On Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 2:03 AM, Srini RamaKrishnan <[email protected]> wrote:
> That had more to do with the era than the serials. No TV show today
> can have the pan-India grasp that any half decent show on DD had those
> days.
>
Well, Star Plus had some excellent serials, too, I remember. (not
half-decent, but very good. I loved the one that debunked blind beliefs, I
forget what it was called....Nukkad, Hum Log, Wakhle ki Duniya...
>
> Independent India has seen a dramatic increase in the intermingling of
> cultures in the last twenty years. Pre liberalization (80s and
> earlier) the only people who got to travel around India were those
> with jobs in the government with their frequent transfers. Anyone else
> was rather content to remain in their neck of the woods with good
> reason. Internal mobility which still remains a rather daunting affair
> used to be practically impossible then unless you worked for the
> Government.
>
Unfortunately, that "neck of the woods" still remains very much in our
minds. We are Kannadigas and Sindhis and Malayalis...still...
Transfers ARE still daunting affairs, more so, given the state of good
schools and accomodation....overpopulation has a lot to answer for.
>
> It's no surprise then that mythology was the only topic on which a
> successful pan-Indian serial could be based. Not only was it relevant
> to most viewers, it also avoided the language barrier since the story
> was well known to all.
>
Actually, I disagree. My *totally* Tambram aunts and uncles watched "Nukkad"
with great zest!
>
> It does not excuse the atrocious acting, and the idiotic background scores.
>
Not always, Cheeni...Puneet Issar, in his dying scene as the unrepentant
Duryodhana, was really good (in my opinion of course.) I still sing a
beautiful song, "vinti suniye", that is the background as Radha thinks of
Krishna, in the M serial. There was also a song about the way good times
change to bad, which was the background during the time that the Pandavas
were wandering through the woods incognito.
But the involuntary humour was just as good entertainment. All the
characters in the Mahabharata used the word "kintu" ("but") so much, that my
brother used to joke that the Pandavas could be called "Kintu putra" instead
of "Kunti putra". And since Mohan was heading a company in Hosur at the
time, he was, of course, dubbed "Hosur Naresh".
I enjoyed the interview with Deepika Chikhlia, who said that she'd read the
version of the Ramayana written by Achari. Which Achari? the interviewer
asked. "The Raja, of course, " she replied. Which Raja? Raja Gopal Achari,
was her response. That kept me going for weeks, and I still remember it
fondly. To me, the light in Seeta's eyes was truly the sun shining through
the back of her head.
The only other serials that attempted to depict the costumes authentically
were ones like "Bharat Ek Khoj", I think...and there weren't many.
I really did enjoy Bollywood-Epics-Shrinking-To-The-Small-Screen. So there.
I loved the cheesiness as much as the good bits! Totally bougeouis no doubt,
but I am as unrepentant about this as the guy who watches the Mahabharata
movie, sticks his chewing gum to the underside of his seat, scratches his
armpits and prepares to leave the movie theatre, happy in the knowledge that
he's watched an edifying, morally uplifting movie :)))))
Oh, thank you for letting me think about those Sunday mornings! My elderly
aunt would never attend any weddings that took place at that time....my
father-in-law's cook in Pondicherry refused to go into the kitchen....I have
nothing but happy memories of these two serials.
Deepa.
