Genre: Entertainment
Long before television was flooded with soap operas and reality shows, when Internet had not penetrated into the average household, GTalk, Facebook and Orkut were not the most popular means of timepass, most Indian kids used to look forward to classic Disney cartoons for enjoyment and when I think about it now, how I wish I could go back to those days of clean and simple entertainment, away from the clutter that we call “entertainment” today. If you were in primary school in India of the early 1990s, chances are that you were as big a fan of these classic cartoons as I am.
Thanks to YouTube I managed to find videos of title tracks of some of these all-time favorites. As you see each of the videos below, try humming the theme song along and I am pretty sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised at yourself that you still recognize all the characters and know almost all the title songs by-heart!
Here we go-
Duck Tales: The adventures of Uncle Scrooge probably remain the most popular among Indian kids of the 90s (which includes me too). I have even seen instances of this title song being sung in Antakshari on college trips as late as 2008!
Aladdin: This one used to be my personal favorite. In those innocent days, Jadooi Kaalin was the funkiest thing to possess, Iago the motor-mouth parrot was too funny and Jasmine was probably my first “crush” long before I even knew what it means!
TaleSpin: This is yet another series I never missed. Baloo the pilot and his little wiz-kid was the coolest jodi around and I used to eagerly await to see what new “adventures” they are upto every evening.
Gummi Bears: This was probably not as popular as the other ones, but it used to be my personal favorite (alongwith Aladdin) and I distinctly remember Zee TV screening the two of these back-to-back every alternate evening on Disney Hour.
(I couldn’t find the Hindi version of this anywhere! If someone has it, please let me know!)
This discussion would not be complete without a tribute to our very own desi cartoon hero. Yes, you guessed it right – Mowgli! Hats off to The Jungle Book for surviving even among the barrage of Disney cartoons. By the way, if you can’t sing along THIS song, doob maro!
As I read your post, I couldn't help remember (back in 1992) the day we got a new TV that had a remote control. I was so excited to know that I could change channels without going up to the TV. In those days, TV telecast was not 24*7 as it is today...I remember Zee TV used to begin at 7 pm.
ReplyDeleteNow I realise how my parents feel when they talk about how they felt when they got their first watch/calculator...the next gen will not be able to picture a TV without a remote :D
This post makes me go back to the good ol' days of Indian TV. In addition to the Disney cartoons, there used to be a plethora of Warner Bros and Hanna Barbera cartoons on cartoon network which I used to watch without fail everyday. The famous ones like Top cat, atom ant, wacky races etc were just too fun to watch. I remember most channels used to start broadcasting at 5:30 am and used to sign off for the day at 7pm and the nocturnal channels used to take their place till next morning.
ReplyDeleteThanks for refreshing my childhood memories.
Dammit Desai, I have to go for an exam, and because of you can't get the Jungle Book theme out of my head! ;(
ReplyDelete@Zai
ReplyDeleteI think it used to be earlier than 7pm, coz I distinctly remember seeing Disney Hour from 6:30pm to 7:30pm
@Tha Nomad Engineer
Yeah those were fun too but Cartoon Network came a lot later. These Disney classics used to be aired on Zee TV (and later on Star Plus) long before dedicated cartoon channels made their foray into India
You didn't mention Surabhi aur the Ramayan or mahabharat :D sirf cartoon hi dekhta tha kya?
ReplyDelete@Thought
ReplyDeleteHaan aunty, hum bachche toh cartoon hi dekhte the!
Surabhi, Mahabharat, Chhayageet and not to forget the "Hamara Bajaj" and Cadbury's "Asli swaad zindagi ka" ad with Preity dancing...these are all classics yaar...ek baar me kitne ke baare me likhu?
Karan :D
ReplyDeleteWow, that did revitalize my mind =) Pata hai the only cartoon I used to watch was that mowgli show :P The others umm.. not so much! You should go read my second post. It has those doordarshan days that we used to enjoy when we were little. And the early morning tune on the tv with the ad[s] showing every indian musician playing their own instrument [no pun intended]. Really, got all nostalgic. Sigh. But well written xD Thanks for the post, dost :)
wow...good one...reminds me of the time when i used to be glued to tv to watch disney hour..sony o zee cant recall the channel.
ReplyDelete@Ana
ReplyDeleteDisney cartoons nahi dekhe? Aaila! You wasted your childhood! (or probably moved on to less-innocent means of entertainment too soon!):P
I've read your post about Old is Gold and "tune on the tv showing every indian musician playing their own instrument [no pun intended]" (LOL naughty girl!) i.e. "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara" remains my all time favorite. You know we had that song played here at Virginia Tech during our Diwali celebration and it was received with a huge round of applause by the crowd :)
@Priyanka
Thanks :)
It was initially Zee, and later Star Plus I guess.
@The Blue Indian,
ReplyDeleteYes, Disney Hour was one thing which I used to expect everyday and wouldn't miss any episode without fail.
Today, when I browse thru cartoon channels I am absolutely disgusted to see the apathy of cartoons and what they have become now.