New Delhi, September 15 : People’s faces lit up as soon as the tune was played at the beginning of the telecast, along with the Doordarshan logo. At that time, TV meant Doordarshan. In the seventies and eighties, the people of the country grew up, laughed, and cried with Doordarshan and kept correcting the pronunciation of regional languages along with Hindi and English. Everyone used to wait eagerly for Doordarshan’s broadcast to start. Be it news, Ramayana-Mahabharata, or Chitrahaar, a programme of new songs telecast every Friday.
Doordarshan turns 65: Senior news readers share sweet and sour memories
Everyone’s time was fixed. People used to finish their work accordingly and sit in front of the shuttered TV. Most of the people of the eighties and nineties will have such sweet and sour memories regarding the journey of Doordarshan. This journey, which started with a five-minute news programme, has today turned into a 24-hour daily journey.
Today (Friday), Doordarshan is entering its 65th year after completing 64 years of its journey. During this time, Doordarshan has gone through many stages, and today it has maintained its position among the private TV channels and is sharing information with the people at its own pace. On this occasion, senior news readers of Doordarshan congratulated Doordarshan and shared their sweet and sour experiences and memories with ‘Hindusthan Samachar’.
Shammi Narang, who was a well-known face of Doordarshan for many years since the seventies, says that his journey with Doordarshan has been very wonderful and memorable. Shammi, the magician of voice, who lived in the golden era of Doordarshan, says that people now want to return to the same era where they could comfortably watch reliable news related to the country and society. Shammi Narang says that the people of Doordarshan had so much confidence that he used to learn the strong pronunciation and voice modulation of Hindi from here. It used to be a matter of pride that people considered you a role model.
Doordarshan turns 65: Senior news readers share their memories and hopes for the future
He said that Doordarshan progressed rapidly in the eighties. Gradually, the child was growing up. Doordarshan was forming its own identity. Two things changed. It was telecast nationally. It was black and white. Changed the style of reading news. Doordarshan was not dependent on just two or three people. The content was served to the people in the best possible manner in English and Hindi. And then provincial language channels started. Somewhere, the fabric of broadcasting was beautifully woven with different colours. This decade of the eighties was the most golden. He is hopeful that Doordarshan will maintain its dominance among private channels in the coming years as well.
At the same time, Jasveen Jassi, who was a news reader in Doordarshan from 1973 to 1997, says that even today, Doordarshan maintains a distinct identity in the world of private channels. Today, due to technological changes, a lot has changed in the world of TV, but in the initial journey, Doordarshan people still remember its beauty. Recalling his audition days, Jassi says that despite looking good, he was rejected as a news reader. Then he auditioned wearing glasses and was selected. Doordarshan was very conscious and serious about his facial seriousness and confident expressions. After All India Radio, the journey of reading agricultural news and then news was interesting in itself in those days. Along with reading the news written on paper pages, the challenge of seeing it in front of others was also big. Doordarshan changed for many years along with learning and teaching. He says that with the advent of private TV after 1990, there were many changes in Doordarshan, but even today, decency remains the same. Even in the crowd, Doordarshan proudly maintained its existence.
Doordarshan was started on September 15, 1959, with the name of India Television, which was later named Doordarshan. Regular daily broadcasting began in 1965 as a part of All India Radio. In 1972, the service was extended to Mumbai (then Bombay) and Amritsar. By 1975, this facility had started in seven cities. National broadcasting began in 1982. This year, colour television was introduced to the masses. In present times, Doordarshan’s family has become very large. Today, Doordarshan has about two dozen channels. It is the largest broadcasting platform in the country.
