Matters. Fairly boring.

12. There was a nice morning comedy called "Dhamaal" featuring film stars like Satish Shah, Anil Kapoor and Sudesh Bhonsle. A particular episode that I remember was about "Eeto" :) I used to go late to school so that I could catch on my Dhamaal dose!

13. Another cool one was "Mr. Mrs." with Jayant Kriplani. The plot was really nice with a couple who come to Bombay. They decide that the one who gets a job first would work and the other would take care of the home. As events turn out, it is the wife that gets the job and Jayant Kriplani has to look after the home, which leads to all sorts of interesting incidents like his attending kittie parties etc.

14. Ados-Pados was another nice serial. I particularly remember an episode where Ashok Kumar, a doctor tells some people about "Chromosomes" and the people who can't understand it, think it is some "mausam" :)
Then there was a nice episode about a family having some money and their buying a lot of the same cloth for everything, right from the children's shirts, shorts, to sofa covers, curtains, papa's clothes, mummy's clothes everything was made from the same cloth. I still remember it was a kind of floral print with straight lines!!
In that episode, the children go on a hunger-strike against this frugality policy of their parents. In the end, the children can no longer control their hunger when the mother cooks up something really good. So they break their strike and come to eat. On being quizzed by their parents as to the status of the strike, they tell them about a representative (pratinidhi), I think a newspaper, that is now on strike on their behalf. This started a trend of "pratinidhi" in our house, with my brother and I, both keeping such representatives on our prime seats in front of the TV, to save them, when we got up during the TV watching sessions ! A trend that continued for nearly 10 years before we stopped doing it. How much influence a serial can have :)

15. Wagle Ki Duniya was good. A nice serial. A better one was "Aa Bail Mujhe Maar". The title line was "Yeh Sach Hai Mere Yaar, Satrangi Sab Sansaar, Ho Samajhdar to Bach Bach Nikle, Nadan Kahe Pukaar, Aa Bail Mujhe Maar"!

16. There was a serial that was about superstitions like cat crossing your path, not strewing cut nails in the house etc. It had Bablu Mukherjee, Sulbha Deshpande and Arvind Deshpande. A fairly good one.

17. A great laugh riot was Ghar Jamai. Satish Shah and Anant Mahadevan had some great moments in that serial. It was later revived with Satish Shah and Madhav.

18. Kakkaji Kehin was amazing! Om Puri mesmerised with his great comic timing.

19. Another great with Om Puri with Yatra, where he travels in a train. A great travelouge.

20. Show Theme - Just remember the name. What it was, difficult to say!

21. Raj Se Swaraj.

22. Who can forget "Bharat Ek Khoj" with Roshan Seth as the anchor and some amazing work by all the actors. One of my all time favourites.

You can download the title song here

Here are the lyrics for the title song, and its English Version for anyone who can't read Hindi.

*****Hindi Version**********
Srishtee se pehle sat nahin thaa, asat bhi nahin
Antariksh bhi nahin, akash bhin nahin thaa
chhipaa thaa kyaa kahaan, kisne dhakaa thaa
us pal to agam, atal jal bhi kahaan thaa

Srishtee kaa kaun hai kartaa
Kartaa hai vaa akartaa
Oonche aakash mein rahtaa
Sada adhyaksh banaa rahtaa
Wahin sachmuch mein jaantaa..Yaa nahin bhi jaanataa
Hai kisi ko nahin pataa, nahin pataa,
Nahin hai pataa, nahin hai pataa

Weh tha hiranyagarbh srishti se pehle vidyamaan
Wahi to saare bhoot jaat ka swami mahaan
jo hai astitvamaana dharti aasmaan dhaaran kar
Aise kis devta ki upasana karein hum avi dekar

Jis ke bal par tejomay hai ambar
Prithvi hari bhari sthapit sthir
Swarg aur sooraj bhi sthir
Aise kis devta ki upasana karein hum avi dekar

Garbh mein apne agni dhaaran kar paida kar
Vyapa tha jal idhar udhar neeche upar
Jagaa chuke vo ka ekameva pran bankar
Aise kis devta ki upasana karein hum avi dekar

Om ! Srishti nirmata swarg rachiyata purvaj raksha kar
Satya dharma palak atul jal niyamak raksha kar
Phaili hain dishayen bahu jaisi uski sab mein sab par
Aise hi devta ki upasana kare hum avi dekar
Aise hi devta ki upasana kare hum avi dekar
****English Version*********
In the beginning was the Divinity in his splendour,
manifested as the sole Lord of land, skies, water, space and that beneath
and he upheld the earth and the heavens.
Who is the Deity we shall worship with our offerings?

It is he who bestows soul-fource and vigour, whose guidence all men invoke,
the Devas invoke whose shadow is immortal life-and death.
Who is the Deity we shall worship with our offerings?

It is he who by his greatness became the one King of the breathing and the seeing,
who is the Lord of man and bird and beast.
Who is the Deity we shall worship with our offerings?

It is the through whose glory the snow-clad mountains rose,
and the ocean spread with the rivery, they say.
His arms are the quarters of the sky.
Who is the Deity we shall worship with our offerings?

It is he through whom the heaven is strong and the earth firm,
who has steadied the light and the sky's vault,
and measured out the sphere of clouds in the mid-region.
Who is the Deity we shall worship with our offerings?

It is he to whom heaven and earth, placed in the light by his grace, look up,
radiant with the mind while over them the sum, rising, brightly shines.
Who is the Deity we shall worship our offerings?

When the mighty waters came, carrying the universal germ, producing the flame of life,
then dwelt there in harmony the One Spirit of the Devas.
Who is the Diety we shall worship with our offerings?

It is he who in his might surveyed the waters, conferring skill and creating worhip
he, the God of Gods, the One and only One.
Who is the Deity we shall worship with our offerings?

Father of the world - may he not destoy us who with Truth as his Law made the
heavens and produced waters, vast and beautiful
Who is the Diety we shall worship with our offerings?

Lord of creation ! no one other than thee pervades all these that have come into being.
May that be ours, for which our prayers rise, may we be masters of many treasures!
*******end******