Nostalgia darshan: Doordarshan turns 58 making us look back at Krishi Darshan, Hum Log, Fauji
Doordarshan which started in Delhi on September 15, 1959, turns 58 today. Here's a trip down the memory lane to meet the history of DD and shows like Dekh Bhai Dekh, Nukkad and Shah Rukh Khan starer Fauji.
Doordarshan celebrates its anniversary on September 15 every year.
The Indian public service broadcaster, a division of Prasar Bharati, had a beginning free from vanity with an experimental telecast.
It was started in Delhi on September 15, 1959, with a small transmitter and a makeshift studio.
The regular daily transmission started in 1965 as a part of All India Radio.
Doordarshan began a five-minute news bulletin in 1965 itself.
Pratima Puri was the first newsreader.
Salma Sultan joined Doordarshan in 1967 and later became a news anchor. Here are the elegant ladies of Doordarshan from left; Sarla Maheshwari, Salma Sultan, Sheila Chaman, and Minu Talwar.
Up until 1975, only seven Indian cities had a television service and Doordarshan remained the sole provider of television in India.
In 1976, DD separated from AIR and got its signature montage by National Institute of Design (NID) and music by sitar maestro Ravi Shankar.
Devashis Bhattacharyya is the man behind the logo that would make many go down the memory lane. He is a former National Institute of Design student.
Devashis scribbled the human eye first. Then he drew two curves around it depicting as he says, "the yin and the yang."
Out of the 14 designs submitted by eight students and six faculty members, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi picked this.
The iconic tune of DD was composed by sitar maestro Ravi Shankar and the symbol and the tune appeared for the first time on television screens on April 1, 1976.
DD television services were separated from radio on April 1, 1976.
On Jan 26, 1967, Krishi Darshan was the first programme telecast; it is one of India's longest running programmes.
In 1976 itself, DD had its first TV serial Ladoosingh Taxiwala.
The 80s was the golden era for DD, which started with a colour broadcast of Asian Games and tele-serial Hum Log. Entertainment on celluloid was cherished with some famous DD tele-serials like Hum Log, Buniyaad, Nukkad and Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi.
HUM LOG
BUNIYAAD
NUKKAD
YEH JO HAI ZINDAGI
Remember when some adult in the family took the charge of fixing the antenna? How could have people missed the many iconic shows like Shaktimaan, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Byomkesh Bakshi, Mahabharata, Fauji, Chandrakanta and Chitrahaar! And hands down the struggle paid for the joy of catching up on the only entertainment available on a TV screen back in those days.
The story of Dekh Bhai Dekh revolves around three generations of the Diwan family. Ring a bell?
Remember Rajit Kaoor in Byomkesh Bakshi who is an intelligent detective from Kolkata solving mysteries which drove the police nuts?
Regardless of the generation, the show Fauji on DD had viewers glued. Lt Abhimanyu Rai was played by superstar Shah Rukh Khan and Fauji was a popular TV show of 1988.
The famous and beloved Chitrahaar, the television program on DD National featuring songs from Bollywood films.
DD has 33 channels, 67 studios nationwide, 1,400 transmitters and more than 15,500 staffers. Before the period of 1991, the viewership declined with advent of private channels.
From 180 TV sets in 1959 to a quarter million in 1977 to reaching 153 mn TV homes in 2016, DD still had a pretty solid viewership.
And today, to honour the celluloid love for DD, we shall put its signature tune as our ringtone, as Doordarshan turns 58.
Deal?
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