Some people recall the faces and some people recall the names. Here are images of some of the famous readers and presenters of Doordarshan down the years. If you recognize any of them, leave a comment.
[
Update 1: Most of the faces now have names thanks to helpful comments by
olio-gallimaufry]
[
Update 2: Included image of one of the earliest presenters, Gopal Kaul. Send in generously from personal collection by son, Ashutosh Kaul. Sept, 2010.]
[
Major Update 3: Got a tip-off about a documentary about the famous faces of Doordarshan from the makers
of
“The Golden Trail , DD@50 :Special feature on Golden Jubilee of Doordarshan” from which these caps were taken. I managed to catch the incredible documentary and am adding some more faces/name and part of the docu here. New ones can be found after the image of Narotam Puri. 30th Oct, 2010]
Pratima Puri. Believed to be the first Doordarshan reader.
Kamleshwar. Writer.
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| Melville De Mello |
Rini Khanna (?) Mukta, used to cover program weekly letter and response based program Aap aur Hum. (thanks to anony tipoff, check the comments)
Minu Talwar
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| Another one of Minu Talwar |
Sudha Chopra. Also appeared in a couple of films.
Jyotsana Rai
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| One more of Jyotsana Rai |
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| Another one of Jyotsana Rai |
Manoj Raghuvanshi
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| Veena Mishra (updated based on comment) |
Arshiya Bawa
Vinod Dua. Another famous face. Later moved to NDTV.
K.K. Raina.
Nalini Singh Harsaran Bir Kaur (?)
Narotam Puri, used to cover sports
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| Mukta Shrivastav |
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| Gitanjali Ayyar |
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| Gitanjali Iyer in print ad for Solidaire Tv. 1988. The Indian Express. (for reference check comments) |
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| Kaveri Mukherjee |
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| Shobhana Jagdish |
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| Rama Pandey |
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| Avinash Kaur Sarin |
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| Baritone Tejeshwar Singh |
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| Gerson Da Cunha |
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Dolly Thakore interviewing Hema Malini in a phone-in program.
Trivia: Indira Gandhi's defeat in 1977 election and Janta Party's win was announced on Doordarshan by newsreader Dolly Thakore. It is said that she, characteristically of a Doordarshan reader, was smiling. |
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Jayanthi Natarajan interviewing General Cariappa. She started her career at Doordarshan Madras.
She went on to join politics.
Shobhna Ravi |
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Sashi Kumar interviewing Kamal Hassan. Sashi Kumar. Started at madras station of Doordarshan and later among other things went on to launch Asiannet, India's first regional satellite channel.
Bhakti Barve, theater artist and film actor, started her career at Bombay station of Doordarshan.
Smita Patil started at Bombay station of Doordarshan as a reader.
Luku Sanyal, daughter of actor Pahari Sanyal, the first face of English news in Mumbai, with 'The News'.
Rajiv Mehrotra
Prannoy Roy hosting 'The week that was'The World This Week.
Suneet Tandon
N. Vishwanathan, from Calcutta Doordarshan. Acted in Satyajit Ray's Kanchenjunga (1962)
Sarla Maheshwari
Neethi Ravindran
Shobhana Jagdish
Ved Prakash |
As I have
written a bit about Kashmir station while writing about Doordarshan, it was an added delight to see Doordarshan Kashmir make a special appearance in the Documentary.
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| Syed Shabir Ahmed. Urdu voice at the Srinagar Station. Later also worked at Calcutta station. |
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| Naseem Khan joined Doordarshan Srinagar in 1973. |
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| Crew of Doordarshan Kashmir |
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The video:
vinod dua , manoj raghuvanshi , narottam puri were there for a long time and the former two still are..but yar who is the lady above raghuvanshi's pic ? i can't recall her name.
ReplyDeleteand , as always. u have brought back the nostalgia of those beautiful days of simplicity ...
is she shobana jagdish?
ReplyDeleteand can u give their names also please
Thanks, Sandeep! It's great that you actually remember. Updated the post with your info.
