Surabhi (TV series)

Surabhi ("Fragrance") is an Indian cultural magazine show hosted by Renuka Shahane and Siddharth Kak, which ran from 1990 to 2001 with a year's break in 1991.[3] It was initially telecast on the state-run television channel Doordarshan, and later moved to Star Plus in the Sunday morning slot.[4][5][6] Surabhi was produced by Kak's Mumbai-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 for receiving the largest measured audience response ever in the history of Indian television.

Surabhi
GenreCulture magazine show
Created bySiddharth Kak
Directed byAbhilash Bhattacharya [1]
Presented bySiddharth Kak, Renuka Shahane
Theme music composerL. Subramaniam
Country of originIndia
Original language(s)Hindi
No. of seasons9
No. of episodes415 [2]
Production
Producer(s)Siddharth Kak
Production company(s)Cinema Vision India
Release
Original network
Original release1990 –
2001

History

The title music of Surabhi was composed by Indian composer and classical violinist L. Subramaniam. Indian cooperative dairy giant Amul sponsored it for a long time, and the show was titled Amul Surabhi.[7]

One of the reasons of its popularity was the weekly quiz open for viewer participation. At that time, mobile phones and the Internet were not prevalent in India and viewers would post their responses using the 15 paise postcard of India post. According to the Limca Book of Records, 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 Rupees each for participating in such contests.[8]

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".[5] Subsequently, Kak established the Surabhi Foundation with the assistance of Ford Foundation and started a project on preserving cultural artifacts.[4]

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References
  1. http://www.shabaashindia.com/abhilash-bhattacharya
  2. "Decade of Surabhi". Surabhi.
  3. Bhatt, Shephali (2 September 2017). "The unplanned glory of Surabhi". ETBrandEquity.com. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  4. "Glorifying India's diverse culture on the celluloid screen". Indian Express. 18 May 2002. Archived from the original on 11 July 2004.
  5. "Cultural tales". Indian Express. 21 July 2010.
  6. "Back with a new look". The Hindu. 23 February 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2011..
  7. "Television Shows". Amul TV.
  8. "The fragrance of Surabhi"

Further reading
  • Surabhi Ke Sau Sawaal by Siddharth Kak. Rupa & Co. 2005. ISBN 81-291-0544-6.

See also
  • 7 RCR (TV Series)
  • Samvidhaan (TV Series)
  • Satyamev Jayate (TV series)
  • Pradhanmantri (TV Series)
  • Television shows based on Indian history
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