How Indian Television lost its soul- Journey from Ramayan to Naagin

My mother often says that the entire colony used to unite and sit together in our home on Sundays. My grandparents were great devotees of Lord Shiva. Hence, they had a keen interest in whatsoever is related to mythology. And, that was a great time when the epic saga “Ramayan” directed by Shri Ramanand Sagar was released on Indian Television. In 1987 when Ramayan was aired, it was then when my grandfather got a new TV just to watch Ramayan. And, it was just our home that had a TV which tended my grandmother in inviting all the neighbors in the home.

Yes, that was the aura and majesty of television during that period. According to beliefs, every Sunday from 25th of January 1987 to 31st July 1988 at 9.30 pm, every transportation would become empty and people would gather to watch their favorite show Ramayan.

However, today is a different realm; the internet has innumerable streaming services on which people watch web series whenever they want. However, let’s put a pause to it and walk into the memory lane and remember that everlasting bright age.

The golden era of the ’80s and 90’s

Indian Television- 80s Delight

Hum Log: Story, dealing with the real-life struggle and urge of middle-class people

Hum log is the first Indian series that aired on 7th July 1984. It beautifully manifested the story of Indian middle-class family’s struggle that successfully reached to the people’s heart. Manohar Shyam Joshi wrote the story with complete modesty that depicted the real-life difficulties faced by a family. It was directed by P Kumar Vasudev and the narration was done by the veteran actor Ashok Kumar.

As Hum Log was just the beginning of something called “TV serial”, its popularity reached the crest. It was so much loved by the audience that the characters of the series were even famous than that of a film star. The show had several versatile and prominent artists like Aasif Sheikh, Seema Pahwa, Manoj Pahwa, Joy Shree Arora, and many more.

Buniyaad: Based on the India -Pakistan partition in 1947

Directed by Ramesh Sippy (promptly known for the movie Sholay) and Jyoti Sarup, it appealingly demonstrated the story of partition. Buniyad released in 1986 and was exceedingly appreciated by the audience. Creating the sequential showing the delicate emotion of the partition of India and Pakistan on television was not an easy task. Yet the determination and spunk exhibited by the writers and the directors of this show are worth praising.

Consisting of the total 105 episodes, it exquisitely laid out the story dealing from 1916 to 1978. Alok Nath flourishingly delivers the role of master Haveliram who has undying patriotism and is a freedom fighter. Apart from Alok Nath, the serial had many more magnificent actors including Kanwaljeet, Kiran Juneja, Soni Razdan, Goga, and Neena Gupta.

Malgudi Days: Collection of short stories that portrayed the social condition

Malgudi Days is a television series based on the short stories written by R.K. Narayan, it was aired in the year 1986. The amusing story revolving around the people of Malgudi (a fictional town) was loved by the audience. This was envisioned by Shankar Nag and he thrivingly showed us that what a series can possibly be. It carries such semblance that people still discuss the series in their break time. And, who can forget the famous part of the series Swami and friends? It was one of the most cherished episodes.

This show justifiably presented the social condition of the people during the pre-independence era. It was one of the kinds in the 80s that was praised and whole-heartedly loved by the kids, youths, and seniors.

Ramayan: The epic tale of Lord Rama and Sita

The epic tale of Hindu mythology was taken to another level when the legendary Shri Ramanand Sagar displayed the great story of Shri Ram and Sita on Indian television. Ramayan was so greatly popular that people considered Arun Govil and Deepika Chikhalia as God. The excellent performance by Sunil Lahri as Laxmana and Dara Singh as Hanuman was indeed a delighting sight to behold. As already quoted, people were so hysterically involved with this series that they use to freeze their works just to watch it.

Ramayan was re-telecasted during the 2020 lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic and vastly broke all the records of viewership by earning 77 million views on 16th April 2020.

Mahabharat: The great battle between Pandavas and Kauravas

In 1988, BR Chopra and Ravi Chopra illustrated the religious Kurukshetra war on television and they swiftly won the people’s love. The greatness of Lord Krishna was divinely personated by Nitish Bhardwaj. His body language, dialogue delivery, and expressions are something which is a tough thing to match-up for today’s actor. While we are talking about the performances then how can we forget about the remarkable Mukesh Khanna? His portrayal as Ganga-Putra Bhisma is truly a tremendous one, everyone played their roles befittingly.

