Sniff.. sniff... that was gud and brought nostalgic memories......
After watching an old kamal hassan superhit SAKALAKALA-VALLAVAN.
pesky kid: how come "Silk Smitha" doesnt recognise that, the rich man is actually the hero- Kamal?? Her clothes are pretty small, why Uncle?
Me(whaaat Uncle!!! :( ) : u saw that small mole on the richman's cheek, dont u?.. the hero doesnt have that.. A black mole, placed strategically, on the upperlip/waist/cheek.. can be misleading, u know.. Hee He....
Mathew
· 2 years ago
I know you are an out-of-job freelancer and everything. But seriously, how much did the producers of OSO pay you to write this?
Sandeep
· 2 years ago
ha.. I love this post! loVVVVed it :)
Anandhi
· 2 years ago
no one landed a punch like an Amitabh scorned. :) Awesome! Nostalgia inducing post, though I dont remember the corresponding channel in Saudi that gave us those hours of pleasure.
curiouscat
· 2 years ago
Great post...tears of nostalgia and all that...but I have question. I did not get the bill crosby comment in the context of the antenna..help please?
Manish
· 2 years ago
MacMohan. You're welcome :)
Sameer
· 2 years ago
Totally rocking movie, and totally rocking review! I saw it a couple of days ago too, and was totally mesmerized. It was not like watching a story/narrative, and who cared? It was like giving in, submission to a higher authority and loving it all :) Ok, whatever. It was a great 3hrs!
Shaan
· 2 years ago
hmmm...quite a different perspective on OSO there :D
Channel 33 does exist...it has been renamed as 'Dubai One' and is showing shoes that have come out in the past month unlike Ch 33 which showed shows that were a decade late...
btw...wasn't it Bill Cosby? and come to think of it....wat was the model of your motorized antennae?? I really wanna know...mine sucked and always produced more static than tv signals for Ch 33....or Abu Dhabi Channel 2 for that matter :( yep the same english channel that started with Sesame Street at 4pm and stopped at 9pm after the daily soap....
Ruby Shanker
· 2 years ago
Well worth the wait Sidin! I truly connected with OSO as well. Memories did flood back of NRI life and the little of the Bollywood known to us then.
Yea and the news on Channel 33 with the 15 minute long list of pharmacies open 24 hours..Looool! Yeah I used to actually know the list by heart most days, saying it in the same tone as the news reader! hehehe..
Now that you wrote all that, I really mis those good old Bolly movies of the 70s and 80s..Its true no one can get away now as rich and flamboyant as it was then.
Well written Sidin. I always knew the fruits of patience are sweet[:)]
jackson
· 2 years ago
actually, the cosby show was about an upper-middle class black family, aimed at an upper-middle class audience..
but yeah, channel 33 was cool.. even though i never really received it quite clearly..
ramki
· 2 years ago
fantastic post! Thanks for bringing a bit of the magic back :)
Sriram
· 2 years ago
Have you seen a mallu movie called "pokku veyyil"? I dont know if the name is right, but it has won a national award or something apparently. Back in doordarshan days every sunday afternoon you get to see national award winning movies from various languages. I saw pokku veyyil in one such sunday and man what a creepy movie it was.
Karmadude
· 2 years ago
Great post! I can't even imagine how I would have turned out without all that exposure from Channel 33. It seems like an experience which resonates with generations who grew up around that time watching Channel 33. Thanks for bringing back some fond memories.
SEV
· 2 years ago
This was because they played all kinds of programming: English English (Fawlty Towers), American English Upper-Middle (Full House, Charles in Charge), American English Lower-Middle (Bill Crosby, Different Strokes), Gameshows (Blockbusters) and, the point of this entire blog, Bollywood Masala. (Okay there was also wrestling, english football much before ESPN made it cool, and nightly news bulletins with fifteen minutes of news and fifteen minutes of names of pharmacies open for 24 hours.) Man, those were the days. The ubiquitous Ch.33, and the number of random shows that made up my day thanks to that. Then, of course, the classic StarTV came, and Ch.33 had to languish. I almost agree about OSO, I believe they could have done a lot more with the end... but yeah, the days of anger, villain-bashing and romance seem to have left the screen.
