The following are some of the ways to get in touch with each other:here’s something extremely comforting about Doordarshan National. The reason it’s so consistent is because the more they try to change it, the less it changes.
So, while the soul-stirring patriotism of ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara…’ may have been replaced by ‘Har Ghar Tiranga…’ or ‘Bharat Maa…’, it is still ‘Desh ka pehla channel’, which is doing all it can to be ‘Desh ka Apna channel’.
DD National says so. Well, it hasn’t become a completely pan-India channel, but it does try to: where else will you find a show devoted to the ‘7 Sisters’ — otherwise known as the Northeastern states? Not on any of our national news television channels, not on private DTH-cable channels, nor on the streaming OTT channels.
But what could be more topical than to learn about Tripura, Mizoram, Assam, Nagaland – and of course Manipur, where ethnic violence has shaken the very foundations of the state?
Where else would you find a relentless effort to give women the “power to fight the world” as demanded by Chhotaki Chhatanki in one of DD National’s new shows of the same name?
Doordarshan National got a new look on 15th August. It included some old and some new. So there’s our all time favourite Chitrahaar (twice a day)—which began in 1982 featuring songs from Hindi films—side by side with Janki, a television series about an affluent family that will do whatever it takes to get a boy as its firstborn.
You know what else? It’s fine, it’s fun. It’s fine, as long as you are willing to be a part of it.
Also read: BJP women leaders get more upset over an imagined ‘flying kiss’ than Manipur or Nuh violence
No more hysteria
We’re fed up. We’re exhausted. We’re done with the fake melodrama that passes for news where headlines say ‘PM roars from Red Fort’ (Times Now) and the hysterical outbursts that define news debates—both will increase over the next year as elections approach.
We’re done with the daily rona-dhona The following are some examples of how to use saas-bahu Star Plus, Sony Pictures, Zee Network, Colors and others all have soap operas about men in mansions. that haven’t really moved on from when Union Minister Smriti Irani played Tulsi—the ideal wife, mother, daughter-in-law turned avenging goddess in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu You can also find out more about the following: Between 2000 and 2008, there was a significant increase in the number of people who were using computers.
And while there is excellence in many series on streaming channels, there’s also a lot of violence, crude language and a grim reality without innocence.
On DD National, we’re relieved to bask in the remembrance of things past: old songs from old films in Chitrahaar where Tanuja is romanced by Rajesh Khanna, Jaya Bhaduri by Sanjeev Kumar… Sigh.
What’s more, you get to watch old films too in Bombay TalkiesIn the last few weeks, I’ve seen Kesari, Gadar Ek Prem Katha, Karma (with Dilip Kumra), Luv Kush with…Jeetendra and Jaya Prada. OMG, since when did you spend time with Jumping Jack last?
Entertainment channels have completely abandoned films—they’ve left cinema to the streaming channels. Yet, even there, you can’t find a golden-olden picture beneath the sheen of the new ones.
Doordarshan National is not available for screening Awaara, AradhanaOr Anamika But then again, it could. On the channel, you’ll see films from previous centuries. This is huge: many of us long to relive the pleasures—or the pain—we experienced watching those films.
Also read: From Haryana to ‘terror’ on train, TV news is shy to identify victims when they are Muslim
Substance is not slick
The new serials on Doordarshan National lack the finesse, well-oiled look of shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, SonyLiv, Zee 5, their slick, tight, well-written screenplays and dialogues—at that level, DD National has nothing to recommend.
But the themes are far more important. There is a conscious effort to have women, young women and young girls, at the centre of attention—watch Chhotaki Chhatanki, Jahan Chand Rehta Hai, JanAKi – the main prime time shows on DD National.
The messaging is straightforward, strong: women, young women in particular, deserve better and they’re going to seize it—from the most unwilling hands, come what may.
Chhotaki, a lively and intelligent woman, can rid her village of Romeos by twirling her bicycle wheels. She also tells her family a thing or two about female empowerment—she has two sisters who constantly require her strong-arm tactics.
You can also find out more about the following: Jahan Chand Rehta Hai, Kiran is in love with science but her family thinks she should be scouring dishes and peeling potatoes—in preparation for her future as a wife. The opposition of her entire joint family to her ambitions will drive her into the arms of… Well, let’s not give away the plot.
Jan.AKi could be nicknamed, ‘No family for girls’. The story begins with the father leaving a newborn girl at a temple out in nature. A boy is always first in the rich family of this man, even from birth. Until a boy is born, no girl can grow up there…
This is social media at its most powerful. You would be right. You’d be right. It is not more than what you hear in the Amazon Prime Series. Made in Heaven. DD National serials are lighter, if not more obvious. There’s something dark and darker about OTT shows, no matter how good they are.
Kiran’s family will reprimand her for flying a kite in public, but it is less of a burden to see Kiran out there.
Also read: Indian TV serials are still stuck on ‘evil women snatching husbands’. OTTs race ahead
Stirring stuff
Old shows Swaraj and S.I.D. Farz—the former about revolutionaries and freedom fighters, the latter about the fight against criminals—are very poor in production values. The English officers were in Swaraj sound like they’re American, and look about as English as an You can also find out more about the following:dian does. Awful. Yet, it’s 1857 and the Indian soldiers are about to rebel… Stirring stuff.
In S.I.D., a willing suspension of disbelief allows you to enjoy the show—even when the good guys kill the same guy for the second time. The blood spilled in Swaraj The following are some examples of how to use S.I.D. This is clearly not blood.
Enjoy the best of DD National.
The author tweets at @shailajabajpai. All views are my own.
(Edited By Prashant).