Feroz as Arjuna, PunitIshar as Duryodhan, Pankaj Dheer as Karna, Gajendra Chauhan as Yudhistir, Virendra Razdan as Mahan Vidur and the beautiful Roopa Ganguly as Dropadhi played their characters fairly. My appreciation would definitely include one more actor that accurately performed the role of evil Shakuni and i.e. Gufi Pental.

Like Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan, Mahabharat was also re-aired on DD Bharti and certainly topped the chart of TRP.

Flop Show: The Indian sitcom presenting social issues through skits

Unlike its name this series was a super-duper hit show, aired in the year 1989 this show is worth watching. I remember while going to my school this show was re-telecasted in the morning slot and I loved it so very much that I wasn’t punctual with my school (Okay, that’s my guilty pleasure). This show starts mocking itself which is ultimately a hilarious thing to do.

The lead actor of this farce show includes Late Jaspal Bhatti, who interestingly happens to be the creator, director, and writer of the show as well. In addition to him, the cast also combines Jaspal Bhatti’s wife Savita Bhatti, Vivek Shauq, and Rajesh Jolly. The speechless comic timing of Late Jaspal Bhatti was undoubtedly on point.

Fauji: A narrative of the Indian Army

Fauji is an exceptionally popular TV show spinning around a batch of Indian Army Trainees into their commando school. This show has unquestionably shown the day-to-day life of the Indian Army in an aesthetic approach. Directed by Late Col. Raj Kumar Kapoor, Fauji consist of 13 episodes and was premiered on DD national.

Can we take a special recognition for this television series? Because this is the show that gave us the supremely talented and superstar. Yes, our very own Badshah of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan. The character of Lt. AbhimanyuRai was flawlessly played by him and the rest, as you know is history.

Indian Television- Noble 90s

Byomkesh Bakshi: Story of a detective

This thriller show is a story of a Bengali detective Byomkesh Bakshi that deals with mysterious cases. He is a brilliant observer who solves the cases with his tricks and tactics. The character of the detective is the creation of Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. It is considered the best adaption of the character so far. This show gained a lot of acknowledgment by the audience and continues to win the people’s hearts even after decades.

The character of Byomkesh Bakshi was played by the splendidly talented Rajit Kumar, KK Raina, and Ajit Kumar Banerjee respectively.

Shriman Shrimati: Indian television sitcom

Shriman Shrimati is yet a highly popular sitcom serial that amused people from 1994 to 1999. This show had eminent actors like Jatin Kanakia, Reema Lagoo, Rakesh Bedi, and Archana Puran Singh. In the show, Reema Lagoo (Kokila) is a smart and intelligent housewife who lives with her husband Jatin Kanakia (Keshav). Whereas, Rakesh Bedi’ (Dilruba) wife Archana Puran Singh (Prema) who leads her life with glamour and style. The fun begins when Dilruba is smitten by Kokila and Keshav is attracted to Prema.

Keshav’s and Dilruba’s healthy flirt and admiration towards each other’s wife resulted in winning the audience’s choice with soaring TRP. The storyline of this show might have reminded you of the serial “BhabhiJiGhar par hai”. Thus, now you better know where the idea occurred.

Chandrakanta: Fantasy series based on the novel of DevkiNandan

If you are a 90s kid then you would surely remember the famous theme song of this serial. And, who can forget the wicked power of kroor Singh? A devilish king who desired to marry the princess of VijaygarhChandrakanta. The conflict starts when it comes out that princess Chandrakanta wants to marry Prince Virendra Singh of Naugarh. This fairyland love story earned immense appreciation from the viewer and ran successfully for 2 years.

This serial had fantastically sterling actors like Akhilendra Mishra who played the role of Kroor Singh, Shahbaz Khan as Kunwar Virendra Singh, and the role of princess Chandrakanta was played by Shikha Swaroop. This serial holds a special place for me because it also stars my favorite actor Late Irrfan Khan, he, as usual, did complete justice to the role of twins brothers Badrinath and Somnath.

Captain Vyom: A story of a superhero

The SCi-fi story back in those days was beyond any imagination. However, this imagination comes to an entirely different tangent when Ketan Mehta created Captain Vyom. It’s a story of a superhero who took the charge to defeat 12 villains who eloped from prison from the eighth moon of the planet Jupiter. He has been provided with a team of apt soldiers for the same.

This show still has a huge fanbase. And, girls went gaga over the very stylish Milind Soman who exceptionally lived the character of Captain Vyom. The cast also comprises of Dino Morea, Rahul Bose, Arav Chowdhary, Kartika Rane, and Tom Alter.

