Got a link last week, showing Flop Show's visual. It was hilarious and with that I realized that with time we are forgetting the shows we loved once. We still talk about Ramayana, Mahabharat, Humlog etc. but Flop show was also our favorite. I don't know you remember it or not but I do. It was Jaspal Bhatti's comedy show and another show Ulta Pulta was on his roll of comedy.
Comedy shows on doordarshan and other channels are now not seen even in our conversations. Do you remember Ye jo hai zindagi starring Shafi Inamdar (Ranjit), Swaroop Sampat (Renu), Rakesh Bedi (Raja), Jhumru and Chachi were also there, can't remember their original names. It was everyone's must watch show at my home. When it comes to comedy how can we forget Mongerilal ke haseen sapne starring Raghubir Yadav. The way he used to blink his eye before day dreaming. Wagle Ki Duniya was another comic show starring Anjan Srivastava and Bharati Achrekar. It was comedy in real life on ordinary people. We at home still laugh on its episode where Wagle goes to zoo(or may be picnic) with his family. I must say R.K Laxman's cartoon characters were very close to heart. I even loved DiDi's Comedy show (originally a German comedy show) a lot. The way Didi used to get stuck in funny situations made me laugh a lot in my childhood. There were many Foreign shows that we all must have seen and admired but now they are vanishing in the thin air. I'll do my next post on these shows.
As a kid I was a die hard fan of Dada dadi ki kahaniya, Potli baba ki and Sinhasan Battisi – The 32 stories of Vikram and Betaal. Me and my friends used to sing in chorus आया आया आया रे बाबा... छेन्नु की झुन्नू का बाबा.. The title song of Potli baba ki. My brother and sister as school students never missed watching Chunauti and Neev. Arif Zakaria and Suchitra Krishnamurthy did their debut in Chunauti. Talking about inspiration and motivation : Udaan gave me a great inspiration. Its this show that made me strong enough to handle critical situations of life. Everyone in my neighborhood use to call me Kalyani. Rajani too showed real women power. Priya Tendulker gave marvelous performance in it.
Many known stars of today, were struggling and new actors of that time. Shahrukh Khan's Doosra Keval is rarely recalled now, though his Fauji and Circus are still known to us. R Madhwan became famous in Seahawks – a show about navy merchants. Bhagyashree acted in Kachchi Dhoop opposite Ashutosh Gowalikar and I am quite sure very few people remember that now. Its title song was like this : कच्ची धुप, गुनगुनी धुप.... Well title songs are identity of serials and one such title song was Ghalib's :
बल्लीमारान के मोहल्ले की वो पेचीदा दलीलों की सी गलियां
सामने टाल के नुक्कड़ पर बटेरों के कसीदे
गुड़गुड़ाती हुई पान की पीकों में वो दाद वो वाह वाह
चंद दरवाजों पर लटके हुए बोसीदा से कुछ टाट के परदे
एक बकरी के मिमियाने की आवाज़
और धुंधलाई हुई शाम के बेनूर अँधेरे ...
ऐसे दीवारों से मुहं जोड़ के चलते हैं यहाँ
चूडीवालान के कटरे की बडी बी जैसे अपनी बुझती हुई आँखों से दरवाज़े टटोले
इसी बेनूर अँधेरी सी गली कासिम से
एक तरतीब चरागों की शुरू होती है
एक कुरान-ऐ-सुखन का सफा खुलता है
असद अल्लाह खान ग़ालिब का पता मिलता है
remember these lines? They are from Mirza Ghalib.
Gul Gulshan Gulfaam beautifully framed Kashmir. Even era after 1990 gave superb shows like Choti Si Asha, Ek Mahal ho sapno ka , Tara (Ta ra ra...ta ra ra..) and Junoon (Junoon Junoon Junoooon...). And at the end few more my favorite serials are : Daane Anar Ke, Sword of Tipu Sultan and Tamas. Tamas was a mini television series about India Pakistan after partition life. If you want to add more such shows, you are most welcome. I would love to recall my memories.
