Serials: A trip down the memory lane

Hi… I am back at last. WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY and A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR. The simple reason why I haven’t blogged for so long is because of my laziness. Also I couldn’t find a suitable topic to blog on. I’ve contemplated a lot of topics in the past few weeks but each of those topics had a flaw or the other or did not warrant my opinion in the face of our country’s media with its larger than life presence. So those topics vanished off my mind literally. My mind touched upon the topic for this blog a couple of days ago and I’m acting on it hastily so as to not lose this one too.

Coming to this blog, I’ve decided to take you all on a trip down memory lane .. Of the days gone by... I thought of listing out the great movies that I had seen recently, but that would be a waste of both your time and my time as you would have heard or seen most of them. So I am taking you into the world of small screen, read Television. Today when I sit and think it seems really funny as to how many serials/soaps I had seen or come across in the past. That seems to be an age gone by for today even if I had time, I wouldn’t dare watch them as the times have changed and so have my interests and I am more mature now.

I’ll narrate the experience of my tryst with the TV by listing out the serials that I’ve come across. I am not including any cartoons or news related/quiz programs as they are part of my routine even today. Also I’d like to state that I have not watched any English soaps (like FRIENDS) at all and so you wouldn’t find them here. I’ve only been exposed to Tamil channels in the past and so most of these serials are either Tamil or bilingual. Also don’t laugh at me by reading this list as I’ve said before that these were from a time when I wasn’t mature enough and my interests differed. Also think back and be frank to admit that even you would have seen or come across these serials at some point of time.

Here we go...

Street Dog: When I started watching television, there was only one channel on air- our good old Doordarshan. Now Street Dog is a serial on a super fast bike by the title name. I remember being fascinated by speed and used to stay awake till 11pm on Saturday nights with my parents to watch it. This series was followed by Knight Rider, a super fast car.

Jungle Book: Sunday mornings were spent waiting for Jungle Book on DD. I remember jumping around with Mowgli and dancing to the tunes of its title song “Jungle Jungle…”

Vikram aur Vetal: The on-screen avatar of the old Indian classical story on DD. Though it was available only in the Hindi (which I could not understand then), I had either my mom or dad translating it for me.

Shanti: This serial on a feud between two business partners was hugely popular then, largely due to the title character played by Mandira Bedi in her first ever TV appearance. She disappeared from the scene for over 10 years till her remarkable comeback with Extra Innings in Sony Max.

Yug: If Shanti was the most popular show in the morning, then it was Yug and Swaabimaan in the afternoon. Yug was a serial on the Freedom Struggle and I watched it with keen interest and learnt a lot from it. Even now I remember its title song which goes thus “Yuga maariyadhae maariyadhae Bharatam...”

Mahabharatam: Cable TV came to India in the early 1990s and Sun TV was the first Tamil channel to make a mark. It began telecasting the translated version of the great Indian epic which was originally aired on DD. I remember being fascinated by the Mythological characters coming to life on screen.

Alif Laila: Based on the Arab folk tale ‘Arabian Nights’, this serial featured many stories with interesting plots. I used to watch it regularly on every Wednesday nights.

Amar Chitra Katha: Anant Pai’s stories and Ram Waeerkar’s illustrations were brought to life on screen in this program aired on Sunday afternoons.

Malgudi Days: No person who had read this RK Narayan’s classic would ever forget the characters in the book. Now when these stories were brought to life on screen by the brilliant work of Shankar Nag, it is hard to miss them -beautiful stories depicting the typical South Indian’s life in the 1960’s and 70’s. One story per episode and I cannot forget them even today.

Shaktimaan: The first Indian super hero who gained acceptance throughout India. When Mukesh Khanna started this serial, he would never have imagined the amount of popularity he was going to achieve. This program was a rage like I had never witnessed before, especially among the kids. DD was the channel on most of the homes with kids at 12 PM on Saturdays and Sundays. The Shaktimaan dress also became a rage with the kids.

Jai Hanuman: Another popular serial based on Indian Mythology. I watched it keenly on Saturday nights in DD.

Sri Krishna: Ramanand Sagar’s mega project captivated everyone. Used to be aired on Sunday mornings. I watched it keenly.

Kaiyalavu Manasu & Jannal: I realized the fact that K.Balachander is a great director only after watching his serials on TV. Only later did I watch some of his movies which are real masterpieces. These serials marked his foray into TV and to put it in a nutshell, he revolutionized the world of TV serials just the way he did with Tamil Cinema. If KM proved to be a path-breaker with wonderful short stories, then Jannal brought Lakshmi and SPB’s acting skills to the fore. These serials have left an indelible mark in the minds of viewers like me.