Great post :)
Madhavan Kutty
· 2 years ago
As someone who grew up in Abu Dhabi almost along the same time, I really identify with this post...yup those were the good ol' times!!
shub
· 2 years ago
whoa! someone actually remembers there was a Charles in charge? I'm not the only one old as the hills then! Loved the post.
Ajith
· 2 years ago
That Young Sidin - Daddy convo was too good :) .. Even I used to have doubts about these Hindi words .
sidin
· 2 years ago
Richman. He he!
The mole gig was a classic. Also the moustache and the ethnic cap of some sort.
Silk Smitha will be sorely missed.
sidin
· 2 years ago
You think the producers of OSO would actually know me?
Sigh...
sidin
· 2 years ago
Ugh.
It was Bill COSBY. And not Crosby. Forgive. Forgive. The children's programming was soooo cool no?
Running back from exams and class and such like to tune in...
sidin
· 2 years ago
Oh. It was?
Memory beginning to fail. Lumbering towards the terrible thirties you know...
sidin
· 2 years ago
There was this Saudi Channel 2. They branded that 2 everywhere. Used to have even better programming than C-33. But almost impossible to get on the antenna...
sidin
· 2 years ago
I remember it was a german thing. Dad was damn proud of it as it was 'state of the art'. Abu Dhabi Channel 2 was a damp squib. Though there was this very likeable arab guy in ethnic clothes who read the news. I remember watching him read the news of Indira Gandhi's killing shell-shocked with damp eyes.
Dhruv
· 2 years ago
LOL ... but jokes apart not one of those trademark Sidin Scarcasm's on OSO .....does sound fishy, doesnt it ???
Aravind
· 2 years ago
excellent post. OSO was good in its first half, but when it went into all that reincarnation/revenge crap, it lost its theme.
jackson
· 2 years ago
well, honestly, i was too young to notice such trifling details at the time.. :) all i knew is it was funny.. jai bolo wikipedia ki.. ;-)
sidin
· 2 years ago
Arrey Aravind!
The reincarnation/revenge crap was the point no? No?
BTW I have noticed the use of that second 'a' in your word. Most ethnic-cool.
sidin
· 2 years ago
Remember Secret's Out! And err... Pippi Longstocking? Punkie Brewster? A whole bunch of mildy psychadelic kid shows. And there was a running serial of kids hunting of alphabets or some such thing in a mythical world hounded by a weird old woman who kept drinking tea.
What was it called? No idea really.
Aravind
· 2 years ago
Sidin, in that case it was not as glorious as the old ones. Where was that typical hysteric 5 minute long laugh of the spirit?(ha-hahahahahaha. ha-hahahahahaha.).where was that White saree? where was that long silky shining black hair? Guess RGV actually destroyed the Indian concept of spirits out and out.
Offtopic: Aravind is semi ethnic. Aravindan is the purest mallu form.still cool no? :-)
Sowmya
· 2 years ago
They shut it down?
I didn't think I'd be as upset as I am on hearing of it.
You do full justic to C 33. Remember the falcon? And the tune? Know where I can get that from?
admin
· 2 years ago
Sob.
I have no idea if it's still out there on the net. Let me google around.
Surga
· 2 years ago
Hey Sidin,
Have been reading your articles on rediff.....Awesome! Good to see you back and good luck with everything.
Surga
Raghunath
· 2 years ago
Hey Sidin, I have marked your col. on my favourites and this one was worth the wait. Bill Cosby (that's right, not crosby) was my alltime favorite sitcom. Still remember the episode where he classifies his daughters pet home delivery services; COD and DOA! awesome.
Amrita
· 2 years ago
Wait, Dead Lizard = Le petite mort? That's absolutely brilliant. In a creepy funhouse sort of way. :D
longblackveil
· 2 years ago
Haaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaa. Fantastic. My heart bleeds for the Channel 33 that was. Thursday night Hindi fillums, P'zazz, Charles in Charge, Danger Mouse, Sesame Street, Neighbours, The Bold and the Beautiful [severely censored and hence each ep was only 12 minutes], Knots Landing, Dallas, wah wah! Lovely read, Sir Sid. OSO was kick-ass fun.
sidin
· 2 years ago
Hey! Surga!
