Tees saal baad.

Tees saal baad...

The good old times are back for a while.

Cast of the iconic TV show ‘Hum Log’ had a reunion in Noida to mark the 30th anniversary of their first episode. Here are the actors reminisce about the good old days.

“We were like family.”

Joyshree Arora, who played Bhagwati said, "We use to go for the shoot in the morning and come back around 1 am. We were always together-like a family-and today, we miss that. I was hardly 26-27 and I was playing a 45-year -old woman, so I had to put on lot of make up.

“People call me ‘Lalloo’.”

Mumbai-based actor Rajesh Puri said, "We completed the shoot, two episodes per day, at Himachal Bhawan in Mandi House. I remember the day when Rajesh Khanna invited me for lunch after seeing the popularity of my character ‘Lalloo’, and offered me a role in his film ‘Alag’. People still know me as ‘Lalloo’.

“A hit in South India.”

"The concept of hum log was borrowed from a Mexican serial. It is the first Indian show to be sponsored.It talked about women empowerment and national integration at a time when the government was saying that the South doesn't want Hindi. South Indian viewers then wrote to the government, saying that they watch HUM LOG. That's how the character of South Indian mama, played by Pradeep Kuchreja, was introduced. The serial is also a part of mass communication courses in American colleges.” said Abhinav Chaturvedi, who played ‘Nanhe’.

“People gave Badki gifts for her 'shaadi'.”

About the popularity of the serial, Pradeep said "I remember shooting Badki's (Seema Bhargav) marriage at Meerut's Nauchandi mela. Wherever Seema went, she received gift. The shopkeepers gave her utensils, jewellery, clothes and what not, saying,'Beti teri shaadi ho rahi hai,tu le ja."

“A blind man recognized my voice.”

Sharing his personal experience, Aziz Querishy, who played Inspector Khan in the serial, said, "Once a blind man came up to me and asked, ‘Khan sahib? Aap Khan sahib hai na?' such was the popularity of the serial that he was able to recognize my voice."

Want youngsters to see it, say actors.

The actors said they are trying to get hold of the archive of the show, which is not available with Doordarshan, so that young viewers can see the episodes as well.

-Sai Uphad

Source-Bombay Times, Times of India.