TV Show: Nukkad (1986-87)

NUKKAD

Nukkad (Street Corner) was a popular Hindi TV serial that was aired on the Indian television channel DD National from 1986 till 1987. It was directed by Kundan Shah and Saeed Akhtar Mirza and was written by Prabodh Joshi. Each of the episodes revolves around the local street corner “nukkad” where everyone meets in the late afternoon and share their life stories with each other.

CAST:

• Dilip Dhawan—Guru
• Avtar Gill—Kaderbhai
• Pavan Malhotra—Hari
• Sameer Khakhar—Khopdi
• Haidar Ali—Raja
• Sangeeta Naik—Radha 

The show, based in Mumbai, aims to portray the struggles of the lower income labour class in cities. It also tries to bring forward some of the social problems prevalent in the Indian society and how they affect a common man's life. The show trails the life of a group of friends as they try to make a living in an increasingly harsh social and economic climate of the urban India.

Nukkad was aired for 13 episodes (like most other serials those days), and all them were quite fascinating.

Nukkad is a part of the glorious Golden Era of Indian Television. The show has everything that a good TV show must be made of: comedy, drama and emotions in perfect balance. It also had social message. A thing that cannot be said about the balderdash that is shoved down our throats under the tag of TV shows these days.

Pyaasa Movie (1957)

PYAASA

Pyaasa opens with a jobless poet Vijay (Guru Dutt) lying in the lap of Nature, which accepts him, unquestioning and non-judgemental. The world he lives in, we soon see, is very different. Vijay is a talented writer, but the world has yet to wake up to his stark, stirring poetry. He is treated with contempt by publishers. His evil brothers evict him from his house when he chides them for selling off his poems to a raddiwala.
His life changes after a chance encounter with Meena, his college sweetheart and her husband Ghosh, a famous publisher at the college reunion.

Pyaasa works at two levels simultaneously -- it is an entertainer with an absorbing story as well as a comment on the commodification of people in the quest for success, money, and power. It is a well thought out story of an anguished man, seeking love and respect. Guru Dutt's work speaks volumes about his talent not only as an actor but also as a producer and a director.  Mala Sinha and Waheeda Rehman are the charming heroines of the film, one a high society princess and the other a heavyhearted prostitute.

Another great aspect of this movie is S.D. Burman’s brilliant music along with the thoughtful verses penned down by Sahir Ludhianvi. So amazing is the direction of the film that it sustains the viewer’s interest throughout.  

Time magazine in 2005 justifiably rated Pyaasa as one of the 100 best films of all time.

Ten Iconic Photos

TEN ICONIC PHOTOS 

Last attempt at survival.

The scratch marks of the Jews who were gassed to death in the Auschwitz Gas Chambers.

Breaking of a wall, Unification of Humanity

This is the photo of the initial breaking of the Berlin Wall which separated West Berlin from East Berlin.

Cloud of death and destruction.

The infamous mushroom cloud which sprouted when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August, 1945.

Loyalty doesn't stop at death. 

The dog, 'Leao' did not leave his owner's grave two days after she died in the Rio de Janeiro floods.

Band of Brotherhood.

Christians form a ring around muslims praying in Egypt to protect them from in going riots.

One tiny footstep, one giant imprint.

Photo of Man's first footstep on moon, a remarkable day in the history of mankind.

India's dream taking off.

World cheapest Mars Mission by India, Mangalyaan, takes off. It cost only 450 crores.

Partition of a nation's soul.

India's partition in 1947 which killed over a million people is the largest mass migration in human history.

Sunrise in another world.

The photo of the sun rising in Mars taken by the Mars Rover.

A Nation's Dream Realised.

The historic 1983 Cricket World Cup win when India defeated the mighty West Indies to emerge as world champions for the first time. 

Tryst with Destiny

Speeches are an important window to our historical past and are an integral part of our archives. Radio has enabled us, for the first time in history, to broadcast some of the most important historical moments to the world. 

Jawaharlal Nehru’s historical speech “Tryst with Destiny” was delivered to the Indian Constituent Assembly in the Parliament on August 14^th, 1947 at midnight just as India gained independence. This landmark narration highlights all the aspects of India’s triumphant non-violent struggle for freedom from the British Raj.

By the 1940s, British politicians, apart from Churchill, realised independence would soon be inevitable. The Labour government then appointed a new viceroy, Louis Mountbatten, under orders to get Britain out by June 1948. Independence Day was set for August 15.  India's assembly would be convened on the afternoon of August 14 and continue in session until Nehru's speech shortly before midnight, when, to the chiming of an English clock and the blowing of Indian conch shells, independent India would be born. 

Airing of the speech on radio enabled millions of Indians to listen to the speech without being there in person. Radio binded the whole country together that night and India woke up to a morning where they were independent.

“Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially.

At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.

It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.”

Jai Hind.