the state of affairs of indian television today jalal said the progressive innovative spirit of the era has been losti wish those days could return they made best of the shows such as yeh jo hai zindagi and khandaan these shows meant or said something today it is about naagin jaadumantras and frivolous things there is no depth said jalalseema pahwa known to bollywood viewers as the lovable mother of bareilly ki barfi cut her acting teeth as badki on hum log one of indian televisions longest running daily soapswritten by eminent hindi writer manohar shyam joshi the show depicted the everyday travails of a middle class familyfor pahwa it was the best era for stories something that no private channel or streaming service can replicateit was the best era and still is in terms of stories i remember when i started hum log it was local but then became a national level show pahwa told actor supriya pilgaonkar who started as the host of a childrens programme in marathi went on to be a part ek kahani an episodic show on stories from indian literature and tu tu main maintill date im remembered for these doordarshan shows and i feel extremely nostalgic whenever i sit and think about it she told mandira bedi and amit behl who found fame at a young age with shanti about a woman journalist looking to unravel the truth behind her birth said the kind of viewership the show had cannot be captured todayi had a great run on doordarshan my life changed completely bedi saidbehl her co star said it was disheartening to see the drop in quality due to budget cutsthe national broadcaster needs to pull up its socks in a way that it again becomes a force to reckon with dd needs to revamp its programming shanti was a show way ahead of its time contemporary and rich he addedaccording to actor anup soni the best talent veered towards doordarshanfifty per cent of the shows were dependent on literature classic writers they were adapting novels from different writers the original content they were making was very close to a common mans life from hum log and buniyaad to udaan people could relate to these shows which were so progressive and inspiring he saiddoordarshan began as an experiment on september 15 1959 and became a service in 1965 when beamed signals to reach television sets in living rooms in and around the national capital