This is a Slumdog Millionaire quiz. Who asked Satyajit Ray to make a film for them? Who got Ravi Shankar to compose their signature tune? Who launched the acting career of Shah Rukh Khan? Who persuaded Khushwant Singh to appear in fancy dress on New Year’s Eve? Who had Sonal Mansingh dance for them and Jagjit Singh to sing for them and Bismillah Khan hold a concert for them? Who got Edward Said and Marlon Brando to talk to them? And who brought you those unforgettable black and white images of Kapil’s Devils lifting the World Cup in 1984?

If you had watched Doordarshan last Monday night, you would know the answers to these oddball questions. You would also know that there is only one and the same answer: why, Doordarshan of course, who else? The battle-scarred, much reviled, often maligned and too often ignored national broadcaster celebrated 50 years in broadcasting with a one-hour special that reminded us that it wasn’t always so scarred, reviled, maligned or ignored.

The documentary renewed our acquaintance with old friends; Salma ‘flower’ Sultan and Neethi Ravindran newsreading, Dr Narottam Puri sports quizzing, Tabussum presenting Phool Khilein Hain Gulshan Gulshan for a mere Rs 75, Girish Karnad on Turning Point, Naseeruddin Shah in Jagjit Singh’s voice singing Mirza Ghalib, Lajo weeping over Nanhe in Hum Log... Oh, how you longed to reach out and say, “Hey, hold on a sec, don’t go away just yet!”

We have made many new TV friends since, but no one can ever take the place of the Nukkad gang, no one can crunch a carrot quite like Karamchand and no one else has ever bothered to bring a National Programme of Music and Dance into our homes so that children who now Bollywood on Boogie Woogie (Sony), for example, know there’s more to dance than swivelling their hips like office chairs.

... contd.