ReplyDeleteI am depending on others to come up with the names.
Hi Vinayak,
ReplyDeleteThis is Jayesh Adhyaru.
These are fantastic stuff!
How did U get these images? I mean, U recorded DD's programme? When r they airing old stuff (as a part of Golden Jubilee Celebration)?
Hi Jayesh,
ReplyDeleteon 15 September Doordarshan had shown a special documentary titled "The Golden Trail , DD@50 :Special feature on Golden Jubilee of Doordarshan” as part of the celebration. I had managed to catch it. Tried to capture by muddled it, then found it uploaded on Youtube by some. Took the caps from that video. You can watch "The Golden Trail , DD@50 :Special feature on Golden Jubilee of Doordarshan” HERE at my previous blog post. Enjoy!
Also, prior to this documentary, for about a week their Delhi station was airing some vintage stuff in its evening transmission. I managed to watch an RD Burman stage performance in which Jalal Agha went crazy while performing 'Mehbooba Mehbooba'. It was awesome!
ReplyDeleteI am sure some of this stuff will soon be available on DVD.
Pic # 8 is Meenu Talwar. #13 is Arshiya Bawa. #15 is K.K. Raina.
ReplyDeleteGallimaufry,
ReplyDeletethank you! I could have never figured that out. And I had no idea K.K. Raina also read News...couldn't recognize him at all.
You're welcome! I'm enjoying the nostalgic memory jogs :)
ReplyDelete#4 is Kamleshwar.
#9 is Sudha Chopra. She played Jaya Bhaduri's mother in the 1981 Yash Chopra film "Silsila".
#16 isn't Nalini Singh (she's slimmer and hasn't changed at all)
#10 is Jyotsana. (She didn't give out her last name).
You are great! I thought I would never get to know their names.
ReplyDeleteEven I am not sure about #16.
#4 Kamleshwar. Would have remembered him a couple of weeks later :) The cap here is from one of his early talk shows.
i am in love with jyotsana :)
ReplyDeleteand no,that's not rini khanna
Sandeep,
ReplyDeletethat's why you were eager to know her name :)
And was making a wild guess about Rini Khanna. But i am sure I have seen that face.
Read about an old print ad featuring a Doordarshan News reader Gitanjali Iyer:
ReplyDeleteIn one advertisement for Solidaire TV, the headline boasts:"If the eye-lashes of the news-reader are clearly visible...it must be Solidaire" (India Today, December 31, 1985).
- 'Gandhi meets primetime: globalization and nationalism in Indian television' by Shanti Kumar
the Lady above Minu Talwar is Mukta, she used to cover program weekly letter and response based program Aap aur Hum
ReplyDeleteBTW the correct name of Minu is Menu Menon and not Talwar
A big thanks to Anonymous!
ReplyDeletejyotsna's surname (as i know) was roy. mukta's was srivastava. btw mukta passed some 9 yrs back by cancer.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info.!
ReplyDeleteAbove Narottam Puri (#14) looks like Harsaran Bir Kaur
ReplyDeleteAnony,
ReplyDeletethanks! Let's see if others agree.
I stumbled across this by sheer (delightful) error. Nostalgia, super stuff. Anyone remember that bearded handsome newsreader - Tejinder Singh, I think his name was. Baritone voice. And, those from Madras Doordarshan would remember Shashi Menon and Usha Albequerque too.
ReplyDeleteSats offline,
ReplyDeleteTejinder Singh is of course a famous name. And Usha Albuquerque.
The faces I remember in 1980s are Deepak Vohra and the puppet 'Ji Saheb' in morning transmission; Tabassum in Afternoon transmission; Usha Albuquerque of News.
ReplyDeleteI remember Tabassum's afternoon show.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone provide me with the pic of Shobhana jagdish plz?
ReplyDeleteCan't help you with that.
ReplyDeleteThe lady below Manoj Raghuvanshi is Avinash Kaur Sareen.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Partha.
