Favourite TV Shows

In my today’s weekend blog I am writing about shows on TV.

We might have fallen out of love with Indian TV, because of regressive shows, but that was not the reality two decades back. Taking you down memory lane, here are some of the best Hindi TV shows that made us fall in love with Indian TV.

1 Sarabhai vs Sarabhai

One of the funniest shows ever on Indian TV. This family comedy show with power-packed performances and clean humour touched our hearts and made us fall in love with the characters. What a performance by lead actors Ratna Pathak Shah, Rupali Ganguly and Satish Shah.

2 Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi         

This serial is from the time when there was only Doordarshan for Indian TV viewers. It showed the life of middle class couple in their daily routine. Each episode had different story. Wonderful performances by Shafi Inamdaar, Swaroop Sampat, Rakesh Bedi and Satish Shah.

3 Buniyaad

This was the first serial on Doordarshan, other than Mahabharat and Ramayan, which had more than 100 episodes. Story of a middle-class family who migrated to the Indian side after partition. It had a big ensemble cast including Alok Nath, Anita Kanwar, Dilip Tahil, Kamaljeet, and others. All of them performed very well as per the role’s requirements.

4 Fauji

Many of us remember Fauji as Shah Rukh Khan’s acting debut. It is the story of how army commandos are trained, with little romance between characters. This serial was also on Door Darshan.

5 Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne

Heart touching show about the protagonist –Mungerilal who would daydream about his adventures. Fine performance by Raghubir Yadav in the title role. Doordarshan serial.

6 Dekh Bhai Dekh

This serial came much before Sarabhai vs Sarabhai. It was one of the most popular comedy shows in Indian TV. Every Character of Diwan family made us fall in love. Fine performances by the ensemble cast included Navin Nischal, Farida Jalal, Shekhar Suman, Bahavna Balsavar and many more.

7 Office Office

Massaddilal has to deal with the lethargy of government officials in different departments to get small things done. The show highlighted the problems with the officials in the public sector while tickling our funny bones. The main lead was played wonderfully by Pankaj Kapur, and the government officials were played by Sanjay Mishra, Pahwa, Asawari Joshi, Devaan Bhojwani, and a few others, and all of them performed very well.

8 Surabhi

It is a benchmark show in Indian TV history and it is referred to as one of the best shows ever made that reflected the length and breadth of Indian culture. The show was anchored by Renuka Shahane and Siddharth Kak.

9 Wagle Ki Duniya

The series was set around the everyday struggles, of a nervous sales clerk, who lived the prudence of a middle-class person of the time. The series was based on the character of the ‘Common Man’ by cartoonist RK Laxman. Anjan Srivastava and Bharti Achrekar played the lead roles, and they acted very well.

10 Flop Show

Who can forget the timeless classic by Jaspal Bhatti. The show did not do great when it was first aired but became a cult hit over the years. Jaspal Bhatti was at his funniest best in this show.

11 Astitva

It had a refreshing story that dealt with a career-oriented woman marrying a man 10 years younger than her. The show focuses on society’s narrow outlook toward relationships that do not fit a set pattern. It had impressive performances by all the actors. Fine performance by Nikki Aneja in the lead role.

12 Hasartein

The progressive show took a refreshing take on extra-marital affairs. Rather than showing extra-marital in an evil light, the show made an attempt to understand the reason behind it. Fine performance by Shefali Shah (then Shefali Chaya).

13 Rajani

Starring Priya Tendulkar in the lead role, Rajani is the show that showcased how a housewife deals with the everyday problems that most people encounter, such as school admissions, the attitude of taxi drivers, etc. In short, it was the female counterpart to the famous Office Office which came much later, especially with the focus on government officials.

The other notable mentions are Tara, Malgudi Days, Shanti, Chanakya, Swabhimaan, Banegi Apni Baat, Nukkad, Zaban Sambhal Ke, Tu Tu Main Main, Yes Boss, and Shriman Shrimati.

None of the shows mentioned above are regressive, like most Saas –Bahu-type shows which were/are on aired on TV channels, and I have not included any of them in my list of favourite TV shows.

Waiting for your views on this blog.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

5^th August 2022