Last evening, while watching a series on prime video, I felt nostalgic about watching television with my parents, the memory of that black and white Onida TV, with a shutter is still fresh. Then came the colour TV, oh! The excitement of being able to watch serials and movies in colour, is indescribable. The turning and twisting of the antenna, to get the channel to play is one the most heroic task of any house in that era.
Doordarshan, the only channel that played on television, brought the world to us through various programmes and NEWS. Doordarshan is known as an autonomous public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, as described on the Prasarbharati website. The experiment of public service telecasting began on September 15, 1959 and it turned into actual service giving in 1965, in New Delhi, our country’s capital. The service extended to Amritsar and Mumbai in the year 1972, and in the year 1975 to seven more cities. This medium brought to our homes, many kinds of shows, some related to sports, some about the history of our country, and some for entertainment and of course there was NEWS.
The first soap opera is said to be ‘Hum Log’, which aired on July 7, 1984. With the success of this show came more soap operas like Buniyad, Fauji, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Vikram Betal and Malgudi Days followed.
Doordarshan, aired the most watched mythological shows Ramayan and Mahabharat. People flocked around TV sets with devotion. Some shows took us back into history, teaching us the struggle of our ancestor to get independence. There was also one called ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’, which enhanced our knowledge about our country, India. In that era we had our own super hero ‘Shaktimaan’. Rangoli, another popular programme played some old and some new songs.
The list of programmes and the sweet memories behind them, are still cherished by many. I so wish we could go back to Doordarshan days. Watching TV was actually a prize we earned for doing well in our studies. Not everyone had a television at home, hence going to a neighbour’s house and sharing a cup of tea was a common scene, unlike today, where we do not know our neighbours at all.
Doordarshan, was and will be close to the hearts of many.