The Voices Of Doordarshan

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Yesteryears newsreaders and announcers of Doordarshan still evoke fond memories for many of us who grew up watching them. These evergreen voices of Doordarshan share the stories of days when there was a single channel on television and being a broadcaster meant both adulation and responsibility.

In an era gone by, when television was the only source of entertainment and there were no channels to flip, no remotes to fight for; when waiting for a weekly program was full of longing and anticipation and when news was all about serenity and professionalism, there was Doordarshan. Many of us have grown up watching Doordarshan (DD) and our faces still light up at the mention of serials like Bharat Ek Khoj, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Hum Log and Nukkad and programs like Surabhi and Chitrahaar. The visuals of Rukawat ke liye khed hai, the signature tune of DD are etched deep in our memory and so are the faces and voices of its many announcers and newsreaders – Salma Sultan, with the signature rose tucked in her hair; the baritone voices of Tejeshwar Singh and Shammi Narang; the impeccable diction of Neethi Ravindran, Rini Simon-Khanna and Suneet Tandon; the mellifluous voices of Sadhna Shrivastav, Minu Talwar and Jyotsana Raj.

DD newsreaders and announcers of yesteryears represented an era of grace and remain unforgettable faces for the generation that grew up watching them. Meeting them evoked many emotions, as I realised that these voices of Doordarshan – Sadhna Shrivastav, Shammi Narang, Rini Simon Khanna and Salma Sultan – still hold a key to our hearts with their lively anecdotes and affable personalities. Here’s their story.

Chance introductions, down the unbeaten path

At an engineering college campus teeming with students, Shammi Narang got called for a microphone test during the construction of an auditorium by United States Information Service. “Thinking they would not understand Hindi, I said Gore, kya haal hai? Tum hamare college mein aa gaye! (Americans, how are you? You came to our college!). Hearing me, an official from the team came over and asked if I had heard myself on the microphone? He told me you are wasting your time, you have got to be a broadcaster,” says Narang about the life changing event that made him the Hindi broadcaster for Voice of America. He was 19 then.

“I was a regular at school debates and declamations. At a felicitation ceremony for the winners at an international festival, where I too had won a gold medal, the then I&B minister Mr. Vasant Sathe heard me compering the program. He told me I was wasting my time and I should look at anchoring shows on the radio. My journey with radio started by anchoring programs for Yuv-vani. I was 15 and a student of class X,” says Rini Simon-Khanna.

For Sadhna Shrivastav it was an act of defiance. Refused permission by her parents to study art and pursue History Honours instead, Shrivastav auditioned for a TV program at 19 and got selected. Discouraged by her parent’s response she decided to stick to her guns and assert her independence.

In an age when becoming a doctor or an engineer was the norm, media was not a coveted profession. But all of them chose to take the road less travelled, sometimes without support from friends and family.

“My uncle told my father to marry me off to a suitable boy, as the girl had joined media and was working late in nights. My father told him off by saying that this is not how I have raised my daughter and I cannot impose my will on her,” says Shrivastav. So, while she did see a couple of eligible bachelors, the family gave up after she misbehaved when the third boy came visiting.

For Salma Sultan, it was an opportunity courtesy a fellow news reader. “Gopal Kaul was a producer and wanted to get off news reading. One fine day, he decided to go bald and I, until now an announcer, was asked to step in for him. The impromptu assignment was delivered in a tizzy but I was asked to stay on.”

Continuing studies while pursuing professions of their choice, all DD newsreaders and anchors we spoke to for this story, completed their degrees. Most of them took up contractual assignments at DD and continued to pursue alternate careers in their free hours. For Narang it was voice-overs, commercial advertisements and commercial programs like Sarab Sanjhi Gurbani by Texla television; for Shrivastav teaching German and being an interpreter, for Simon-Khanna being a voice-over professional and hosting many events.

For more images from the DD years and a bout of nostalgia, watch our special video, preceding this feature.

