Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Top 10 Doordarshan TV moments from back then...

In honor of the twitter trend #youremember here is a list of the top 10 Videos (thanks to Youtube) of the yesteryears. Each of these videos signifies something special... Something that a lot of Indians of that generation could relate to... Something that a lot of us could enjoy, whenever we saw them since there was not much choice of channel or content. Here's to reliving those days...

  1. Mile Sur Mera Tumhara - This one needs no introduction. When the torch gets passed from cricket player to cinema star to everyone else across the spectrum, and finally when the tricolor comes on screen with the fantastic musical score in the background, there are certain goosebumps any living Indian would get. (And here is a post on what if Mile Sur Mera Tumhara was redone today)
  2. Jungle Book Title Song - The jungle boy jumping around with his animals with a nice kid singing in the background was one of the earliest cartoons that came on our TV screens.
  3. Ek Chidiya - A simple concept of unity in diversity, explained by a brother sister animated combo with a fantastic tune.
  4. Hamara Bajaj - This was just an ad. But it was for the Bajaj scooter, which was part and parcel of Indians' live. The 'Hamara Bajaj' background score indicated something more, something special that gave the feeling of national pride.
  5. Doordarshan Montage - The first sign of the day's TV starting, and a sign of it ending. The iconic music is etched in our memories, thanks to the many movies that symbolically indicate the day's start using this one tune.
  6. Heman / Spiderman - TV was our biggest friend, far ahead of books. And Heman raising his sword to the sky and the 'friendly neighbourhood Spiderman' going across from building to building to the two distinctive background scores were guys' favorite shows at that time. In the era of cable TV, WWF wrestling came to serve guys' needs better!
  7. Didi's Comedy Show - Nonstop nonsense was what the title said. And it was true to that. And it made you laugh like hell. If there was one guy, who could make you laugh without any words said, it was this German guy. He never spoke. And his actions were terribly funny. The ending bit of the show where there is a phase-lagged 4 screens on your screen at the same time are just about awesome!
  8. Superhit Muqabla (could not find a video) - Though Oliyum Oliyum in its Tamil avatar and Chitrahaar in its Hindi avatar served us for many years, Superhit Muqabla was something special. There was the twist of a countdown, a model for a veejay and the latest songs from the latest films. And of course, it was on the special channel - DD2!
  9. Mahabhaarat - Everyone knew the story, but one set of arrows fighting another formed spectacular graphics at that stage, enough to make everyone glued to their TV screens. And the start of the epic show was the title track which got translated into multiple languages as well along with the show itself.
  10. The World this Week (jump to after the first minute in video) - When a young half-bald Prannoy Roy came on the screen and showed us bits and pieces of bombings across the world or Australian cricket with stump cameras and floodlights and colored clothing, people were amazed and wanted to watch the half hour show though it was only once a week and at a really late hour.
If you know of any other videos, please do include those in the comments section.

P.S: I have not directly embedded the videos since that would have made the page terribly long...

7 comments:

satnam said...

Very nice post indeed :)
kept me hooked to youtube for hours..

Dependsmaybe said...

Good description of world this week :)

Unknown said...

superhit muqabla with baba sehgal!

and the conical guys trying to chop the trees down? remember that animation?

Alam said...

i would like to add a few more defining dd moments

Giant Robot

Sylvania Laxman bulb- poorey ghar ke badal daalonga

Unknown said...

@satnam, @sudheer - thx! @sunit - yeah public service messages with nice cartoons sometimes! @bollyviewer - those are indeed nice additions! @alam - agreed!

Anonymous said...

I am glad that you mentioned Didi's comedy show. Very few blokes remember that. I also have very faint memories of it.

Not sure if you remember Giant Robot which was aired on DD during early eighties. It was perhaps the only sci-fi thing around along with the star trek. It touched every kids heart and I can happily recollect imitating weired steps of Jhonny Soko's robot in front of a mirror with my school bag strapped to my shoulders :)

Thanks for the wonderful memories!!

Unknown said...

@nishchaya - my pleasure! and thats very true about the iconic giant robot!

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