November 28, 2009

Woh din bhi the...

The 90s were a period of transition. India was transforming- Cities were evolving and so were the people. I was a kid and I have some very vivid memories of this period, like the now extinct Opel Astra I used to gawk at, or the Ford escort with it's unique 'sheepish smile' grill. Other memorable cars from the period include the Tata Sierra, Estate and the iconic contessa. Malls were unheard of. A 'street' called Abids and a few at Charminar were the de facto avenues for shopping. There were some big retail outlets too but were out of reach for most.

Television saw remarkable growth in the 90s and was initially dominated by DoorDarshan to be later replaced by other private networks. Some of my favorites from DD include School Days, Alif Laila, "the mile sur..." commercial and many others. Private networks gave us classics too, Filmi chakkar and Hum paanch were laugh riots. Oh, who could forget those "Asian sky shop" ads. Anhonee and Aahat deserve special mention. Both had spine chilling theme music.
DD Metro introduced me to chip n Dale rescue rangers. Then came ZEE tv's Disney Hour with Talespin, Ducktales, Aladdin, Little Mermaid and the new Goof troop, Darkwing Duck and Bonkers. I even watched the telugu versions on disney Sandhya!
Actually I could write a whole series of posts on disney features. Next...

Indipop. Bombay vikings, Baba Sehgal, Remo, Sonu Nigam and many others were instrumental in shaping the indipop scene. Even Shiamak Davar in his short stint gave us a couple of memorable tunes before moving to Dance. Then came the sensation that was Alisha Chinoy. I still have that "Made in India" cassette Dad bought more than a decade ago! The genre now has moved to trash remixes with vulgar lyrics or crapped renditions of good movie songs.

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We have better cars now.Audis and BMWs are the new benchmarks for 'rich'. The shift is now towards 'sports centred' sedans and SUVs. Apna Sachin drives a Ferrari Modena and some guy in Mumbai bought a Lamborghini Murcielago. I even saw a Maserati recently at a filling pump nearby. Malls...they're everywhere now, no description needed. Music has diversified and we've made great inroads into fusion, trance and even hip hop. TV is a different story. Some are hailing the new "reality" shift. I completely despise it. Young idiots battling it out for a karizma(go get a life dude!). Girls speaking filth, rona dhona antics in competitions for TRP...I donno if it's just me but I hate reality shows. And I've never seen a single episode.

Some videos I found on youtube...





This song by Vikas Bhalla is so sweet I remember the lyrics more than ten years on! Some good chap uploaded this video on youtube(bad quality though)








Old Man and the sea duck: My favorite Talespin episode.



More like a lesson in living for small kids, this 1934 cartoon feature is memorable, and who could forget "Mehnat karney sey kya fayda?"




An ode to friendship. Those watching for the first time are bound to fall off their chairs laughing. For old timers though...the quirky choreography is no problem. It's pure nostalgia for me...



A quick search on youtube is all that is needed to relive the great decade that was the 90s.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

wel dat was a very refreshing journey to past..i remember all those sops on tv n donot forget the program on DD1 "amul surbhi"... n yea theres been a change in indian cinema as well.. 90s was all abt romantic movies n simple lives n out of the ordinary love stories n now all the movies try to incorporate geeky-techie stunts n pepl dont goto movies unless they know its practicality based...n yea we dint ave PVR or INOX(IMAX) those daez..
and the video u posted "grasshopper and the ants" , i still remember the music n lyrics..grasshopper sings "mehnat karne se kya faida".. n later ants change his perception..
we used to ave so many nice cartoons ..they were kind of educative but look at them now..we ave whole new set of exclusive cartoon channels n animation has given us toons like pokemon,doremon,shin-chan... so on.. they are enjoyable but they lack the innocence of cinderella or mickey-mouse..

Aziz Siddiqui said...

@sakshi: Ya...some changes have been very pleasant and some regretable.
I still watch those toon shows ya know...
thnks fr the comment! hell, this one's a post!!!

Unknown said...

lol! i know its was too much to write n there was loads more i cud write but i had to access self-control over here..more like selk-restrain!

Aziz Siddiqui said...

why self restrain? pour out your heart here. You're the only critique to grace my blog !

Unknown said...

"Mehnat karne se kya faayda" brings back memories. Me with my family in Delhi when i was 7 years old . We all were seeing tv in chilling cold . Covered in winter clothing and quilts and this cartoon series was running as soon it started i was compared to that grasshopper and that song became part of my life I'm now 21 and still made fun of sometimes when iam lazy. Good old times mate. Thank you a lot.

Unknown said...

"Mehnat karne se kya faayda" brings back memories. Me with my family in Delhi when i was 7 years old . We all were seeing tv in chilling cold . Covered in winter clothing and quilts and this cartoon series was running as soon it started i was compared to that grasshopper and that song became part of my life I'm now 21 and still made fun of sometimes when iam lazy. Good old times mate. Thank you a lot.

!!AnuraaG!! said...

Those Memories Of The 90s... Absolutely Nostalgic!!! And That "grasshopper and the ants" Is Like A Breeze From The Past. Well Written!

Btw, Do You Have A Link To "Mehnat karne se kya faayda (Hindi Version)"?

Yagnesh said...

Hi can you please share that video mehnat karne se kya fayda. My email purohityagnesh@gmail.com

Yagnesh said...

Did you find the link?