Be it comedy movies or comedy TV shows, the 1990s and early 2000s were the golden periods of clean humour. Today’s comedy movies and shows (like Comedy Nights with Kapil, The Kapil Sharma Show, etc.) function on problematic & regressive themes under the disguise of humour. The era of the ’90s and early 2000s was completely different. Unlike today, the shows and movies of that era did not rely on sexiest & regressive jokes.
Here is the list of best Old Hindi Comedy TV serials from that era which are timeless and insanely hilarious.
1 Dekh Bhai Dekh
The top of the list of Best old Hindi Comedy TV serials is Dekh Bhai Dekh. It was one of the most popular comedy shows on Indian TV in the ‘90s. Every character of the Diwan family was uniqe, and made us fall in love with them. From Shekhar Suman, Navin Nischal, Farida Jalal, Bhavna Balsavar to Sushma Seth, every character was insanely funny and hilarious.
2 Tu Tu Main Main
Much before Ekta Kapoor came up with twisted Saas-Bahu relationships, Reema Lagoo and Supriya Pilgaonkar gave us hilarious take on regular banter between a saas and her bahu. This light-hearted comedy captured these mischievous women brilliantly.
3 Flop Show
How can one forget Flop show, when we talk about Best Old Hindi Comedy TV serials? The satire in Jaspal Bhatti’s Flop Show is still relevant three decades later. The show revolved around day to day problems of the common man in satirical ways. It was impossible to show without a laugh.
4 Zaban Sambhal Ke
The show was remake of British sitcom ‘Mind Your Language’. This show starred Pankaj Kapoor in main role. The show was about Hindi classes for adults belonging to diverse cultures. Pankaj Kapoor, an engineer-turned-Hindi-teacher, made many of us laugh with his hilarious comeback for every odd question that his multi-lingual students threw at him.
5 Shriman Shrimati
Next on the list is Shriman Shrimati. With the power-packed performances of Reema Lagoo, Jatin Kanakia, Rakesh Bedi and Archana Puran Singh, this show was immensely loved and adored by audience. In case you have not watched it yet, please do. It is super hilarious.
6 Hum Paanch
Ekta Kapoor made foray into TV show business with this comedy serial. A middle-class family with members taking digs at each other, so much so that main character Ashok Saraf’s (Anand Mathur) first wife who is dead, played by Priya Tendukar, talk through picture too. Sweety’s craziness, Kajal’s bhaigiri and Anand mathur’s constant struggle to keep up with chaos-all these made Hum Paanch one of the most loved TV show.
7 Filmi Chakkar
Much before Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, we saw Satish Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah as a bollywood obsessed couple in Filmi Chakkar. The show revolved around a family, who was totally obsessed with Bollywood.
8 Office Office
Mussadilal (played by Pankaj Kapoor) 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 public sector while tickling our funny bones Full ensemble cast consisting of Sanjay Mishra, Manol Pahwa, Deven Bhojani, Asawari Joshi and others, all performed brilliantly.
9 Ji Mantriji
It was an adaption of the British Satirical sitcom-‘Yes Minister’. The show starred Farooq sheikh as Minister of Administrative Affairs Surya Prakash Singh and Jayant Kriplani as te department’s secretary. The show was not only intelligent but it was uproariously hilarious too.
10 Philips Top Ten
Starring Pankaj Kapoor and Satish Kaushik (as Santa and Banta), this show updated us with the latest and most 10 popular songs of the weak, with a heavy dose of laughter. Both Pankaj Kapoor and Satish Kaushik performed brilliantly.
In the end, today’s shows can never match up to te awesome level of comedy we have grown up watching these old Hindi comedy TV serials.
Waiting for your feedback on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
12th July 2024
Minoo Malik
Nostalgic!