While the end of Kile Ka Rahasya was a bit disappointing, the title track was haunting enough to spook the hell out of us. From what I recollect the story was about a haunted kila (fort) where people would get lost, walk out with a hand print of blood on their backs and other such spooky stuff. This tune followed by a woman's scream on television every Tueday night was clue for my sister and me to run in the bedroom, hide under the blanket and sleep.
The music was composed by Naushad I still remember the title track. It was grand with elaborate sets, tight script and some really good acting. The serial introduced us to the great warrior and king of Mysore, Tipu Sultan. Way before when creating magnum opus for television became a thing, Sanjay Khan created history with his saga based on the book by Bhagwan Gidwani. The title track with its Sanskrit chant and haunting score still remains one of my favourites. The narration by Roshan Seth who played Nehru (he also played Nehru in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi) made the book completely transpire on screen. Tales of Mahabharat, Ramayan, Chanakya, Ashoka The Great, Kalidas, Akbar, Shivaji were all portrayed by the likes of Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Tom Alter and Kulbhushan Kharbanda. Jawaharlal Nehru's book The Discovery Of India which traces 5000 years of Indian history in a dramatic way. I've always thought that Bharat Ek Khoj directed by Shyam Benegal is the benchmark for television content creation. Ghalib’s ghazals and nazms were composed and voiced by Jagjit and Chitra Singh. Mirza Ghalib introduced me to crisp Urdu shayari even though I was too young to understand it. Shafi Inamdar essayed the role of Mir Taqi Mir, another great poet of the Mughal era. The story followed Mirza Ghalib's life, his marriage to Umrao Begum played by Tanvi Azmi and his alleged affair with courtesan Nawab Jaan played by Neena Gupta. Unfortunately, Sanjeev Kumar passed away and the role fell in Naseeruddin Shah's lap who immortalized the character. The duo shared great chemistry and had given classics like Koshish, Angoor and Parichay. I've read somewhere that Naseeruddin Shah wanted to play the great Urdu poet, but Gulzar's first choice was Sanjeev Kumar. This show is not less written about, given that it was directed by the legendary Gulzar and with another legend Naseeruddin Shah portraying the title role. It was the time when film actors too did not hesitate from appearing on TV, and it wasn't to promote their upcoming films.
The actors too were NSD (National School Of Drama) and FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) pass outs who made the characters real and believable. Some of them introduced us to various cultures across the country.
The directors and producers turned to literature for content which took authors from book shelves to TV screens.
A 13 episode series had more powerful story to tell than the soap operas of today which run for five years. The TV shows of that era were created by the likes of BR Chopra (Mahabharat), Gulzar (Mirza Ghalib) and Shyam Benegal (Bharat Ek Khoj) where everything was minutely sketched out, even the opening and end credits.
Will we ever create television content which will be globally acclaimed or an industry worthy of an award show of its own? Then I realized, we already did? We created a history of great television shows in 80s and 90s. �q[�������"%�Գžl xF"Ia��yfYpa�ŕe�.Emmy (Awards to celebrate TV Series of the West) just got over and left me thinking about the television scene in India. Contents (Dirigisme or dirigism is an economic doctrine in which the state plays a strong directive role, as opposed to a merely regulatory role, over a capitalist market economy) Dirigisme or dirigism is an economic d octrine in which the state plays a s trong directive role, as opposed to a m erely regulatory role, over a capitalist m arket economy)