ReplyDeleteU r the Baap of Nostalgia
ReplyDeleteSaar.. Where is Rini Simon? Was someone whom we all 40 something today used to connect with during our college days.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, but didn't Salma Sultan wear a rose behind her ear? I was too little; I don't remember.
ReplyDeleteI would recommend reading Anil Dharker's 'Sorry Not Ready (Television in the time of PM Darshan)' to anyone who wants to relive the DD days.
@Sunil
ReplyDeletei actually needed a lot of help for this one. In fact, some of the face at the top (interestingly Male) still remain unidentified.
@Ramesh
the images here are just caps from Golden Anniversary DD special. Maybe it's time i add images of other presenters too. It's interesting that you mentioned Rini Khanna Simon. In the images above i misidentified Mukta as Rini Khanna. Rini Khanna joined Doordarshan back in 1985. Here's a link about her. I didn't know she's the voice for Delhi Metro . How about that!
@Wordsmithy
Even I was a kid back then. I read Salma Sultan started wearing the rose quite late, only in the 80s. Thanks for recommending the book! Will try to get my hands on it.
Theres Melville de Mello there! Whether it was the Republic Day parade or any other commentary, he used to lend his Angrez voice. :) Recently I saw a feature on Jim Corbett on DD Bharati made in the 1970s( my lil one was thrilled to see a prog abt his hero!) which had the entire narration by de Mello. It was sheer nostalgia fr me to hear that voice from my childhood.
ReplyDeleteShankari,
ReplyDeletetoo bad i missed the show. Would have loved to hear Melville de Mello's voice. I hope they have a 'repeat telecast'.
Isn't DD Bharati great! They have been dedicatedly sharing stuff from the Doordarshan archives.
Here' an interesting link about Melville De Mello.
ReplyDeleteu forgot the newscaster with prigous memory,Murli Damodharan
ReplyDeleteHi! Vinayak,
ReplyDeleteFollowing ur blog for quite some time now & i really appreciate ur work.
Just wanted to point out that the programme hosted by Prannoy Roy was "The World This Week" and not'The week that was'
Shantanu,
ReplyDeletemy mistake. Thanks for pointing out!
Nice post...Those golden one and only TV broadcasting station days...
ReplyDeleteSome of the names that can be included are, Anjali Roy (she was my dream girl those days :)), Rini (Simon) Khanna, Pankaj Mohan (I loved his way of reading the news), Sandhya Rajagoplan (Chennai DD), Fathima Babu (Chennai DD)
Raj,
ReplyDeletethanks for adding those names to the list.
Hey Vinayak,great job!
ReplyDeleteThe photo immediately below N.Vishwanathan is of Sarla Maheshwari. The one below that is of an English newsreader(forgot the name!). Then is Shobhana Jagdish and the one after that one is of Ved Prakash.
Aakash,
ReplyDeletethanks for the input! Have updated the post with these names. Shobhana Jagdish and Ved Prakash were perhaps the most popular face of News in the late 80s and the early 90s.
the one below narottam puri (used to cover sports) is mukta shrivastav.below her is gitanjali ayyar, then kaveri mukherjee. and one between shobhana jagdish and avinash kaur sarin is rama pandey .....not to be confused with later rama pandey who used to cover weather report.
ReplyDeleteAnony,
ReplyDeletethis is incredible! Thanks for the info., have updated the post with these names.
I may be wrong... but isn't the lady above Shobana Jagdish... the one with the mole and shor hair, Neeti Ravindran?
ReplyDeleteHi ma name is MINU.When i was born ,doordarshan was d oly channel der in ma home.My family s fond of d news reader MINU.....Dats y i got d name MINU........!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for the blog. We are missing CHAMAN GUPTA and the omnipresent "RUKAWAT KE LIYE KHED HAI" torn chappal. RAMU DAMODARAN was one of the best newscasters. In the pre-digiprompter days, he used to read without looking at his paper longer than any of us could ever imagine. YURI KHURANA was another charming face. Any news on her?
