Vividh Bharati: Connecting a nation with music and memories for 50 yrs

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Lekha Agarwal

Posted online: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 at 12:00:00
Updated: Tuesday , October 02, 2007 at 11:41:03

Mumbai, October 2 From the Jaisalmer border, soldiers have written to us…they brave the scorching sun and hot winds to protect our borders. In those trying climatic conditions, there is something else they protect just as fiercely—their transistors. They will bake in the sun, but keep their transistors in the shade because if that heats up, they can’t tune in to Vividh Bharati,” said a proud Assistant Station Director Mahendra Modi.

That’s not surprising—for in 1999, at the peak of the Kargil War, it was Vividh Bharati that connected soldiers with their families across the country, through a special programme “Hello Kargil”.

And it’s a proud moment for Modi—he has been with the All India Radio for four decades now—and his team at the Vividh Bharati Service in Borivili as they gear up to celebrate Wednesday, the day this very popular service of AIR completes 50 years. For, it is from this building opposite the Gorai bus depot that programmes synonymous with the radio channel—like ‘Bhule Bisre Geet’, ‘Sangeet Sarita’, ‘Hawa Mahal’, ‘Jaimala’ etc—are centrally produced and uplinked to satellite, to be dished out to 40 Vividh Bharati stations across the country.

In Mumbai, a team led by Modi has been tirelessly working for the last two months to ring in the golden jubilee celebrations. A string of special programmes, each lasting two hours, has been planned through the day. So, from 6 am on Wednesday, until 11 pm, listeners can get nostalgic with legends like Sohrab Modi, Meena Kumari, Nargis, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand.

“We will be playing recorded excerpts from interviews conducted since inception. Also, there will be four broad categories—rare film songs, rare non-film songs, rare singers and legendary music directors,” said Yunus Khan from Modi’s team. Congratulatory messages from a number of celebrities—including Lata Mangeshkar, Javed Akhtar, Sunidhi Chauhan, Abhijeet, Shaan, etc—will be aired.

“Esteemed veteran broadcasters like Madhup Sharma, Ramsingh Pawar and Mona Thakur will also be invited,” Modi added. Of course, the festivities wouldn’t be complete without Ameen Sayani’s britone—he will be hosting ‘Star Jaimala’ that day, which is being produced and written by Lokendra Sharma.

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