Doordarshan’s quiz host Surendra Seth still a known face
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, September 5
This one is for those who are 40 or above, and can well recollect the good old Doordarshan days. As dials hit 8 pm, many would look forward for the much-awaited special telecast of quiz shows. The format, evolving through various shows titled Parakh, Kasauti, 20 Swaal and Ek Do Teen, but the quizmaster remained same – Surendra Seth.
the presence of ex-President Pranab
Mukherjee. A file photo
His perfect body language, spontaneity and style of using jumlas with the participants like ‘Agar jawab nhi aata, toh muskuraiye’ and ‘Agar uljhan hai, toh parchi bhejoon’ became very popular with the masses then. Having been picked up for shows for the DD Jalandhar right since its inception in 1979, Seth remained actively associated with the channel till 2006. Other than the quiz shows, he even came out with several documentaries and also seen in the daily news discussions on the show ‘Khas khabar ek nazar’. He was also popular for his running commentaries for important historic events.
Still keeping himself active socially and busy with his literary works, the 75-year-old recalls, “That was an entirely different era. In those days if I had to show some pictures of historic monuments in the quiz, I had to walk down to Bhairon Bazaar in the city and hunt for some old calendars that carried such bold, glossy pictures which could be superimposed on a cardboard and shown to the participants. There were no readymade computerised images available. The advent of Google era has made things so easy.”
For Seth, lack of technology in those days has left with no physical memories to cherish. “Even though both my sons, one of whom is a serving Colonel in the Army and other being software engineer, remember by days with the DD, I have no photograph or video to show to my grand children,” he says. There were strict copyright issues and the videos were never released out, not even to the anchors. Only a limited number of video tapes were available. “So, these, too, were often reused and overwritten. I explored the idea of retrieving some old videos, only in vain. Data storage facilities and social media came much later,” he adds.
Still going strong
Even at 75, Seth is aging like a fine wine. He retains his younger self. “I do not do anything in excess. I have a limited diet and sleep which keep me fit,” he tells. He is a blogger and a motivational speaker as of now. “Recently, I launched my digital book ‘Ek kitab, 60 kahanian’. I do some poetry too and the recent one is titled ‘Lockdown moon and expressions’, he also owns a hotel. Once a week, he is also participating in a Zoom meeting like the one lined up for September 7.
His time on
Seth reminisces his entry to the world of TV. “DD Jalandhar got launched on April 13, 1979. I was 32 then and public speaking and drama was my forte,” he tells. His selection came as a surprise as the first DD director KS Datari picked him during a Rotary Club function, where he was performing. “He liked my body language and told me that I had been picked for a quiz show,” he adds. Quiz show was a part of first few programmes that got started. Recording for the first show was done seven-eight days prior to the telecast. From that day on, he did at least 50 shows a year and it all continued for the next 27 years. “I did more than 1,500 shows in the quiz format and continued to ensure that there was some novelty in my script and style of delivery in each show,” Seth recalls.
By now, he’s a bit nostalgic, “DD was one of the biggest institutions in those days. Working casually meant downgrading it. It was not just us, even the senior officers in those days worked with a lot of commitment. They used to personally supervise the set-up for each show and lead from the front showing full involvement.”
Colours of life outdoors
Having started in the black and white era, he says that technology came up fast with DD Jalandhar. “All thanks to the Asian Games in India, DD Jalandhar could run coloured shows and do outdoor programmes, just three years since its inception.” They had OB vans by 1982 and began organising outdoor quiz shows. “We took our programmes out of the studios to Tagore Theatre in Chandigarh and began doing live recording and relay, which was a completely new challenge then,” he’s a mechanical engineer by profession.
