Digital Marketer | Mom blogger

With the pandemic and the following lockdown cutting all sorts of outdoor entertainment for children, it was time to watch some nostalgic and popular TV shows. DD showed the way with telecasting Ramayan, Shaktiman, Mahabharat et. all and so I decided to add some more from my list of series. The experience of watching these serials with kids was bittersweet. They loved some of them and they had some weird questions with others.

So here is my list of popular series and the reaction of Gen Z around it!

Ramayan

This was a hit in our house, right from the youngest member to the oldest member in the house. The young scientist of our house was fascinated with the bow and arrow. The day I made him one from the broomstick, he suddenly had newfound respect for my creativity and skills! Diva of our house found it convenient to watch the series instead of reading her coursebook ‘Bal Ram Katha’

After the initial euphoria, the questions started trickling in..

Diva – Why are they talking like this! Who talks like this?

Me- It was a different era, they are trying to recreate the dialogues of Satyug so the dialogues will have a lot more maturity, reserve and etiquettes.

Diva – Was Bharat the real brother of Ram?

Me – He was the stepbrother. Same father, different mom’s

Diva – And yet Ram went away to the forest because his stepmom told him? And Bharat looks like a bigger fool here– His brother has no problem, then why wouldn’t he be the king! What’s the point of everyone living in a forest and almost all the women of the house in the palace! And while they were at it, what was Shatrughna’s plan? If I was Ram, there was no way I was going to the forest!

Me – Darling that is why this is called Kaliyug and that was called the Satyug. A promise was valued more than a person’s life. They loved and respected each other more than the money.

Diva – I still don’t see the logic here!

Me – That’s okay darling. They were God for a reason. In my mind (Thank god we aren’t millionaires, otherwise, I would have ended up having a daily soap of my own, at home!)

Shaktiman

The young scientist of our house is fascinated with Avengers and so the moment he started seeing Shaktiman he was like ‘ Woah! Was he the avenger of your time? Mumma’

Me- Yeah, kind of. Why don’t you watch some more?

Diva and Young scientist watched the series with utmost dedication! I never expected this from a generation that was used to seeing hi-tech animation and visual effects. The best part was the young scientist would tie his bed cover around his neck and sing the entire Shaktiman song! Both of them got together to make 2 episodes of Shaktiman on their own! Complete with story, costume, dialogues and effects! Sadly, the much-anticipated episode 3 of Shaktiman had to be canned because of creative differences between the two!

Byomkesh Bakshi

This was another one of the lockdown series telecast by Doordarshan that we all enjoyed. My mom is a fan of detective series and when Byomkesh Bakshi was announced, she was super excited about it. We all watched the series together. After the initial questions like ‘Why is he wearing a Dhoti! Didn’t he have pants? What is anna (currency) and who is paying Byomkesh Bakshi and his friend?

Kids got a hang of the series and Diva actually enjoyed watching the series while young scientist would just keep track of the story by getting an overview.

Both of them then started having discussions about the plot and I felt proud that my little munchkins are actually trying to solve the mystery. I even felt that maybe one of them could even consider solving crime as their profession. On closer inspection though, I realized that the discussion was more about committing the perfect crime than solving it!

Malgudi Days

This one went way over their head! I had to field questions from religious freedom to corporal punishment. Both the Diva and young scientist just could not relate to the rural settings and the way of life during that era! The only thing they found fun was Swami and his friends. Scientist even compared them to Nobita and his friends from Doremon. He made a passing remark that Swami just does not cry as much like Nobita nor is he as dependent on a gadget as Nobita!

Diva was furious when she saw the episode where the school father comments about idol worship being stupid and the thrashing that Swami gets for opposing it.

Another funny problem was when I started the episode; Prime promptly added an advice ‘Contains slight nudity!’ Both me and husband were flabbergasted about it and were wondering what that could mean! Diva quickly declared that our childhood was ruined because we were allowed to watch nudity which is obviously adult content.

The whole situation was managed only when we realized that the nudity here was referred to Girish Karnad taking an afternoon siesta in just a lungi and uparna (cloth kept on the shoulder) and a baby being bathed.

I prefer watching this one after the kids are in bed; otherwise, these episodes become a matter of debate with no peace in my life!

After watching these series with kids I realized that the generation gap is here to stay! Gen Z might not like everything we enjoyed and vice-versa but if we sit together and watch our favourites, there could be hilarious moments to cherish for life.