Chunauti (Old Doordarshan TV serial)
Well, speaking about the different TV serials that used to be one of the major forms of entertainment for a huge number of people in the 90s, one of the best among them was Chunauti. This was a really hard hitting trendsetter among the TV serials. This was the proper perception of the psychic college life in India. The TV serial offers a perfect window about the idealist college principal Mr. Shastri and his travails. It also focuses on the issues that a huge number of students had to face not only during that period of time but also at present days. For instance the admissions, donations, miserable hostel conditions, ragging, irresponsible and reluctant teachers, mass copying and many other such issues.
| Lead Artists | Character name |
| Arif Zakaria | Ramakant |
| Mohan Bhandari | Principal Shastri |
| Suchitra Krishnamoorthi | |
| Bharat Kapoor | |
| Channa Ruparel | |
| Ali Asgar | |
| Paresh Rawal | |
| Rita Bhaduri | |
| Archana Joglekar |
The story
The Chunauti TV serial was an intensely crafted emotional drama that covered each and every aspect of a college life. And that too with such attention to details that such hard work made this TV serial an instant hit. During the telecast of this TV show, SAMVAAD and Principal Shastri was a very common name among the people of India. The TV serial targeted the education system of India with a complete new approach, and focusing on the issues that the college students faced, generated immense response from the thinkers, planners and common masses.
The Principal has to face intense adversity in this TV serial. But at the end, the story finally shows Principal Shastri as victorious. This put the channel SAMVAAD in an executive bracket in formatting quality programmers of India. The show might have only 22 episodes but within such a short duration it endeared a huge number of audiences in India. Apart from focusing on the college life issues, the show was also successful in bringing up a broader perspective of Indian politics. The college unions, the nuisances of college unions and elections portrayed in this show gave the audiences a hard reality check, which made this show a favorite one.
What do the actors feel?
A lot of present day renowned actors like Arif Zakaria and Suchitra Krishnamoorthi debuted through this show. And this was later joined by reputed actors like Paresh Rawal, Rajiv Verma, Bharat Kapoor and Late Mohan Bhandari. As stated by veteran actress Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, the authenticity and innocence of the show was immensely liked by the people. This was what worked like the charm. A lot of school and college going kids would relate with the show. Also actor Ali Asgar states that people really liked the content and dialogues of this show which was really strong. It was really able to catch up with the audience emotionally.
The script
Nowadays the TV shows have really become similar to a junk food and intolerable. Not that all the shows are bad, but most of them revolve around something completely unreal and fictitious plots that are just too much fantasy. And this is why audience cannot relate with TV shows of present days apart from a few shows. As stated by Arif Zakaria, he feels that the script was really fresh and tight. It comprised of drama, emotions of college students which was never portrayed before. And even the title song of Chunauti was a hit one too.
The different roles
The role of Ramakant was played by Arif, who was an idealist and a student leader. Apart from college politics, he was also involved in a love triangle with Suchitra and Channa Ruparel who was also appreciated by the audience. The role of a student from a Hindi medium school but the one, who could barely speak Hindi, was perfectly played by Suchitra. The show was indeed a discovery of immense new and young talents in India. The way this show related with the audiences, was absolutely remarkable. The dynamic role of the principal of the college who is stuck in a constant dilemma between the college administration and proper guidance for the students on the path of truth is remembered even today. Drug addiction, which is one of the most important issues of the present student life, has been portrayed in the show with intense seriousness and reality.
With the highlight on education system, the Chunauti TV serial generated response among thinkers, planners and common masses in India. As the name of the TV series means “Challenge”, the principal had to face the real life challenge regarding the education system, while students facing the challenges of different malpractices of the society. And this is how the TV serial made a successful attempt in portraying what needs to be changed.
A tabular overview about Chunauti TV serial
| SL NO | Facts to know | |
| 1. | Producer of Chunauti | Rakesh Chowdhary |
| 2. | Director | Sanjiv Bhattacharya |
| 3. | Dialogues | Mir Muneer |
| 4. | Camera Work | Nerkar |
| 5. | Art Director | CS Bhatti |
| 6. | Singer | Amit Kumar |
| 7. | Language | Hindi |
| 8. | Number of Seasons | 1 |
| 9. | Original Network | DD national |
| 10. | Release Date | 1987-1988 |
| 11. | Story writer | Ashoke Patole |
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