Yug: Narration of fictional freedom fighters

Yug was aired on DD National and ruled the television from 1996 to 1998. It was the story of freedom fighters who exhibited the hurdles and struggles while fighting for freedom against the Britishers. The show consisted of 600 episodes and each one carried sensitiveness of the Pre-independence era.

It starred Hema Malini, Shabaaz Khan, Pankaj Dheer, Aasif Sheikh, Bindu Dara Singh, and many more that made this show a hit one.

The gems of the 80s and 90s do not wind-up here. There is an abundance of shows that were truly a content-driven one and triumphed people’s emotions. Pallavi Joshi’s Aarohan, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Alif Laila, SRK’s Circus, Nukad, Chitraahar, All the best, Shaktimaan, Yeh jo hai Zindagi, Hum Paanch, and the list goes on and on. There are incalculable serials that depicted the reality of common people and gave us aspirations to lead our life with positivity and joy.

Sorry, if I missed out your favourite shows from the list

Indian Television- 2000s tiny treat

I believe the 2000s aren’t that bad, it has a variety of shows that entertained us to the core. Remember Sharaarat? A story of 3 generations that inherits the power of magic. It sounds though an unbelievable concept. However, the makers of this show added magic of writing thus it comes fun-lovingly that we were completely charmed by it.

Another 2 cherries on the cake of 20s come in the form of Left Right Left and Remix, the youth and teenagers cherished these two serials with all the affection. Serials like Bidaai, Pratigya, Kahaani Ghar Ghar ki, Pavitra Rishta, and few more picked up a quite decent acclamation from the audience.

Commencement of the downfall of Indian Television

The cloudburst began for the Indian television when it continued its run despite being trolled from the audience. After all, who would like to watch daughter-in-laws laden with make-up, jewelry, and heavy costume all the time? Yes, I am talking about the highly annoying serial “Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai”.

Nonetheless, this show took off quite at a good approach but then it moved itself to the whole drastic zone. It has been more than a decade but the makers of this serial don’t bother to put it an end. Similarly, a serial named “Sasural Simar ka” showed us that the protagonist turns into a fly and takes revenge.

Gone are the days when we had serials named Buniyaad, Yug, Aarohan, and Ashtitva, which itself signified its content. Today, we have serials like Brahamrakshash, Dayaan, Nazar, Jaadu Hai Jinn ka, Naagin, and the chart is endless. No wonders why youths are switching to web series, at least, on OTT platforms we have some sort of content-based series that intellectually entertains us.

Don’t know about the real (Nagin) snake’s bite but if this serial comes up with its next season then for sure people will die because of its absurdly harrowing storyline and portrayal.

External Point of View

Besides, all these unintentionally hilarious shows are a tremendous example of misogyny and sexism. Why does it always tell that a woman’s prime objective is to look good and feed food to her family? And why it presents men as a sex-hungry and yet somehow acceptable humans who are responsible to carry their generation ahead.

India is a popular land for diverse culture, amazing food, and brilliant minds. I mean, if you would ever sit back and count, you might get astounded to know what all exceptional kinds of geniuses born in India. Even the worthy, wealthy, and popular foreigners like the Coldplay Band and YouTuber Markian and many others covered Indian culture with absolute excellence. Coldplay’s hymn for the weekend is one of the most popular songs in the entire world and it represents beautifully the culture of India. Why can’t Indians themselves see these aspects of their nation? And why even after a whole lot of knowledge, nobody is willing to create something better?

Why not take some inspirations from Outside Bollywood?

I consider learning as art and obtaining art from other countries will cause no harm to the pride of our country. The way they have been making series is genuinely worth appreciation. Their breakthrough creation demonstrating the rational concepts inevitably deserves to be watched. And this is why; people are choosing to watch this wonderful series that gives us some highbrow satisfaction.

The few colossal examples that gave the audience immense entertainment are Breaking Bad, BBC Sherlock, Narcos, Fargo, Dark, and Stranger things. These series were exceedingly applauded by the Indian audiences and apparently distracted them from the awful Indian television serials, which obviously is not a good thing.

When countries like France and Germany can compose amazingly gorgeous arts then why not India? I hope the Indian television creators acquire some artistic vision from Hollywood makers and give us some masterpiece like them or take us back to the astonishing era of the 80s or 90s and revive the soul of our Indian Television.

Read further, 4 Best portrayals of father-daughter bond in Bollywood

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