Mirza Ghalib (Old Doordarshan TV serial)
While speaking of the Indian TV serials we just cannot ignore the cult classics that were showed on Indian TV. And one of the major cult classics of Indian TV shows is known as Mirza Ghalib. The story can be said to be somewhat romantic at its sole as it portrays the emergence of one of the most epic poets and lyricists of the modern era. This is an Indian biographical television drama and it portrayed a real life character. The series became one of the major hits of the 90s. The name of Mirza Ghalib was so popular that people would make instances from his life while they faced any difficult situations. Let us have a look at the story line.
| Actors | Character name |
| Tanvi Azmi | Umrao Begum |
| Neena Gupta | Nawaab Jaan |
| Amjad Khan | Kali Miyan |
| Parikshit Sahni | Nawab Shams Uddin |
| Naseeruddin Shah | Mirza Ghalib |
| Sudhir Dalvi | Bahadur Shah Zafar |
The storyline
The story might not be too surprising because it revolves around the life of a certain individual, but what it portrays is quite elementary and a complete reality about how a single individual can deal with his issues alone. Ghalib was an individual who had to migrate from Agra to Delhi. His real name was Mirza Asadullah Khan. He stopped receiving his pension and didn’t have any money to continue his regular survival needs. He had intense liking for poetry but initially he fails to impress people with his poetry. But with strong determination and willingness to continue his poetry skills, he emerges out to be one of the best poets in Indian history. The way the story was showed, it is going to be one of the best stories of determination and will power of an individual under any circumstances.
The rich culture of Mughals
Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah made real justice to the role of Mirza Ghalib. The TV series comprised of excellent ghazals and poems. The poetic life of Ghalib has been portrayed in the best way possible. Neena Gupta plays the role of his love interest and also the courtesan, while Tanvi Azmi plays the role of Umrao Begum. If you want to have an essence of the rich and cultured Mughal Empire, then this is just the perfect TV series that you need to check out. The show received critical acclamation and it rightfully deserved so.
The script
Speaking of the script, it was really well researched. The way minute details were portrayed, shows to what extent a director can research for creating one of the best cult classics. The Mirza Ghalib TV show thoroughly presents the rags to riches story of Ghalib who got married at the age of 13 with Umrao Begum. The series not only portrays his struggle for existence, but it also shows his tragic love story with his courtesan. And this results him in adversity and imprisonment on the charge of gambling. The actors successfully brought the genius of Ghalib as well as his shortcomings of being a man.
Even though the TV series was aired 20 years ago, but it never fails the audiences of even today to relate with the poems of Ghalib and his life story. According to the creators, the story defines marriage as one of the major imprisonment of one’s life if he is not able to find love in it. In the age of 11 Ghalib started composing poetry and he was forced into marriage at the age of 13. In his earlier letters it was described that marriage was his “second imprisonment” after the initial confinement. And that initial confinement was life itself. The way Ghalib saw life was a complete different perspective than any other human beings, which made it really challenging for Naseeruddin Shah to portray it.
Portrayal of true love
While a lot of people have very different opinions about Ghalib, some call him a drunkard and others called him nothing but a person who borrows stuff from one person to another. And these were also portrayed in the TV show like we said above it showed the shortcomings of Ghalib according to a normal social life. There is a lingering sadness within the TV serial but that comes with fulfilling warmth inside. The TV series is a journey which is really beautiful. The serial was a cheerful liaison with the real life individual and the cultural heritages of the Mughal Empire. It also portrays the love that the city of Delhi has for him, but it berates him, tests him and then accepts him in a way that doesn’t let him go. And finally the unrequited love that a simple courtesan has for Ghalib and how she longs to get a visit from him and his poetry for just once and finally talking with her only his poetry on her tombstone is just the perfect piece of true love that one can have in his lifetime.
| SL NO | Facts to know | General details |
| 1. | Genre | Biography |
| 2. | Written By | Gulzar |
| 3. | Original language | Urdu |
| 4. | Number of Seasons | 1 |
| 5. | Producers | Gulzar |
| 6. | Release | DD National |
| 7. | Singer | Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh |
| 8. | Composers | Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh |
| 9. | Release time | 1988 |
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