I came across this forward which made me think of my favourite serials of my childhood time. Although I cann't recall all of them, but here are some of my favoritee...
Hum LogThe serial was shot on sets with the house of the family being only 2-3 rooms. The serial glued the whole of India. Each episode ended with Dada Muni coming and explaining the episode and actually trying to find a moral in the episode. I still remember Basesar Ram cribbing, lallu fighting with Chutki, Nanhe styling with his hairs, and Dadi maa with her lively dialogs . Amazing!!!
Yeh jo Hai Zindagi
Remember the theme song Yeh jo hai, yeh jo hai Zindagi. The serial was so famous that we use to wait for it every Friday. A fantastic way to end the week and welcome the weekend. Dialogues like 30 years ka experience and Yeh kya ho raha hai? were on everybody lips.
Potli baba kiA childrens series ..a series of small stories with the puppets. Jhunuu wali.....Kisse aur kahaniyon ka geeton ka dabaa...
Jungle bookThe chaddi pahan ke phool khila hai mogli and the jungle characters.
Neem ka ped
*ing pankaj kapoor. Beautiful title song -
"Muh ki baat sune har koi, dil ke dard ko samjhe kaun..Awajon ke baazaron me khamoshi pahchaane kaun!"
FaujiI never loved Shahrukh Khan so much before and never after, even at the cost of disagreeing with someone special.
Choti Badi baateinA serial on superstitions. Sulabha Deshpande is shown as superstitious and the whole family tries to prove her wrong. The way they try to prove it was hilarious.
CircusShahrukh Khan again. Son of a circus owner who comes back from USA and is forced to take control of a failing circus. It had Renuka Sahane playing Shahrukh's love interest. She was very young then. Her smile was beautiful then too.
NukkadThe best and most loved serial of all times. A set of characters on a Nukkad (street) and their everyday life and experiences provided laughs and sometimes even made us cry. I think the stories were directed by Aziz Mirza and Kundan Shah. Character includes Guru, Kader Bhai, Tambi, Ganpat Hawaldar, Ghanshu Bhikari, Hari, Teacherji, and many more. The theme song was great too Bade Sehar ke ek gali mein basa hua hai Nukkad
Kahan gaye Woh Log
Late Sunday Morning drama about heroes of freedom struggle.
Mr. YogiMohan Gokhale plays Mr. Yogi who comes to India in search of a bride. Om Puri plays Sutradhar who directs the story of Yogi. The story revolves around Yogi and his search for a perfect bride. The ending episode had Yogi marrying Om Puri's daughter. 13 episodes and 13 girls. Hilarious.
Mungerlilal Ke haseen SapneyHilarious. Raghuveer Yadav as Mungerilal who day dreams. The common thing in all his dreams was this heroine. He always dreams about her. His dream always starts with twitching of his eye.
Wagle Ki Duniya
The problems and everyday life of middle class man called Wagle. I think it was designed on R K Laxman's Common Man
Mahabharat "Mein Samay hoon". Never has "time" been so popular. And after seeing such a wonderful making, I doubted myself why I used to see Ramayan. Better in directions, special effects and execution than Ramayan.
Malgudi DaysThe serial based on stories of R K Narayan. The stories were really good. I think it had a south Indian director. The serial became interesting after Swamy joined it. The theme music changed from the slow Ta na na tana na na na to a fast paced track with Swamyyyyyyyyyyy being yelled in between. Swamy was the best and I think the first serial that dealt in growing up of a child and the story was told from the child's perspective. Girish Karnad plays Swamy's father. . I don't remember how the story ends. I still remembered Swamy acting as if he was sitting on a horse and then the horse taking off. Incredible. The name of the boy was Manjunath, right?
Indradhanush.A science fiction serial starring Akshay Anand. Somewhere it's written the small boy in the serial was Karan Johar. It was something to do with time travel. They travel to the time of independence struggle and then travel forward to 2035 (I think again). A nice serial
Space City SigmaFeaturing Milind Soman or was he in Captain Vyom? The serial was inspired by Star Trek. The hindi made it confusing. I think it was directed by Ketan Mehta. A copy of Star Trek but that time I had no clue about start trek.
Tenali RamaThe serial was hindi, the setting was south Indian and the theme song North Indian Baale bale bale tenali rama. Although very much popular, it ended very soon.
NeevI liked the serial very much. It was based in a hostel and they had all these different houses and the rivalry between houses. The serial use to come on Sunday afternoon. Amit Kumar sang the title song, Dharti par Suraj ki kirne….. then something something and then Neev rakhe vidyalay ki
Byomkesh Bakshi
One detective serial and me and Ajay were so obsessed with it, that inevitably we used to see it and discuss on each episode for hours even during our 10th board exams . Based on some Bengali character, it had Rajit kapoor playing the lead. The characters were lot similar to Sherlock Holmes with also a Dr. Watson.
FirdosI liked both the villian and hero (asfraf) in this. It was shown in a different way and also presented Pakistani's view about their fight in Kashmirs.
Ulta PooltaI was in school those days and before going to school, I use to watch TV every morning. Ulta poolta was kind of filler for DD morning programs. Jaspal bhatti's wonderful debut on television. Had a funny theme. Uuu uuu ulta poo poo poolta. Ulta ehhhhhhhhhhh poolta ehhhhhhhhhh Quite early around 7:30 in the morning. DD had just started the morning slot.
Flop ShowJaspal Bhatti's stupid comedy. He pulled up anyone and anything. Corruption, politician everything. His real wife played reel wife too. Had his own set of actors. A complete mockery of many things and that too on the government owned channel.
Mirza GhalibNaseerudin Shah as Mirza Ghalib, the famous Urdu poet. Gulzar made this as a tribute to Mirza Ghalib. Gulzar also wrote a book on the poet. I was small then and didn't have a ear for poetry. So did not watch that much. I recently got the set of episodes from eknath...a trip back to memory lanes.
Bharat Ek Khoj
Based on Jawharlal Nehru's book, Discovery of India. Directed by Shyam Benegal, Roshan Shet played Jawaharlal Nehru. Good. Sometimes heavy, it traced India history from ancient time. Oz remembered the song Shrishti se pehle satya nahin tha, Asatya bhin nahin, Antariksh bhi nahin tha, Pataal bhi nahin...Chupa tha gyan kahan, kisi pata tha..." Thanks Oz
Dekh bhai DekhAnand Mahendru's fantastic serial. A bit of slapstick but wholesome entertainment. Shekar Suman, Farida Jalal, Naveen Nischal, and many more. Liliput was a added attraction. Remember the line by Liliput Dekh bhai dekh Sameer bhai
SurabhiSiddharta Kak and the beautiful Renuka Shahane. The real meaning of Colgate smile is seen here. The program shoped the tradition and culture of India. It showed India like it was never seen before. Renuka Shahane was later replaced by Iravati Harshe, who also did a good job. I think it was the longest running cultural magazine on television.
Shreeman ShreematiRakesh Bedi, Reema Lagoo and Jatin kanakia with Archana puran Singh. A story about a married man who has a film actress as a neighbour. Mostly slapstick. Funny. Remember Dilbura uncle..