Good to hear from you. Hope the Bangalore plans go well.
See me back? I've always been around you know! :)
In Mumbai any time soon?
sidin
· 2 years ago
Your memory is better than mine :)
Thanks for the bookmark Raghunath.
sidin
· 2 years ago
Yup. There are many more such symbolistic gems from mallu film. Dead lizard. Dead rooster. But then I am basically letting you say that mallu film is creepy funhouse.
This means war.
nandhu
· 2 years ago
good post, as usual. have subscribed to your feed.
Chittaranjan
· 2 years ago
Re: Post - Awesome. I'm fairly young but I still remember our old Konark B/W TV which had a sliding-doors-from-both-sides sorta covering mechanism and I would daily slide it open and ponder as to why it ain't coming off the side!!!
Re:OSO - A bhoot is not a bhoot unless its in a saree.....and pray, what was it about it going away into the nether-world (Nether-land would be akward, theres a country by that name, no?) via the stairs???
Whatever happened to the "white-light-from-up-above and floating away into that" concept of moksha-attainment??
Amrita
· 2 years ago
Sidin - This means war Hey but I said it was brilliant! In any case, take a number. I'm currently fighting the govt and Tamilians over another movie. :P
Sarah
· 2 years ago
Nice post! Brought back sweet memories of Channel 33 and how I used to wait for 4:15pm as the cartoons used to start at 4:15 on Channel 33. I think it was later preponed to 3pm.
Surga
· 2 years ago
See you back as in - back in Great form! Loved the rediff articles - have been recommending to all and sundry :))
Am in Mumbai in dec- we could do the iima thingy in someone's house as new years of 2005 :)) Will call when i get there...
Good luck with everything.
Gourav
· 2 years ago
Sidin...Bill Crosby or Cosby?? looks like i'll have to watch OSO now! But the best growing up shot was from the movie Nastik, when chota big B jumps from a bridge and by the time he gets to the roof of the mumbai local he is the bada Big B :)
Deepa
· 2 years ago
The first part of your post brought back awesome memories. About cartoons that began at 4:15 pm. And the general feeling of outrage when it was replaced by news during the Gulf War. And Bold and the Beautiful which everyone in the family would wait to watch, and would tape and watch, in case of an evening out. And that delectable Richard Coram with his even more delectable baritone, reading the evening news. :)
Chandra Sekhar
· 2 years ago
Am a regular reader of ur blog and a fellow Gelf Meleyalee too (intentionally misspelled)...It sure is sad that they shut down Channel 33 (who says reading ur blog is not informative?) but now tat ppl there have cable, no one cares. I remember watching Sesame Street (I was bored!!) and those endless Christmas cartoon reruns every year...Ah, nostalgia..And yes, I fiddled with the darned antenna everytime the wind blew..And sat up to watch the Hindi movie which almost never began on time...Good times that...Thanks a ton...And keep indulging ur nostalgic tendencies...:-)
Anu
· 2 years ago
And...remember when all the expat women were hooked on to "Bold & Beautiful" at 7:00pm?
FKHTR
· 2 years ago
OSO is an absolutely pathetic piece of ____ . Felt like strangling FK to death, but then thought my hands would get dirty.
Molsi
· 1 year ago
Hi Sidin! Me jus newly introduced to your blog (yeah, i know, which planet was i living on these few years??)... And gotta say that I love it! And can totally identify with Channel 33... Me n siblings used to glue ourselves to the TV screen every Thursday night as well. Keep writing!!
