subramcmu Reviews

The Old Fox (1977– )

A blast from the past!

[6/10 · 27 September 2008]

What a pleasant surprise to find the show may perhaps still be airing new episodes!

I used to watch The Old Fox (I think) 20 years back - a foreign series shown in India. Given the other options, we used to watch The Old Fox avidly...

I thought Der Alte was good - if I get the chance, I'll pick up the DVDs and re-acquaint myself with Gerd Heymann!

FWIW - in response to a previous reviewer, I thought Buffy was a decent series, as was the original Star Trek. Don't care much for CSI, though...

Karamchand (1985– )

Gajar and Kitty!

[18 January 2004]

I can't believe it is almost twenty years since this show aired. It was probably the first detective show on Doordarshan (Indian public television), and was one of my favorite shows (probably one of the few shows that existed then, too!!) The plot revolves around the carrot ("gajar")-eating private detective Karamchand, and his secretary, Kitty, who, I think, was portrayed dumb (Kitty, don't be silly!) Or maybe my memory fails me. But it was enormous fun... gajar, anyone? :)

Hum Log (1984–1985)

The Grand-Daddy of Indian Television!

[18 January 2004]

It was the first soap-opera on Indian TV (Doordarshan), and captivated everybody (even if for the simple reason there was nothing else on TV!) The plot revolves around a lower-middle-class Indian family living in Delhi (I think): the drinking, singing father; the long-suffering, hard-working mother; their three daughters (ahh, the plight of a father with many daughters in India!) and one son; the grandparents; and the foreign-settled cousins. The eldest daughter is a feminist ("Bhadki" = angered), anti-dowry; the middle wants to have fun ("majli" = middle); and the youngest ("chutki" = small one) is in school, I think. The son wants to make money, and gets involved with a rich family (marrying into money). Just showed their everyday life.

The soap also had Ashok Kumar, the veteran actor of Indian movies, summarizing each episode at the end.

Sometimes fun, sometimes painful to watch, plenty of viewers.

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Impressive for it's time

[27 December 2002]

This movie was made about the time the space race started, and before Star Trek etc. came on the scene. Considering that, it is a very impressive, original movie (though undoubtedly novels were written on similar themes before this). The details such as oxygen content of the atmosphere and gravitational force were neat, though how the robot makes the raw material for the other stuff it makes is not explained. All in all, though, I liked the movie, and was very impressed that such a story, importantly accompanied with some scientific detail, came out when it did. If you are a sci-fi fan, you have probably already seen it, or else you should. Though at first it might not seem so impressive to people bred on Star Wars (you have to remember when this movie was made). Another movie I want to see is Metropolis, I think that's the name, it's a silent movie :)