''Surabhi'' ("Fragrance") is an Indian cultural magazine show hosted by
Renuka Shahane
Renuka Shahane (born 7 October 1966) is an Indian actress working in the Bollywood film industry and in Indian television, best known as the co-presenter of the Doordarshan TV show ''Surabhi'' (1993–2001).
Early life
Renuka Shahane was born ...
and
Siddharth Kak
Siddharth Kak is an Indian documentary maker, television producer, and presenter, best known as the producer and presenter of Surabhi (1990–2001). Subsequently, Kak established the 'Surabhi Foundation' with the assistance of Ford Foundation ...
, which ran from 1990 to 2001 with a year's break in 1991. It was initially telecast on the state-run television channel
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 ...
, and later moved to
Star Plus
StarPlus is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. The network's programming consists of family dramas, comedies, ...
in the Sunday morning slot.
Surabhi was produced by Kak's
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
-based production house Cinema Vision India. Its theme was Indian culture. The show is India's longest-running cultural series and features in the
Limca Book of Records
The ''Limca Book of Records'' is an annual reference book published in India documenting world records held by Indians. The records are further categorized into education, literature, agriculture, medical science, business, sports, nature, advent ...
for receiving the largest measured audience response ever in the history of Indian television.
History
The title music of ''Surabhi'' was composed by Indian composer and classical violinist
L. Subramaniam
Lakshminarayana Subramaniam (born 23 July 1947) is an Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music.
Early years
Subramaniam was born in Madras, Madras Presidency, Br ...
. Indian cooperative dairy giant
Amul
Anand Milk Union Limited (AMUL) is an Indian dairy state government cooperative society, based in Anand, Gujarat.
Formed in 1946, it is a cooperative brand managed by Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), which today i ...
sponsored it for a long time, and the show was titled ''Amul Surabhi''.
One of the reasons of its popularity was the weekly quiz open for viewer participation. At that time, mobile phones and the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
were not prevalent in India and viewers would post their responses using the 15
paise
Paisa (also transliterated as ''pice'', ''pesa'', ''poysha'', ''poisha'' and ''baisa'') is a monetary unit in several countries. The word is also a generalised idiom for money and wealth. In India, Nepal, and Pakistan, the ''Paisa'' currently equa ...
postcard
A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...
of
India post
India Post is a government-operated postal system in India, part of the Department of Post under the Ministry of Communications. Generally known as the Post Office, it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world. Warren Hastings ha ...
. According to the ''
Limca Book of Records
The ''Limca Book of Records'' is an annual reference book published in India documenting world records held by Indians. The records are further categorized into education, literature, agriculture, medical science, business, sports, nature, advent ...
'', the show once received the highest ever documented response in the history of Indian television – over 1.4 million letters in a single week. The Indian postal department was forced to issue a different category of postcards called "Competition Postcards" priced at 2
Rupee
Rupee is the common name for the currencies of
India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...
s each for participating in such contests.
"The fragrance of Surabhi"
/ref>
During the 1990s, ''Surabhi'' had become a benchmark show and is known as "one of the best television shows ever made that reflected the length and breath of the Indian culture
Indian culture is the heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts and technologies that originated in or are associated with the ethno-linguistically diverse India. The term al ...
".[ Subsequently, Kak established the Surabhi Foundation with the assistance of ]Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
and started a project on preserving cultural artifacts.
References
Further reading
* ''Surabhi Ke Sau Sawaal'' by Siddharth Kak
Siddharth Kak is an Indian documentary maker, television producer, and presenter, best known as the producer and presenter of Surabhi (1990–2001). Subsequently, Kak established the 'Surabhi Foundation' with the assistance of Ford Foundation ...
. Rupa & Co. 2005. .
External links
*
The title music of Surabhi on YouTube
See also
* 7 RCR (TV Series)
''7 RCR...Projecting India's Future'' is an Indian television politics-based reality series/documentary series, hosted by Indian author, columnist, and speaker Chetan Bhagat on Hindi news channel ABP News, which premiered on 11 January 2014. Th ...
* Samvidhaan (TV Series)
''Samvidhaan: The Making of the Constitution of India'' is a ten-part television mini-series based on the making of the Constitution of India, directed by Shyam Benegal. The show premiered on 2 March 2014 on Rajya Sabha TV, with an episode sche ...
* Satyamev Jayate (TV series)
''Satyamev Jayate'' () is an Indian television, Indian Hindi-language television talk show aired on various channels within STAR (India), Star Network along with Doordarshan's DD National. The Satyamev Jayate (Season 1), first season of the sh ...
* Pradhanmantri (TV Series)
''Pradhanmantri'' () is an Indian television political documentary series, hosted by actor-director Shekhar Kapur on Hindi news channel ABP News. It premiered on 13 July 2013. It aimed to bring to the audience never-seen-before facts of Indian ...
* Television shows based on Indian history
This is a list of notable television shows based on subjects of Indian history. Some shows listed below are fictionalised or dramatised shows based on historical events and people.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Television shows based on Indian history
Televisi ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Surabhi (Tv Show)
Indian documentary television series
1990 Indian television series debuts
Indian culture
2001 Indian television series endings
DD National original programming
StarPlus original programming
Films scored by L. Subramaniam