Here are listed a few shows which made us laugh, cry, love and above all still make us nostalgic.
1. Sarabhai vs Sarabhai
The sitcom became a classic epitome of sarcasm and humour and is one of the most loved shows till date. The show which aired in 2004, garnered all the praise from every corner. Even today people download its episodes from YouTube and watch it in their free hour. The show is remembered for its unique representation of the conflict between elite and sarcastic Maya Sarabhai and her middle class bahu Monisha. The other characters too made an indelible impression and were adored unconditionally namely Indravadhan for his love of food and pranks, Rosesh for his bad poetry which constantly turned out to be funny and the only sensible Sahil stuck amidst his insane family. Dushyant for his unusual engineering solutions and Madhusudhan for his deafness leading to laughter and making the show attain unprecedented heights of success.
2. Khichdi
The weird Gujarati family drama aired in 2002 was popular for its distinctive troubles occurring in the day to day life of the 'Parekhs', made it worth watching. The protagonist, paranoid Babuji and gossip seeking Jayshree shared adventurous events provoking laughter. Hansa-Prafull's romantic yet hilarious conversations leave you in fits of laughter even today. The only sensible members in family were Jacky and Chakki who always came up with a moral element at the end of every episode. The family that created humorous anecdote also introduced close bonding between the family members, no matter how worse the situation gets, bonding among family members never fades away. It represented the emotional side of Indian joint family. There were some popular dialogues as well that are used by many even today, such as "Prafull tu toh gadha hai, gadha"!
3. Dekh Bhai Dekh
It is the greatest sitcom of all times in Indian television industry. The show produced by Jaya Bachchan and created by Aanand Mahendru, starred Shekhar Suman, Sushma Seth, Farida Jalal, Bhavna Balswar in lead roles. The show received great TRPs and was well applauded by critics and public alike. The show was a hit among youth and elder equivalently and is still remembered for its pure comedy and tiff between family members.
4. Office Office
The show starred the veteran actor Pankaj Kapoor as Musaddilal. The show revolves around the corrupt officers and bribery practices in government offices and how a common suffers due to it. The show was a light comedy featured on Sab Tv in 2001. The Naya Office Office was its sequel aired in 2008. The show's cast included other brilliant actors namely Deven Bhojani, Asawari Joshi, Hemant Pandey, Sanjay Mishra. The show had several fun elements in it which brought pleasing jitters.
5. Tu Tu Main Main
The comedy series which aired on Doordarshan in 1996 and later on Star Plus was directed by Sachin Pilgaonkar and was hugely popular among ladies. The series successfully ran for next 11 years. The show starred Reema Lagoo and Supriya Pilgaonkar as the leads. The show was based on bizarre arguments and spats between the mother in law and daughter in law and their struggle to prove their supremacy over the other made it worth watching.
6. Shrimaan Shrimati
A popular sitcom aired in 1995, starred Rakesh Bedi, Reema Lagoo, Jatin Kankani and Archana Puran Singh. Due to good storyline and excellent comic performances by the lead actors, rhe the show was crowd pleasing and entertaining. The show resembled the concept of 'Love thy neighbour's wife'. It was the first time when an effeminate character of 'Dilruba' was introduced which surprisingly was not a sidekick. The show was produced by Adhikari brothers. The episodes revolved around the attempts of the male actors to impress and love each other's wife which resulted into comic situations. The light hearted show garnered praise and made many funny bones tickle. The show taught us to love our neighbours.
7. Hum Paanch
The show was aired in 1995 and continued for four years. Its sequel being aired in 2005 was also a hit. This show is an all-time favourite along with 'Zabaan Sambhal ke' and 'Dekh bhai Dekh'. The lead actors of the show were Ashok Saraf, Rakhee Tandon, Vandana Pathak. It also bestowed one of the most talented actors of Bollywood, Vidya Balan to the film industry. The story revolved around a middle class father, Anand Mathur who always found himself in trouble because of his five daughters who planned to do something new each day leading to a huge mess and hilarious situations.
8. MTV Bakra
Who can forget Cyrus Broacha making fool out of everyone with his pranks? For the first time such an unusual concept was introduced in India which was largely popular among youth. Cyrus Broacha, comedian, TV anchor, theatre personality was the sole reason of watching 'The Bakra Show'. He became the main face of MTV. The idea of this show was to fool people and then reveal in the end that each one had been made a Bakra-a fool. The show trolled everyone from common man to famous personalities namely Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh, Parthiv Patel and Shah Rukh Khan among many others.
9. Just Mohabbat
There were very few serials for children and teens other than cartoons back in time. This one offered good entertainment for teens and adults alike. The drama series that first aired on Sony Entertainment Television in 1996 was featured in two parts. One, where the child actor Harsh Lunia played the central character of Jai where the story focused more on his formative years into a mature being and the other part where Harsh Lunia was replaced by teenage Vatsal Seth. The story from here focused on his relationships with his family and friends especially his imaginary friend. The show was a big hit among teenagers.
These classic shows are proof of the fact that we are capable of making good sitcoms. If western countries have shows like F.R.I.E.N.D.S and The Big Bang Theory, we too have evergreen shows which are enough to give them stiff competition. No matter how much we adore western Tele series, these Indian sitcoms surely made us laugh.