''Hum Log'' (English: ''We People'') is an Indian television soap opera and also the first serial drama series in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

. It began telecast on

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...

, India's national network on 7 July 1984, then the only television channel of India. It is the story of an Indian middle-class family of the 1980s and their daily struggles and aspirations. It was created on the lines of a Mexican television series, '' Ven Conmigo'' (1975), using the education-entertainment methodology. The idea of the TV series came to then Information and Broadcasting Minister,

Vasant Sathe Vasant Purushottam Sathe (5 March 1925 – 23 September 2011) was an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress party. He was a lawyer by training and became a parliamentarian in 1972 and a cabinet minister during the 1980s. He was a soci ...

, after a Mexican trip in 1982. Soon the idea for ''Hum Log'' was developed in collaboration with writer

Manohar Shyam Joshi Manohar Shyam Joshi (9 August 1933 – 30 March 2006) was a Hindi writer, journalist and scriptwriter, most well known as the writer of Indian television's first soap opera, '' Hum Log'' (1984) and his early hits ''Buniyaad'' (1987), '' Kakaji ...

, who scripted the series, and filmmaker, P. Kumar Vasudev, who went on direct the series. The title score was composed by music director Anil Biswas. At the end of every episode, veteran

Hindi film Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

actor

Ashok Kumar Kumudlal Ganguly (13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), better known by his stage name Ashok Kumar and also by Dadamoni, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema and who was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family. He ...

discussed the ongoing story and situations with the audience using Hindi couplets and limericks. In later episodes, introduced the actors who played various characters in the serial and end his monologue with the various Indian language versions of the words "Hum Log".

Cast and characters

as Narrator *

Vinod Nagpal Vinod ( hi, विनोद , mr, विनोद , gu, વિનોદ) is a male given name used in India and Nepal, meaning "delight", "enjoyment", or "pleasure". People *Vinod Agarwal, Indian-American businessman and scientist * Vinod Agg ...

as Basesar Ram: alcoholic father *

Jayshree Arora Jayshree Arora (also spelled Joyshree or Jayshri) is an Indian film, stage and television actress, and a trained dancer of Kathak and Manipuri dance , image = , alt = , caption = An illustration of the ''Manipuri R ...

as Bhagwanti: the mother, a housewife *

Rajesh Puri Rajesh Puri is an Indian television actor. He acted in comedy serials like '' Yeh Duniya Gazab Ki''. Rajesh also acted in a DD1 serial Aamrapali (TV serial) in 2002. He is also identified as Lalit Prasad (a.k.a. Lalloo) of Hum Log, the Televisi ...

as Lalit Prasad a.k.a. Lalloo: the eldest son, unemployed and looking for a job * Abhinav Chaturvedi as Chander Prakash a.k.a. Nanhe: the younger son, aspiring to be a cricketer *

Seema Pahwa Seema Bhargava Pahwa (born 10 February 1962) is an Indian actress known for her comedic characters in films and television. She rose to prominence for her role of ''Badki'' in the popular Doordarshan soap opera ''Hum Log (television series), Hu ...

as Gunvanti a.k.a. Badki, a social worker *

Divya Seth Divya Seth Shah is an Indian film and television actress, who started her career with TV serial '' Hum Log'', playing Majhli. She is the daughter of actress Sushma Seth and Dhruv Seth. She has done theatre with Barry John in Delhi, television s ...

as Rupvanti a. k. a. Majhli, aspiring to be an actress *

Loveleen Mishra Loveleen Tandan is an Indian film director and casting director. She is the co-director (India) of ''Slumdog Millionaire'' along with Danny Boyle. She has also been the casting director for several other films, including ''Monsoon Wedding'' (2001 ...

as Preeti a.k.a. Chhutki, aspiring to be a doctor * Lahiri Singh as Dadaji: retired military man and the grandfather *

Sushma Seth Sushma Seth (born 20 June 1936) is an Indian stage, film and television actress. She started her career in the 1950s, and was a founder member of the Delhi-based theatre group Yatrik. Her first movie was ''Junoon (1978 film), Junoon'' in ...

as Imarti Devi a.k.a. Dadi: the grandmother *

Renuka Israni Renuka, also known as Yellamma, is a Hindu goddess worshipped predominantly in the South Indian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and western state of Maharashtra. She is also known as the mother of Parashuram ...

as Usha Rani, Lalloo's wife * Kamia Malhotra as Kamia Lal * Aasif Sheikh as Prince Ajay Singh *

Manoj Pahwa Manoj Pahwa (born 8 December 1963), is an Indian film and television actor who is noted for his role as Bhatia in the comedy series ''Office Office'' (2001). He has acted in over 70 films as a character actor, including '' 7½ Phere'' (2005), ' ...

as Tony: Guy who elopes with Majhli * Suchitra (Srivastava) Chitale as Lajwanti ak.a. Lajo * Kavita Nagpal as Santo Tai * Ashwini Kumar as Dr. Ashwini Kumar * Rajendra Ghuge as Inspector Sadanand Samdar * Aparna Katara as Dr. Aparna * S. M. Zaheer as Prof. Sudhir * Vishwa Mohan Badola as Music teacher

Development and production

In 1984, Mexican television writer Miguel Sabido, who had written the popular Mexican telenovela on

educational entertainment Educational entertainment (also referred to as edutainment) is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entertainment ...

, '' Ven conmigo'' (Come with Me, 1975) on adult literacy, was invited to India. Working with local writer, he helped created the series which tackled social issues like family planning, caste harmony, empowerment of women, national integration, dowry, alcoholism and drug abuse. ''Ven conimgo'' was in turned based on the a Peruvian telenovela, '' Simplemente María'' (Simply Maria, 1969-1971). The cast would meet for rehearsals at 3 pm at Himachal Bhavan, near

Mandi House Mandi House is a locality in Delhi, India. It was the former residence of the Raja of Mandi in Delhi. History In the 1940s, the 18th Raja of Mandi State, Raja Sir Joginder Sen Bahadur built his residence next to what is now ''Himachal Bhawa ...

in Delhi, and thereafter a van would take them to a studio in suburb

Gurgaon Gurgaon (pronunciation: �ʊɽɡãːw, officially named Gurugram (pronunciation: �ʊɾʊɡɾaːm, is a city located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest of the nationa ...

where it was shot.

Reception

During its 17-month run, Ashok Kumar received over 400,000 letters from young viewers, asking him to convince their parents in marriage of their choice.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0363341, title=Hum Log Indian television soap operas DD National original programming 1984 Indian television series debuts 1985 Indian television series endings 1980s Indian television series

Cast and characters

Development and production

Reception

See also

References

External links