Dalip Tahil on re-run of old shows during lockdown: Today’s shows only care about TRPs, and makers, the money

Happy that Buniyaad is being aired again, actor Dalip Tahil recounts how in its time, it was such a successful show, and feels that the show significance in a lot of ways in today’s time as well.

Actor Dalip Tahil feels that the resurgence of old classic shows such as Ramayan, Mahabharat, Circus, or even Buniyaad, in which he starred, proves only one thing: a good story will always survive the test of time, rather than TRPs.

Dalip Tahil’s show Buniyaad is being aired on small screen again amid nationwide lockdown.

“Old is gold,” is his first reaction when you ask him about Buniyaad being re-aired. “All these are fantastic shows. I also have one of my recent shows, Siya Ke Ram, being re-aired. Buniyaad, in its time (1986-1987), was such a successful show. It has also has significance in a lot of ways in today’s time. It was about the creation of Pakistan, when India was on it’s way to find an identity, there was so much help and support in community and violence. I’m glad it’s back. It’s very good to go back to the classics. We have a captive audience now, they can’t go out (laughs).”

Amid the ongoing nationwide lockdown, several old TV shows have made their way back into people’s lives their re-runs are getting an extremely positive response from the audience.

Tahil, 67, says that the reason today’s television shows don’t go on to attain such cult status is because the makers only want to earn money by getting TRPs.

Dalip Tahil in a still from TV serial Buniyaad

He rues, “Our show had a great story, and showed people how a story finishes well. After Buniyaad, people started dragging shows. It’s a lesson in keeping a story till it holds the audience. If it would have been stretched, our show could have been running till even today. But Manohar Shyam Joshi, the writer of Buniyaad and Hum Log, was a genius. He insisted, and not that director Ramesh Sippy would have disagreed, to finish the story when it’s time.”

Dragging a show makes it lose impact, he adds. “The reason now people say shows come and are forgotten tomorrow is that they are after eyeballs and lining their pockets. They go on extending episodes. The day they go off air, nobody cares,” says Tahil.