ReplyDeleteRegards,
R.Mukund
great to see more of the DD faces ...you are doing a great job...it was really great to see Ved Prakash ...please add Shammi Narang, and J V Raman as well>
ReplyDelete(and special thanks for including a couple more pics of Jyotsna :))
and the lady next to Sarla Maheshwari is Neethi Ravindran
ReplyDeletealso , i think the voices in Delhi Metro (about a year ago ) are Komal G B Singh and Shammi Narang.
ReplyDeletewow ...it is really amazing .Bring back memory of Sunday evening Movie..and Wednesday and Friday ..Chrithar
ReplyDeleteSandeep,
ReplyDeletethanks for adding all those names! Have name tagged Neethi Ravindran's pic.
I think it is Manjari Joshi below Manoj Raghuvanshi's picture.
ReplyDeleteIn Delhi Metro, the announcers are Shammi Narang and Rini Khanna (previously known as Rini Simon) of Doordarshan.
ReplyDeletehey
ReplyDeletethr is also another reader who used t be present whenevr thr was a doordarshan report used to be shown in any movie .... i was jus watching Jaane Bhi do yaaron and was wondering what her name was .. any clues ???
@Anony
ReplyDeleteBhakti Barve. She is featured in this post.
What A pleasant surprise to see my most un-forgettable colleagues. Thank u for creating such a memorable nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteA pleasure to hear that from you. Thanks for appreciation!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Vinayak..This is a amazing read.I am half the age of durdarshan and I have grown up with it.This makes me miss that charm more n more.
ReplyDeleteI recall N Vishwanathan reading the English News on Calcutta Doordarshan in his impecccable accent in the late 70's .
ReplyDeleteLater when I went to St. Xaviers College , Calcutta , in the earliy 90's he was my English Professor too !!
Another interesting trivia
ReplyDeleteTejeswar Singh had essayed the vilian's role in a Hindi movie named Jalwa (1985) that also starred Naseeruddin Shah & Archana Puran Singh
I do not see Sadhana Shrivasta's name anywhere on thi blog . She used to be my fav annoucer on DD Delhi !!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Vinayak,for the 'nostalgia shared with us.It is my proud privilege to have written to Mr Melville de Mellow on two occasions- one on reading his article titled " The petals on Ganga" on the Anglo Indian Community published in The Illustrated weekly of India and on another occasion remembering his 'golden voice' over the AIR s a broadcaster.On both the occasions he has replied with warmth and affection.I cherish these two occasions.-voleti venkata subbarao , vernon hills IL-60061/USA
ReplyDeletesusee,
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing your experience!
Hi This is a refreshing walk down memory lane. Are you sure about Rama Pandey's picture. Also it'll be great to have Sukanya Balakrishnan's picture. She read English news.
ReplyDeleteAnony,
ReplyDeleteAs one of the commenter mentioned Rama Pandey here is."not to be confused with later rama pandey who used to cover weather report."
where is shami narang. iremeber him quikly putting back pen in his shirt ppocket after the news
ReplyDeleteI think the lady after Manoj Raghuvanshi is Veena mishra.
ReplyDeleteThen at Bombay DD there were Kumud Mirani (she had a short stint), Sarita Sethi, Harish bhimani, Kumar Elawadi, Arvind Mehra (for HIndi). Pradeep Bhide, a bearded guy in Khadi-Anant something.., Bhakti Barve, Smita talwalkar, Savita Prabhune (marathi). Then there was JV Raman at DD Nat Netwrok HIndi news
Wowww.. this was really amazing... what a journey down the memory lane! It was so nice to see all wonderful n pioneer faces in the world of media again during our childhood, after ages specially when they were all so young n in their hey-days! Thanks to all who have compiled this page though I could not find the person I was looking for here.
ReplyDeleteYes, DJ the lady after Manoj Raghuvanshi is indeed Veena Mishra. If anybody knows the name of the lady who's appearing these days in the serial 'Bade Achhe Lagte Hain' on Sony TV as a language teacher working with 'Priya' pls post ur information here and enlighten us. She was one of the presenters on DD if I'm not mistaken.
