Vishal Thakur

Recently, I was news about Tabassum, one of the initial TV presenter of shows and interview on Indian television, on the laptop. She was coming out of a wheelchair from a hospital in Mumbai. Of course, her enchanting smile was hidden by the face mask, but the way she waved her fingers, one could make out that she had beaten the Covid-19. Accompanied by his son Hoshang Govil, it was heartening to see Tabassum leaving the hospital; at 76 she had defeated the virus.

My son born in 2005, asked me who she was. He wondered if she was my teacher. I told him she is a famous actress and she has interviewed many film stars on Doordarshan. I soon realized my introduction of Tabassum had passed over the head of my son, for whom the internet is the key to getting all the information and is almost their religion.

Just to check on the internet, I asked Google: What is Phool khile hai gulshan gulshan: What is its showtime on television?

It opened a window to the memories of the bygone era. I was transported to a different world of the black and white television in which Phool Khile Hai Gulshan Gulshan, the first interactive show with film stars on Doordarshan, was shown. It was way different from today's dazzling and glamorous Koffee With Karan kind of television. I wondered why they don’t have such TV shows these days; how do netizens connect with today’s shows?

By the way, the netizens also have a taste for nostalgia, the things of the era that their parents lived in the prime of their youth. The lines between the then and now really start blurring somewhere around the early nineties and the beginning of the Millennium and at this point the discussion becomes interesting. However, for me, the dwindling popularity of Doordarshan and the craze of satellite channels is a key factor to peoples’ TV watching habits.

That golden journey of two decades

Phool Khile hai… started in 1993, as Indian Television’s first celebrity talk show. The first show was broadcast on 8 October 1972 on Mumbai (Bombay) Doordarshan. At that time the Doordarshan had no commercial shows. It soon became one of the most popular TV shows and in the eighties, the advertisers came flocking in to do business with the show.

Though the colour Television had come to India yet it was not that every household in Delhi had a colour set. Once, in an interview, Akshay Kumar recalled his childhood days spent in Old Delhi. He said,” When I was young, I used to go to watch TV in the neighbourhood. Those owners sat on the couch and made us sit on the floor, near their feet. One day I asked my father to buy a TV for us. I told him wherever I go to watch TV (at neighbour’s house) their hooves (claws) hit my back.”

However, by the mid-eighties, Doordarshan had added another channel, DD2 that was eventually renamed DD Metro.

The credit for the popularity of the sow Phool khilen hein gulshan gulshan goes to Tabassum. I do not remember any other celeb talk show that has completed 21 years. Tabassum had their own style to speak with the guest and the reason why movie stars loved to come on the show.

Tabassum has also acted in Hindi films as a child artist. Her fame as an actor was another reason why film stars were comfortable with her on the show. Her charming style, smile and above all her mellifluous voice at times made the dhow of two stars.

I watched her interviewing Deepti Naval in 1981 after 'Chashmebaddur' featuring Deepti and Farooq Sheikh was released. The screen was emblazoned with Tabassum’s live persona; my mind never felt I was watching a black and white show. The USP of the show was the Hindi-Urdu mixed language used.

In the nineties, with the advent of satellite TV channels, the show started losing its ratings. It was the era of shows like Hum Log (1984-85), Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984), Buniyaad (1986-87), Ramayana (1987-88) and Mahabharata (1989-90). These iconic shows made Doordarshan so popular. It’s said that road in all cities would be deserted at the time of Ramayana or Mahabharta show on the TV.

In perspective, Phookl khilen hein … appears to be a unique show of its time: The charm, fun, and the ease of speaking with celebrities on issue by Tabassum can neither seen in Rendezvous with Simi Grewal (1997) nor in Karan Johar'sKoffee with Karan.