TV serials close to my heart..

A couple of weeks ago I was going through some blog regarding the favorite TV serials the author used to enjoy watching. The author mentioned some serials like Nukkad, Buniyaad, Hum Log etc... I have a faint memory of Hum log being played when i was small... but they are very faint memories and i don't remember the story at all...

I thought it would be really cool to post the list of serials i enjoyed watching right from my childhood till now. Though now, it is very rare that i watch any serial, and even if i do, i lose interest so very soon due to the same boring storyline and same "women-are-always-vamps" plots. Though there are a couple of stories i do watch now and then, and i'd definitely like to share my thots across on this blog.

As i said, i don't much remember the Nukkad's and the Buniyaad's... What i remember watching when i was a bit old were serials like Waagle ki duniya, Hum panchi ek Daal Ke, Mr Yogi, Mongeri laal ke haseen sapne, Kakkaji Kahe etc. There were all time favorites like Chitrahaar which used to be broadcast every Wednesday and i remember completing my homework right on time so tht mum would allow me to watch it. Another craze was ChaayaGeet, the old Hindi songs used to be telecast. And yes, Rangoli at 7 on sunday morning... Though Rangoli is still telecast, it has lost all his antique touch, no longer excites me...

Waagle ki Duniya... i remember we used to all watch it... those were the times when there was no Cable TV and we had compulsorily had to watch the good old DD1. The entire family used to sit together to watch Wagle and his antics. Even today when i see Anjan Srivastav on TV, i fondly refer to him as "Wagle". "Mr Yogi... Mr Yogi..." The title song would play and i would start singing along with it. Mohan gokhale played an excellent role in it, and when he passed away at a very young age, we still referred to him as Mr Yogi... So also i remember Om Puri as "Kakkaji".

Another serial i remember watching was Oshin, the story of the Japanese(or chinese?) girl. I used to not understand the wordings so much, but i used to love watching tht sweet girl :). Then there was Alif Laila which used to be played late night at around 11pm(imagine 11 pm was late night at that time). I used to bear all my Mom's scoldings to watch that serial. There was Shekhar suman's Reporter and Dekh Bhai Dekh that i used to love watching.

Ajnabi was my favorite serial which used be telecast on monday night at 10. Danny, Sooraj Thapar and that cute female... And yes, how can i forget Shakur Rana.. My blood used to boil when i used to see him :).
Mitti Ke Rang was a serial of all short shories...Arun Govil as Vikram of Vikram and Betaal...Sudesh Berry in Suraag...
Then here it comes... "Ta na na tana na na na... tana na na na na na na..." Malgudi days. Oh Gosh... i feel like going back to those old DD1 days...

Detective serials were so interesting... Byomkesh Bakshi , Sam D'silva with "Gopi" as his assistant in Tehkikaat etc etc. hey and yes... Mile sur mera tumhara... to sur bane hamara... Can you remember Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Lata Mangeshkar singing it?

The mythological serials were so nice... Ramayan, Mahabharat etc... Chandrakanta, was one serial i used to never miss... It used to be telecast on Sunday at 10 in the morning. Chandrakanta and the Prince and all those wizards and conspiracies...it used to be followed by all the serials for kids... I remember watch Potli Baba ki, alice in Wonderland, duck tales and yes, who can forget Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book and Mowgli, Bagera, all the monkeys and the wolves?

Saturday afternoon used to be time for Oshin, Turning point, Ank Ajube. Saturday evening was the time for "He man and the master of the universe", followed by Sports world. Then there used to be Surabhi which was so informative and episode, they used to make some nice designs of the lakhs of postcards they used to get as reponses from the viewers. Then there was "Bharat ek khoj" i remember it coz i used to see Nehru in every episode :). Samandar was another of my favorite serial.

Later started the daily soaps. I guess i was somewhere in the 9th 10th standard that these soaps started their telecast. I remember Shanti and Swabhimaan prominently. I used to start studing only after watching these serials.
This was also the time when DD2 or Metro started its telecast. Sea Hawks became my favorite.

Of all the serials that i mentioned, i would specially like to speak about "Kashish" A very short serial featuring Sudesh Berry as an egoistic director and "Mona"(i dont remember her name). the story of how he secretly falls in love with her and is very egoistic to let her know or even admit it. This is the serial i remember so distinctly. Wish i could watch it again... I used to love that female lead... she was so cute and starry eyed.

This is not the exhaustive list of the serials telecast on DD1, i just could recollect only a few. But i have missed out on a lot of nice serials which i couldnot recollect due to my faint memory now. And now let me speak about some of the serials i enjoyed watching recently...

"Bani is so sweet and docile..." My mom would say everyday. So i thot of joining her one day to watch the serial and the leading lady she so adorably adored... The leading lady was "Prachi Desai" and the serial... Ekta Kapoor's Kasamh se... it featured the stylish but heavy Ram Kapoor. The serial went on well.. til one fine day i was so pissed of with it, i just stopped watching it... mite be because i lost interest due to its never ending episodes.

and last but not the least, My all time Favorite but recent serial is... "KMH" or Kitani Mohabbat hai... I loved the pair Arohi and Arjun (Kritika Kamra and Karan Kundra). I just couldnt understand how well the chemistry went between them. again it was all ekta Again. This serial was telecast on NDTV Imagine, started in Jan 2009 and got over in August 2009, only 8 months :(. It was a short and sweet tale of both protagonists... So cute couple.

So here i think i should put an end to all listing of all the serials since i can just go on and on and on... Now even though we have so many choices (MTv, Channel V, Zee, Sony etc etc etc... but i hardly watch them. Its like we have lost interest now since every serial is at our disposal, just connect to the net and watch them online or download and watch it later...

The good old DD1 days when the entire family used to sit and watch serials... get so mingled with the characters that they would think them as one amongst them is now no longer witnessed. The wait for the serials to be telecast... the anguish when suddenly there would be a power cut while watching the most wanted episode... the long discussions about the actor's and Actress' life... nothing seems to be the same now...

DD1 has always been special wil remain close to my heart. Wonder if it was all like before, how would it be?? Wish i could once more witness all those crazy times we spent in front of the TV...