I say, chaps!
Does that sound familiar? If you answered yes, you are probably from my generation/background/age etc. and remember the days of Doordarshan and watching Shah Rukh Khan make his skinny entrance into the entertainment world in "Fauji".
I had the great luck recently of chancing upon the first of two DVDs containing episodes 1-7 of Fauji in the local Indian store.
Watching these brought back memories of a simpler time, both for me and for the Indian television industry as a whole. A time when the jokes were corny but simple and clean, the sets were realistically middle-class, the clothes were ridiculous and the acting was pathetic!
Shar Rukh showed definite signs of his flamboyant self even then. The show no doubt propelled him onto bigger and better things, but even the other characters were interesting... the brother (intimidating, but oozing integrity and righteousness!), the women (with cheesy lines, bad accents, pink lipstick and big hair!),Varun (the "I say, chaps!" guy)and the other guys (Peter, Dev, etc.) and quite possibly the most entertaining character, Capt. Narayanan.
Those were the days I would watch TV because I followed certain shows. There were times set out during the week when the family would sit down together to watch TV for 30 minutes, we'd discuss it for a whole week in school and wait eagerly for the next instalment of the 13-episode (typically) serial.
Today? TV is an escape while I 'unwind' or eat...I flip channels impatiently and spend 15 minutes trying to find something, which I watch for 30 minutes at the most and get tired and leave. TV today is the opposite of wholesome, stimulating, exciting...And that's ironic, because there never has been so much choice, so many types of programming, such advances in media and delivery.
Is it me then, at fault? I don't know..I take solace in these lines from a song by The Boss:
"I bought a bourgeois house in the Hollywood hills
With a truckload of hundred thousand dollar bills
Man came by to hook up my cable TV
We settled in for the night my baby and me
We switched 'round and 'round 'til half-past dawn
There was fifty-seven channels and nothin' on"
I had the great luck recently of chancing upon the first of two DVDs containing episodes 1-7 of Fauji in the local Indian store.
Watching these brought back memories of a simpler time, both for me and for the Indian television industry as a whole. A time when the jokes were corny but simple and clean, the sets were realistically middle-class, the clothes were ridiculous and the acting was pathetic!
Shar Rukh showed definite signs of his flamboyant self even then. The show no doubt propelled him onto bigger and better things, but even the other characters were interesting... the brother (intimidating, but oozing integrity and righteousness!), the women (with cheesy lines, bad accents, pink lipstick and big hair!),Varun (the "I say, chaps!" guy)and the other guys (Peter, Dev, etc.) and quite possibly the most entertaining character, Capt. Narayanan.
Those were the days I would watch TV because I followed certain shows. There were times set out during the week when the family would sit down together to watch TV for 30 minutes, we'd discuss it for a whole week in school and wait eagerly for the next instalment of the 13-episode (typically) serial.
Today? TV is an escape while I 'unwind' or eat...I flip channels impatiently and spend 15 minutes trying to find something, which I watch for 30 minutes at the most and get tired and leave. TV today is the opposite of wholesome, stimulating, exciting...And that's ironic, because there never has been so much choice, so many types of programming, such advances in media and delivery.
Is it me then, at fault? I don't know..I take solace in these lines from a song by The Boss:
"I bought a bourgeois house in the Hollywood hills
With a truckload of hundred thousand dollar bills
Man came by to hook up my cable TV
We settled in for the night my baby and me
We switched 'round and 'round 'til half-past dawn
There was fifty-seven channels and nothin' on"
posted by RTD2 at 7:11 PM
6 Comments:
Yes, indeed, those were the days of less choices, some atrocious makeup and acting, hackneyed plots, yet simpler times.
There are too many channels on Desi TV which show a lot of crap. One ends up switiching channels endlessly.
There are however a few serials that i really like, couch potato that i am :P
I like dark comedies and hence totally love Six Feet Under. Watch it. Also watch The Office (the British one - i havent seen the American version) But the British version rocks...
PS. My mother had predicted (thats her view and word btw :P) that Shahrukh will be some major star someday, ever since his Fauji days and she of course makes it a point to remind us of her ability to spot potential stars-in-the-making, time and again :P
I never watched Fauji ... but your post reminds me of serials I used to watch a long time back -"Mugerilal ke haseen sapne"
"Flop show"
Ok I forget the name of this one ...but a comedy show about this couple and a kid I think....
I guess these were shows after Fauji ... These were pretty good! I suspect most serials of old times had bad production quality but had decent jokes/scripts... compared to the stuff we get nowadays.... The only think I watch nowadays on TV is Sienfeld reruns....
Guess it's a universal phenomenon then, that inspite of the varied choice we have these days, very little seems satisfying or entertaining...
I have to mention that since I got to Doha a year ago, we decided not to get the Cable connected coz all the 'packages' offer atleast 77 channels that u'll never ever tune into...unfortunately,cricket fever got the better of my bitter half a month ago and we're now supposedly in touch with what's happenning in the world around us...
Needless to say, I'm still waiting to switch on the telly and find one sensible programme or movie that I can watch at a respectable time in the day..till then I'll count on Simon and the enthu participants of American Idol to brighten my channel surfing skills!!!
you have been tagged! :)
Indeed a very well written article. Its sad to hear that the cgaracter that plays Vikram Rai (Abhimanyu Rai's) elder brother is no more. He was really smart. He played Shah Rukh Khan's brother. I say chaps was a great catchy phrase at those times played by Varun . Great serial
Nice post love reading it
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