Their voices, their passports

“Entry into Doordarshan was not easy, even though I had taken the whole process casually. From the 10,000 applications received, 300 were auditioned, 100 qualified for the written test and 25 appeared for a camera test. I attended the camera test in a torn jeans and T-shirt and was the only one selected by a panel that included the baap of All India Radio, Devaki Nandan Pandey,” reminiscences Narang. Since 1982, when his DD journey started, until today, Narang continues to be a household name, for he is the Voice of the Metro Rail in all major cities, for Hindi announcements along with Simon-Khanna for announcements in English.

Rini Simon-Khanna is still quite sought after for hosting events, such as the Republic Day parade commentary for private channels and hosting events by United Nations, among others. Sadhna Shrivastav continues to be a popular name in the cultural circuit and hosts many prominent cultural events.

Becoming icons of style and popularity

With popularity came admiration in all forms and sizes. Fan mails were received in bulk which were sometimes answered and sometimes not. They were stalked, mobbed and even followed to their homes. “I and Shammi had to be put under police protection as we were mobbed by crowds during a visit to Agra. They had a hard time making arrangements for us to be let out from the back door,” laughs Shrivastav.

Rini Simon-Khanna also had her share of admiration from many fans. “My father insisted that I acknowledged all my fan mails by replying to them at least once.” Narang too has a story to tell. “I had a lady admirer who would write to me religiously. In one of her letters she promised to never bother me again, if, I acknowledged reading her letters by not placing my pen in my shirt pocket after reading a bulletin, which by then had become a signature statement. I complied.”

Sultan’s rose became the talk of the town and till date people ask her to adorn one when they invite her to their programs. “I once received a letter from a man asking me not to wear a new saree everyday as looking at me his wife demanded sarees from him.” She was also once visited by an elderly gentleman, whose daughter resembled Sultan but was no more.

The responsibility of the role

However, reading the news or anchoring a program was not always glamour and glory. There was a responsibility attached to the role and you needed to stay calm, objective and put up a brave front at times. For Simon-Khanna the lesson came at a very young age. “While in Class 12, I was hosting an Air Force Day parade. During the aerobatics session, an airplane crashed few meters away from the commentary box. Everyone, including the officers, froze in their spots as this was the first time such a crash had happened during a parade. I don’t know what came over me. I instantly took the microphone and started urging people to stay calm, and start filing out in an organised manner. This is when I realised the impact and power of my work and the responsibility that came with it”.

For Shrivastav, it was not an easy task to deliver a program like North Eastern Files during the peak of insurgency by United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) in the North Eastern states. But she stayed through it to execute a program of high standing. “It was heart tugging to honour engagements and assignments when faced with personal tragedies, including the demise of my grandparents but I would follow my father’s advice to do my karma, without fail,” she says.

“I remember another incident when in the middle of a program I was asked to relay a heart breaking news of a road accident that had resulted in the death of the father, accompanying a two-year-old. A police constable had come to the studio with the child, seeking help to identify the family. With the child seated in my lap, I broke the news to the family who happened to be watching television at that hour and we received a call at the duty desk instantly.”

While Salma Sultan was the one who announced the news of Indira Gandhi’s assassination, Narang delivered the news of her death. Narang spent 28 days at the studio delivering news back to back during the days of curfew, following her assassination. Simon-Khanna too was cooped up in the studio for 4 days, around the same time as she lived close to the studio, and was possibly the only woman reading news on those difficult days.

With no hand holding and only on-the-job trainings, they all carved their own niche and left DD on a high, around the time private channels were emerging, to pursue careers they were best at. They still enjoy great camaraderie with each other and remember their DD days fondly. I ask if they miss their Doordarshan days? The unanimous answer is NO. While it was really good till it lasted and gave them identities and memories they will always cherish, they all believe in living in the present. Rini Simon-Khanna sums it up beautifully “My last visiting card is my last assignment.” We wish there will never be.

Reading news in the 80s and 90s was all about keeping calm while sometimes the traffic of everything that could go bad rushed around you. Rini Simon Khanna, Doordarshan’s famous newsreader spoke to us recently and shared about the roller coaster ride working in the newsroom was in the good ol’ eighties. Click here and hear her out.