Productions That Defined Television

From the earlier stages of television commercial there was one prominent female model at that time and her name was Tazi Rahman. Tazi Rahman was seen donning in almost all of the commercials during that time.

Due to righteous commercial rules Bangladesh television is still able to maintain its standard to its audience. The rigorous following of such television policies was rightly maintained due to hard works of Ishralul Haque. He played a strong role in maintaining as the head of the television commercials for a long time. Even though it is government owned institution, the strong rules and regulations of television for 40 strong years made sure that there were no complains of clients not giving money.

During the policy making of package programs, both people from commercials department and program department had to share some mutual ideas. And the combination of such ideas simply touched audience heart.

Due to the introduction of package programs in television, many freelance producers were able to gift us wonderful package programs. The same can also be said of the time when there were no package programs but still there were people who gifted us wonderful programs in television.

Humayun Ahmed had always written dramas for television. Those dramas have received rave ratings among audience. Even before that time one of his drama was showcased in television. In that drama the pivotal role was played by Shimul Yusuf and Humayun Faridi. The producer of that show was Nasiruddin Yusuf. And screenplay was done by Afzal Hossain. 

The Television audience of recent years will say that although Humayun Ahmed has taken many well-known artists in his dramas but he never included Afzal Hossain in his dramas. They will assume that Afzal Hossain did not do screenplay for his drama. What they don't know is that Afzal Hossain played a significant role of a doctor in the drama “Bohubrihi”. Lutfun Nahar Lota was his co-star.

After working in some episodes of “Bohubrihi” Afzal Hossain was not seen working in Humayun Ahmed's dramas.

After the introduction of magazine programs, the days when magazine programs would not be shown they aired package programs in 2 Eids by replacing the programs that was produced by BTV. In both the programs the host was played by Abdun Nur Tushar.

One of the programs was called “Utshob” and the other was called “Eid Mubarak”. “Utshob” program was produced in one of the office auditorium in Motijheel. In those day only “Ittyadi” was telecasted in the National Museum. Nowadays in many auditoriums and fields are used for showcasing magazine programs. In those days it was hard to find auditorium

It was hard to ensure audience and security protocol at that time. But still the producers of Package program can say with confidence that with hall packed with audience or audience flocking in fields they were able to produce programs with great peace. 

Both the shows “Utshob” and “Eid Mubarak” is noteworthy because of producing a program simply with great planning, execution and the brilliant works of artists even though they didn't had much craft advances in their hand. With such skill and dedication these programs were able to replace the programs made by the television channel

Before using the current format of television, earlier programs only consisted of Quiz or general knowledge programs. Most of the participants entering into the small tight DIT auditorium were students from school and collages.

Slowly these quiz programs were evolved into magazine programs. Here the interesting fact is that during the 60's period none of the artists or audience in television had any access to other channels except Bangladesh Television. The television producers with their knowledge and dedication were able to bring forward the pace of television programs.

In one of the quiz programs they would bring a famous celebrity or song artists. They would then hide the contestant's eyes from those celebrities. They only had the opportunity to ask 10 questions to identify the celebrity. If the identification of the celebrity is found out and if the celebrity is a famous dance artist then the producer will tell the artist to perform a sequence from their favorite drama. And if the artist is a singer then he will tell them to perform a song. This is the way through which magazine program entered into quiz programs.

There is no particular spot available for pop music in television, even though pop music garners popularity due to television. The biggest reason behind that is the showcasing of pop music in various magazine programs.

The writer is Managing Director, Channel i
Translated by Imtiaz Salim