Ben
· 1 year ago
Amazing; too good hain :) Was in Kuwait but used to tune in to Channel 33 for the English fare dished out .... Brought a lot of memories flooding back .... Cha gaye paaji .... :D
Junaid
· 1 year ago
GOOD NEWS GUYS!! I TOO REMEBER CH33 AS WE ALL USED TO WATCH THURSDA NIGHT MOVIES OMG I WAS IN TEARS READING THIS!!!!!!CH33 WAS FANTASTIC FOR HINDI MOVIE ONLY AND THEY SHOWED NEW MOVIES.....IT IS REBRANDED AS DUBAI ONE..AND THEY ARE SOON STARTING TO SHOW HINDI MOVIES AGAIN!!!!!! YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rani
· 1 year ago
I miss channel 33 ... thanks buddy .. sob sob ...
Junaid
· 1 year ago
for all u die hard fans of hindi movies!!! like me!! ,who dont have pay tv but want to watch latest hindi flicks for free here a good news....i came to know many Arabic channels on nilesat showing bollywood movies every weekend.so here's the list....if u liked this info do post ur views guys....
1)ABU DHABI EMIRATES TV (shows latest Hindi movies every Thursday night at 11-30 uae time.)
2)KUWAIT TV 2 (shows latest Hindi movies every Friday evening at 05-00 pm Uae time)
3)INFINITY TV 2 (i don't have this channel but yeah it shows Hindi flicks..can anyone write here which day (thurs or friday)does it screen the movies plz?)
4)BAHRAIN CH55 (now this one is not yet confirmed as i don't get the signal for this one too but i heard from many people that it shows Hindi flicks on weekend)
5)IRAN TV (now this one i dont get but i heard it shows hindi flicks dubbed in arabic..,again i would like to know the timing if u guys have this channel)
6)ERITREA TV (i heard many times that this channel based in africa shows hindi movies on weekends,i dont know whether they dubbed it or not)
samudrika
· 1 year ago
what can i say that has not been said already?
landed here when i was searching for richard coram. do you remember him? a tv news presenter on channel 33 who seemed to be everywhere then. tv radio the works. still not found out anything about him.
buy yeah I was there. i lovedd ch33. 4.00 pm which is when they would start the cartoon programming is still a special time of the day for me and i loved them all - charles in charge, out of this world, kids incorporated, road to avonlea. aah! those good old days.
samudrika
· 1 year ago
just a small update. found richard coram. apparently he is alive and well as evidenced by this photo. a little less hair but still the same. :)
All Comments
After watching an old kamal hassan superhit SAKALAKALA-VALLAVAN.
pesky kid: how come "Silk Smitha" doesnt recognise that, the rich man is actually the hero- Kamal?? Her clothes are pretty small, why Uncle?
Me(whaaat Uncle!!! :( ) : u saw that small mole on the richman's cheek, dont u?.. the hero doesnt have that.. A black mole, placed strategically, on the upperlip/waist/cheek.. can be misleading, u know.. Hee He....
Nostalgia inducing post, though I dont remember the corresponding channel in Saudi that gave us those hours of pleasure.
I saw it a couple of days ago too, and was totally mesmerized. It was not like watching a story/narrative, and who cared? It was like giving in, submission to a higher authority and loving it all :)
Ok, whatever. It was a great 3hrs!
Channel 33 does exist...it has been renamed as 'Dubai One' and is showing shoes that have come out in the past month unlike Ch 33 which showed shows that were a decade late...
btw...wasn't it Bill Cosby? and come to think of it....wat was the model of your motorized antennae?? I really wanna know...mine sucked and always produced more static than tv signals for Ch 33....or Abu Dhabi Channel 2 for that matter :( yep the same english channel that started with Sesame Street at 4pm and stopped at 9pm after the daily soap....
Yea and the news on Channel 33 with the 15 minute long list of pharmacies open 24 hours..Looool! Yeah I used to actually know the list by heart most days, saying it in the same tone as the news reader! hehehe..
Now that you wrote all that, I really mis those good old Bolly movies of the 70s and 80s..Its true no one can get away now as rich and flamboyant as it was then.
Well written Sidin. I always knew the fruits of patience are sweet[:)]
but yeah, channel 33 was cool.. even though i never really received it quite clearly..
Man, those were the days. The ubiquitous Ch.33, and the number of random shows that made up my day thanks to that. Then, of course, the classic StarTV came, and Ch.33 had to languish.
