By Shivangi Adani:
If you belong to the era of Doordarshan and have watched the Malgudi Days, here’s a flashback for you. The TV show, Malgudi Days, is based on the books written by RK Narayan who was a distinguished novelist in Indian Literature in English. Malgudi Days is a series based on a small fictional town called Malgudi in South India and its people. If you’re not from the Doordarshan era and haven’t watched the Malgudi Days, here are some reasons why you should watch it without further ado.
1. Simplicity vs. Life today – It is a series of short stories. The show grabs the attention of its viewers by showing the simplicity of life as against the luxurious and over complicated lives we have now. Everybody loves a little nostalgia, taking little trips down memory line and ponder over how good life used to be. Malgudi Days does that to you. It takes you back to the simple life in the pre-independence era when earning even 4 rupees was considered to be a huge amount. In one of the episodes called “Four Rupees”, they show a man dreaming about buying a new shirt and a car when he earns 4 rupees. Today, we cannot buy even a book in 4 rupees. In the hustle and bustle of our lives, everybody loves to see how simply people lived then. Even with all the luxuries and facilities that are supposed to make our lives easier and less complicated, Malgudi Days makes you feel like living a life like the one showed.
2. Connect –Â We love anything that we relate to, and it has an effect on us. Malgudi Days connects with you. It shows the life of everyday people. In the most loved part of the series, “Swamy and Friends”, the innocence of childhood and young adulthood is shown which everybody relates to. I bet that every viewer must have smiled and said, “This has happened with me” at least once while watching Malgudi Days.
3. Realities of Life and Human Nature – Malgudi Days show the hypocrisies, truths and realities of humans and the world with light humour. For example, in “Swamy and Friends”, they show how a young boy who is the son of an inspector gets more respect and how the kids follow him and give him respect. People with power and authority are regarded as great irrespective of everything else. In the episode “Astrologer’s Day”, the people of Malgudi follow the saint blindly and consider him to be godlike when in reality, the saint is a normal man of the village who dresses up like a saint and fools the people to earn a living.
4. Culture and tradition — Amidst all the debates going on about losing our culture and values because of westernized shows, Malgudi Days is an example of a TV series that retains the culture and tradition of South India, especially because of the time period it was made in.
Malgudi Days is a perfect mixture of emotions, culture, light humour and stories that you can relate with. And the best part about it is that it is now able for free view on Youtube.
Watch the show and reminisce about the golden days.