Ramani vs Ramani: One of the best comedies that I have watched. Brilliant acting by Ramji and Devadarshini. Great situational comedy. Even now I laugh when I think about some of the episodes in the serial.

Marma Desam: This serial was based on novels by Indira Soundarrajan. It had four parts and an unfinished fifth part.

1) Ragasiyam: A riveting mystery about killings in a Kaala Bairavar temple, a truck on a killing spree, maragatha lingam and so on.

2) Vidathu Karuppu: Undoubtedly the most watched mystery program in the History of Tamil television. Every week was spent contemplating on who could be the Karuppu. I can never forget the excitement this serial brought into the minds of viewers like me.

3) Sorna Regai: Another mystery involving an astrologer, an escaped convict and an honest Police officer. Though not as interesting as its predecessor, it was still enjoyable.

4) Iyandhira Paravai: My personal favourite in this series. A superb story woven around the mystery surrounding the deaths of eminent personalities involving a boomerang and it gave a deep insight into the ancient art of Varma Kalai. I had spent considerable time trying to procure or buy a boomerang after watching this serial.

5) Edhuvum Nadakkum: Though it was left unfinished, it was still an absorbing serial about a mysterious village often visited by peculiar men known as Vaanathu Manidhargal, who were later revealed to be the Siddhas. An animated depiction of Kalpaka Vruksha dancing made the serial popular initially but lack of support from the Producers forced the broadcasters to end it prematurely.

Maayavi Maarichan & Maaya Machindra: Serials based on super heroes which were hugely popular with kids then. These serials were even discussed in Schools during breaks.

Jee Boom Baa: This was a fantasy on a Magic pencil. Anything drawn with the pencil would come to life. Sounds cool, isn’t it? It was hugely popular with the kids. I wished that I had one such pencil.

Comedy programs on television were given a new definition by the works of some good creators like S Ve Shekar and Crazy Mohan. Some of their best works remain etched in the memory of viewers even today.

Ganga Yamuna Saraswati: Now don’t ask me if I watched it for the last I heard was that this serial was left unfinished after some 1000 episodes or so. No, I didn’t watch it but people in my family and household did. The only thing that I liked about this serial was the title song sung by Hariharan.

Chitti: This serial marked Radhika’s foray into television and what a success it was. On weekdays, 9:30 PM meant only one thing. Everything came to a standstill. The men would return home early from their work; the women would finish all their shopping and work before 9:30 and all phone calls were barred and anyone trying to attract their attention to some work or the other would be ignored. Take a stroll down the road after 9:30 and you would have found about 9 out of 10 houses running Sun TV. Such was the rage for this serial that it was a hot topic for discussion at offices, work places and even at schools. I remember that when I was in 8^th standard, we enacted a skit based on this serial during our excursion to Ooty. Velumani, one of the characters in the serial portrayed by VasuVikram became very popular. Now thinking back, I don’t think that this serial was all that good but at its peak it managed to achieve a regional TRP of 37. Now consider this with the All India rating of 12.5 achieved by T-20 world cup finals. That tells you the story.

Alaigal: Another hugely popular Tamil serial that made Venu Aravind a house hold name. I liked it not because it was good but it ended with 250 episodes, a rarity. Also it was the last Tamil serial that I watched.

Metti Oli: Another serial that almost matched the success of Chitti. I watched little of this serial and one thing it was famous for was that in every episode, one character or the other wept as though it was a part of their daily routine.

Kolangal: Now before you raise your eyebrows, let me tell you that I don’t watch it. I watched some 50 -100 episodes initially and later I stopped watching serials realizing how dumb they are. The reason I’ve mentioned this serial here is to praise the director for having retained viewership even after some 1500 episodes. Yes there are people in many households who have watched it from the beginning and are still watching it.

Irandaam Chaanakiyan: I reserved this for the end for if I were to pick the best of this lot, I’d certainly pick this one. The impact this serial had on me can never be put into words. Venu Aravind as the leading Veda protagonist in the story became my virtual God. I began to spend ample time trying to learn about the Vedas. I even attended a Veda class on weekends and took them seriously. For a while, I even considered joining some Veda Paatshala but later I dropped that idea when I learnt that most of Atharvana Veda, which forms the central theme of this story, was lost during the British rule. I’ll write a separate blog on the Vedas sometime in the future.

Well that’s it for this blog. Hope I’ve bored you enough. I may have missed some or you may have something else that’s worth a mention. You are free to add to this list or comment on it. Like I had said in the beginning, I’ve taken you all on a trip down the memory lane. If you’ve enjoyed it then it was my pleasure to have entertained you. Else... well you could have quit in the beginning itself. I am not to be blamed.

Ok then... One of my New Year resolutions is to try and write atleast one blog per month (well, I don’t take my resolutions seriously). Bye and once again I wish you all A Very Happy New Year…