And I agree with what Sandeep Kowaldkar wrote abt Shammi Narang... n smiled at it! Don't forget the rose flower always tucked on the side in Salma Sultana's juda!
Yes her first name is Madhu, do not remember her title...she used to be te compere of children's programme and some other programmes too.
Delete@ Vinayak Razdaan
Thanks for reviving the memories of good old times. I would like remind you of another lady sunita buddhiraja who used to compère the literary programme.
Hi friends I am looking for Manju Sing's sister's name who was also a newsreader on doordarshan. Manju singh played the role of Amol Paleker's sister in Goalmaal. Her Sister was a famous newsreader Please help me find her name.this is Manju singh's picture. http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc375/pooshipoo/383805_159113547524507_100002775882614_162008_1569703440_n.jpg
ReplyDeleteYou have missed one very sophisticated English News reader's mention, who was a regular on Bombay's (Mumbai's) English News, in the 70's thru to the 80's. His name is Viren Luther, a very handsome and gentlemanly man, with a striking mustache.
ReplyDeleteLuther later went on to become the Executive Director of Film Festivals, and Director of NFDC (National Film Development Corporation.). So you can see, that you clearly missed his name in your list of Bombay's English News readers.
Please add his name, and I can provide the photo if you want.
there is no amita kohli , sister of manju singh, i think she was the best
ReplyDeleteWow! this is amazing! even after 2 decades, I could relive those days by reading this, Thanks Vinayak.
ReplyDeletethat is great knowledge & revival of my old memories of growing up with Doordarshan
ReplyDeletethank you for posting such stuff...
keep growing
From the first response on Oct 8, 2009 to this one of mine on Feb 23, 2012 shows how much we (my guess that we are all above 30's ) loved the good old DD days. Everyone has their own share of nostalgia associated with DD and I believe it would be embedded in their memories forever. Keep sharing ..Generation-DD :-) !!!...
ReplyDeleteI am still below 30 :)
ReplyDeleteNarottam Puri is (was) also a Delhi based doctor. I had my nose surgery done by him.
ReplyDeletehello sir,
ReplyDeleteMy name is vikas. can you pleas tell me anything about malvika roy, she was am english news reader, pleas give any information of her and any pic if possible
pls include the statesque Komal G.B.Singh in this list of pioneers.
ReplyDelete@Sumeet,
ReplyDeleteshe is already there.
Superb work! I salute you for remembering the Doordarshan era so well!
ReplyDeleteWill share your link with friends.
Cheers
Keyur :)
thecommonmanspeaks.com
Hi! This is Krishnakumar(Kolhapur)
ReplyDeleteI too have some newsreaders' names to be nostalgic:
Sheila Chaman
Chaman Gupta
Shammi NArang
J V Raman
Manjiri Joshi
Sukanya Balakrishnan
Ashish Sinha
Shivendra Kundra
Prabhajyot Kaur(Announcer)
Rajmani Rai(Aap aur Hum fame)
Manna Bahadur(Interviewer)
very nice...thanks for these names as we almost forget them in our busy life but we always love that golden era of our life..
DeleteI was trying to remember Suneet Tandon's name. That's what brought me here. When I was a child in the early 90's - Tandon would always be on with his beautiful Oxbridge baritone. I was struck by his deep voice, his beard and the fact that he was so skinny. He always added gravitas to proceedings. I wonder what he is up to now. Tandon is lost in the shouty sea of Rajdeeps, Arnabs, Sagarikas and Bharkas. Liberalisation has not been kind to the icons of the Doordarshan era.
ReplyDeletevery well said vijay ...and i have seen sunit tandon on DD Loksabha a few times
ReplyDeleteMy Favorite always was Sunit Tandon and Sangeetha Bedi, and those days DD New readers has only set the standard for present days modern news readers.
ReplyDeleteHats offs, thery left an unforgettable nostalgic memory to all botn in 70's and early 80's.