I almost agree about OSO, I believe they could have done a lot more with the end... but yeah, the days of anger, villain-bashing and romance seem to have left the screen.
Great post :)
Loved the post.
The mole gig was a classic. Also the moustache and the ethnic cap of some sort.
Silk Smitha will be sorely missed.
Sigh...
It was Bill COSBY. And not Crosby. Forgive. Forgive. The children's programming was soooo cool no?
Running back from exams and class and such like to tune in...
Memory beginning to fail. Lumbering towards the terrible thirties you know...
OSO was good in its first half, but when it went into all that reincarnation/revenge crap, it lost its theme.
all i knew is it was funny..
jai bolo wikipedia ki.. ;-)
The reincarnation/revenge crap was the point no? No?
BTW I have noticed the use of that second 'a' in your word. Most ethnic-cool.
What was it called? No idea really.
Where was that typical hysteric 5 minute long laugh of the spirit?(ha-hahahahahaha. ha-hahahahahaha.).where was that White saree? where was that long silky shining black hair? Guess RGV actually destroyed the Indian concept of spirits out and out.
Offtopic: Aravind is semi ethnic. Aravindan is the purest mallu form.still cool no? :-)
I didn't think I'd be as upset as I am on hearing of it.
You do full justic to C 33. Remember the falcon? And the tune? Know where I can get that from?
I have no idea if it's still out there on the net. Let me google around.
Have been reading your articles on rediff.....Awesome! Good to see you back and good luck with everything.
Surga
I have marked your col. on my favourites and this one was worth the wait. Bill Cosby (that's right, not crosby) was my alltime favorite sitcom. Still remember the episode where he classifies his daughters pet home delivery services; COD and DOA! awesome.
My heart bleeds for the Channel 33 that was. Thursday night Hindi fillums, P'zazz, Charles in Charge, Danger Mouse, Sesame Street, Neighbours, The Bold and the Beautiful [severely censored and hence each ep was only 12 minutes], Knots Landing, Dallas, wah wah!
Lovely read, Sir Sid.
OSO was kick-ass fun.
Good to hear from you. Hope the Bangalore plans go well.
See me back? I've always been around you know! :)
In Mumbai any time soon?
Thanks for the bookmark Raghunath.
This means war.
Re:OSO - A bhoot is not a bhoot unless its in a saree.....and pray, what was it about it going away into the nether-world (Nether-land would be akward, theres a country by that name, no?) via the stairs???
Whatever happened to the "white-light-from-up-above and floating away into that" concept of moksha-attainment??
Hey but I said it was brilliant! In any case, take a number. I'm currently fighting the govt and Tamilians over another movie. :P
Am in Mumbai in dec- we could do the iima thingy in someone's house as new years of 2005 :)) Will call when i get there...
Good luck with everything.
1)ABU DHABI EMIRATES TV (shows latest Hindi movies every Thursday night at 11-30 uae time.)
2)KUWAIT TV 2 (shows latest Hindi movies every Friday evening at 05-00 pm Uae time)
3)INFINITY TV 2 (i don't have this channel but yeah it shows Hindi flicks..can anyone write here which day (thurs or friday)does it screen the movies plz?)
4)BAHRAIN CH55 (now this one is not yet confirmed as i don't get the signal for this one too but i heard from many people that it shows Hindi flicks on weekend)
5)IRAN TV (now this one i dont get but i heard it shows hindi flicks dubbed in arabic..,again i would like to know the timing if u guys have this channel)
6)ERITREA TV (i heard many times that this channel based in africa shows hindi movies on weekends,i dont know whether they dubbed it or not)
landed here when i was searching for richard coram. do you remember him? a tv news presenter on channel 33 who seemed to be everywhere then. tv radio the works. still not found out anything about him.
buy yeah I was there. i lovedd ch33. 4.00 pm which is when they would start the cartoon programming is still a special time of the day for me and i loved them all - charles in charge, out of this world, kids incorporated, road to avonlea. aah! those good old days.
http://www.ahlanlive.com/hot100/hot100cat.php?c...