DD8217;s tragedy show: 50-year special has little impact

NEW DELHI, JULY 30: Doordarshan has spent Rs 25 crore to mark the 50 years of Indian independence but such has been its lack of impact th...

NEW DELHI, JULY 30: Doordarshan has spent Rs 25 crore to mark the 50 years of Indian independence but such has been its lack of impact that even Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sushma Swaraj does not know about it. At a press conference on Tuesday held for the commemoration of 50 years, she denied any knowledge of the five mega-serials that were part of the celebrations and were to be aired on Doordarshan.

Not surprising. Although Rs 5 crore have been spent on the serials, only one has been shown in its entirety. All 16 episodes of Saaed Mirza8217;s Tryst With Destiny have been shown while Shyam Benegal8217;s 10-part Sankrantri has two more episodes to go on Sundays at 8 pm. As for Girish Karnad8217;s Swaraj, only one 45-minute episode was aired in January, after which the director was told to reduce the episode timing to 30 minutes. He did, but the serial 8212; which is in 13 parts 8212; is yet to be telecast.

Doordarshan officials blame the political uncertainty for their failure toschedule the programmes. The work of two other film-makers, Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Bhupen Hazarika, is still in the cans. All 16 episodes of Dasgupta8217;s The Colours and Lines of Freedom are in as are 17 episodes of Bhupen Hazarika8217;s The Awakening. But no one has been able to find time to air these shows, each of which cost Rs 1 crore.

Apart from the Rs 5 crore given to these film-makers, all Doordarshan kendras got Rs 1 crore each to commission programmes to mark the fiftieth year. The Directorate got another Rs 4 crore for other programmes, 80 per cent of which have been shown, among which were Bharat Bala8217;s Vande Mataram and Raj Babbar8217;s Main Dilli Hoon. All in all, the special cell for the commemoration sanctioned about 200 half-hour episodes on Indian independence.

For the August 15 telecast this year, Doordarshan has again chosen Ramesh Sharma. He had made the half-hour Mukti Gatha for August 14 last year and this year, he will be doing a one-hour film which recountsIndias development.