Rusty returns, can DD do the same?

At a rather plush press conference at New Delhi's Constitution Club, Doordarshan announced the relaunch of their legendary show Ek Tha Rustywith its sequel Ek Tha Rusty 2, released after 15 years of the path-breaking original. Dignitaries who graced the occasion, namely the director and producer of the show, Shubhdarshini Singh; members of the cast; the ever illusive Ruskin Bond and the Director General of DD, Tripurari Sharan; spoke at length on the show and what they hope to achieve with it. However, what definitely stole the show was the refreshingly aggressive DG and his clearly attacking stance. And at an occasion that included a rare showing by Ruskin Bond, that is saying a lot.

At the very onset, Sharan made it known that there has been a “conspiracy of silence” on the part of the media when it came to Doordarshan. His rejoinder that he was “not saying this in any sort of adversarial way” did not blunt the edge of what he had to say. Speaking of the show, he very emphatically put forward that DD alone can conceive of a show like this. “These shows have a pedigree. They have a certain stamp, the DD stamp, that you will never see in the programming of these so called General Entertainment channels,” he said.

He goes on to explain: “We do not do our shooting in sets. We actually go to the location and shoot. In this show, you will see the shooting has been done almost entirely in Mussoorie. We are also coming up with another show and this time, you will see shooting in locations all over the country. Who, other than Doordarshan has the resources to do this?” Indeed, director Singh stressed that they went to some pains to recreate the 60's look in the hill station. “Mussoorie has changed so much in the last 15 years. Almost everything has been taken down and rebuilt. Another great difficulty that we had was with the rickshaws. Hand drawn rickshaws are all but gone these days. We had to go to a place in Roorkee to have them made,” says Singh. Research like that is rare indeed today.

Speaking of the publicity for the show, Sharan informed that DD has a substantially increased publicity budget. “In Bombay, you will see the entire city plastered with hoardings of TV serials. We are trying to make a dent in that with some hoardings of our own. Plus, if we have the help of journalists like you, we can definitely hold our own,” says he.

He did not mince his words on the present situation. “It is largely a myth that DD lost out with the advent of satellitetelevision. We have also filed a case against TAM saying that they are using their monopoly over the market to give undue advantage to the some channels,” he informs. Answering charges that many producers have stopped working for DD thanks to the red tape he said, “It is a government organisation, so there are problems. We are trying to iron them out. But the situation is not that simple. I can tell you that several producers have defaulted on us, leading to losses amounting to crores. Which organisation can afford that? And let me tell you, many producers, including Ekta Kapoor, want to work with DD again. Only last week, I was sitting with a few fellows who work for the likes of Zee TV, Star and Sony and they have told me how much they want to work for us. So while things are not perfect yet, they are changing.”

Much more interesting was his sabre rattling for the future. “The gripe that the cable service providers had with us was that we did not pay. All that will be a thing of the past when the digitalisation comes through. We are paying for prime slots and then, no one can stop us from being seen,” he informs. He also stressed the fact that the media needed to give proper coverage to DD and break the silence.

As for the show, if the snippets were any indicator, it should have the fluidity of the original. Bond himself says, “Though you can never be completely satisfied with anything, but I have liked what I have seen so far.” Tall and handsome, Vipul Gupta, ofYeh Saali Zindagisurely looks good enough for the part and according to Singh, had emulated the mannerisms of Bond so well, that the author himself was impressed. Another attraction is Shrishti Bond, great granddaughter of Ruskin. “It is because of her that Mr Bond is here. She can twirl him around her little finger,” Singh tells us. If Shrishti can act half as well as she looks, she might do the same with the audiences.

Between the confidence of the DG and the promises that this new show holds, most who attended, especially those who grew up to Ek Tha Rusty, Malgudi Days, Turning Point and Tale Spin through the 90s, came away optimistic. For the sake of Indian TV, here's to hoping that both succeed.