During late 80s and early 90s we used to have only one TV channel called Doordarshan. I still remember the days when people used to wait for a week to watch serials like Mahabharat and Ramayan. The drama of those classic serials of that era was so intense that viewers sat in rapt attention in front of their TV sets. Now a days such TV serials are completely missing. The magic is gone. Today we have 100s of TV channels, but their quality, story and acting stand nowhere in front of Old Doordarshan Serials. When you compare them to today’s serials and you will find that they are poles apart. Today’s serials don’t even have a determined story, good direction and actors. They go on and on for as long as 7, 8 years and you will never see the head or tail of the story.

I still love watching old Doordarshan TV serials like Hum Log, ByomKash Bakshi, Mahabharat, Ramayan, Idhar Udhar, Yeh Jo hai Zindagi etc. Actually yesterday I got the time to watch some episodes of Yeh Jo hai Zindagi on YouTube so I have compiled a list of episodes of this serial which are available on YouTube.

 

The episodes revolved around funny happenings in the lives of Ranjit Verma (played by actor Shafi Inamdar) and Renu Verma (played by actress Swaroop Sampat, a former Miss India 1979), who play a married couple along with Renu’s unmarried & unemployed younger brother Raja (Rakesh Bedi). Other characters were Ranjit’s boss (actor Tikku Talsania), his Bengali neighbours (actors Vijay Kashyap and Sulabha Arya), etc.

A trademark of the show were the characters played by comedy actor Satish Shah. In each episode, Shah played a different character who come into contact with Ranjit & Renu’s world. These characters would be regular people like a plumber or repair guy, a prospective servant, someone from the street who wants to use their bathroom, etc. Shah played these characters exceedingly well using unique mannerisms & accents from all over India and had other affectations which kept the audience enraptured. During the mid-1980s Satish Shah was anointed as “King of Comedy” by the entertainment media as a direct consequence of the multitude characters that he effortlessly played on the show.

These are some episodes of Yeh Jo hai Zindagi which are available on YouTube.

• Divorce
• South Indian Marriage
• Bombay to Pune
• Pregnancy
• War of Uncles
• BlackMail
• Raja falls in Love
• Women’s Liberation
• Double Trouble
• Cancer
• Thief’s sweet Toot
• The cooking range
• Forecast
• Jack and Johny
• Raja’s Interview
• Time is Money
• Rambo
• Guess who is coming to the dinner
• Baby Sitting
• The Antique Gift
• Rashmi gets a haircut
• Truth or Lies
• Lottery
• Dieting
• Renu Misses Ranje
• Unwanted Guest
• BoyFriend
• New Member Arrives
• Instant Solution
• Transfer of Boss
• Wedding
• The Sleeping Pill
• Kidnapping
• The Chase
• The Court
• The Speech Files
• The Fakir
• The Actress
• Honeymoon
• Executive Director
• Benefit of Lying
• The verdict
• The Conman