Any please let us know where if any videos of those can be found
There used to be school-girlish reader called Mrinalini who was quite un bearable to watch. Also a news reader/anchor called Sadhana Srivastava.... who was quite pretty with those flashing eyes...maybe contact lenses?? Can you please tell me about these ??
ReplyDeleteYa , she is Mrinalini J Singh, great people we never forget in life, a short video of news reading by kaveri mukherji and sukanya Balakrishnan is avl in youtube, could not find any more
ReplyDeleteThanks blogger!!! I landed here when I was trying to find out the name of Rajeshwar Singh, I remembered his look voice and was really a fan of him, Salma Sultan, Sarla maheshwari, Suneet Tandon, Rinni Khanna (I remember her but i dont see her pic here,) Thanks!!!!
ReplyDeletePankaj Mohan was a regular DD newsreader. He also acted with Yatrik.
ReplyDeleteUdai Bir Saran Das ... and Preet Singh Bedi ...
Where are all these folks now?
I do not find any photo of another News reader J B Raman. hindi news reader
ReplyDeleteCan any once give the name of the Play produced by Doordarshan and acted by Shobhna Jagdish or Avinash kaur sarin. Where she play a role of lady disabled by one leg
ReplyDeleteRead a comment that Jyotsna did not reveal her surname which is incorrect. Her surname was Mohapatra and she used to present 'Aap Aur Hum' with Kuber Dutt.
ReplyDeleteJust realized Gitanjali Aiyar recently wrote a nostalgic piece for 17th anniversary collectors issue of OUTLOOK. [here]. And the pic used in the article is the one originally posted here against her name. Another one of my two bit contribution to archiving Indian popular culture.
ReplyDeleteHow come sadhna singh is missing?
ReplyDeleteThe only time I have seen Doordarshan handle a Western classical music concert with finesse and knowledge of music was when Sita Nanda produced a symphony concert conducted in Mumbai by Zubin Mehta. Zubin Mehta thanked and congratulated Sita Nanda afterwards and more so because she had stayed on like a true professional even after she got the tragic news just before the concert that her mother had suddenly died. That is what I call true professionalism and it came from Doordarshan’s own staff.
ReplyDeleteWhere is Sandhya Balakrishnan??????????
ReplyDeleteNeethi Ravindaran (English newscaster of 1970s)... was my class teacher's older sister in New Delhi!! Her father General Raj Ratnam ran a school with same name and I was a student there. I remember speaking to her in English...I was 11 years old then.
ReplyDeleteNice to see this blog. Thanks Mr. Razdan. I had sketched few news resders during 1991, while reading the famous 8.40 pm news. Pls suggest how can I post those sketches. They were instant ones using sketch pen.
ReplyDeleteRegsrds
Rakesh Gupta. rakgupt05@gmail.com
There was a sports announcer. In bombay dd called fredun something. .. forgot his full name
ReplyDeletethose old days were glorious days of Doordarshan Era.. I wish if those days can be brought back and doordarshan can be regain its popularity, hhhhmmmmmm!! at least I suggest that if doordarshan will start showin all its older serials/ programmes one by one daily, am sure it could regain its lost popularity and will be a good way for everyone to remember/recall the old memories n specially to all those people who have actually have been brought up in that ERA..
ReplyDeleteइन सबको देख कर बचपन की याद तजा हो गयी. विनोद दुआ तो बिलकुल ही बदल गए है. क्या इन लोगों की वर्तमान की फोटोज भी आपके पास है.... अगर हो तो जरूर टैग करें- धन्यवाद्
ReplyDeletethanks sooo very much for recalling that golden period of doordarshan..we missed all these tv presenters and news readers, i also missed MS PRABHJOT KAUR in your photo gallary , can we have any picture of her if you have ....
ReplyDeletei remember a few. esp neethi rajendran and sunit tandaon. there was one malovika roy. even illiterate old men watched her reading news in stylish english. frns pls share news about her if any.. elango- madurai, tamilnadu.
ReplyDeleteAnother name is missing here and that is of Jasleen Vohra
ReplyDeletevery good collection
ReplyDelete