विक्रम और बेताल से बचपन के उस T.V. Series तथा 'चंदामामा' पत्रिका की यादें भी ताज़ा हो गयी; मुझे खासतौर पर याद है कैसे मेरे रोने-झगड़ने पर प्रति माह ५ रूपए में अखबारवाले से यह चंदामामा मंगवाई जाती थी, मुख्यतौर पर विक्रम-बेताल कहानी के लिए | यूं तो याद करना कठिन है कि इस कहानी से मैं इतना प्रभावित क्यों था, परन्तु वर्तमान में इसका प्रभाव मैं अपनी स्थिति में महसूस कर सकता हूँ | शायद बचपन में पहली बार ऐसा हुआ था की हम लोग राजा की कमज़ोरी/नादानी/मूर्खता समझे थे, पहली बार सफ़ेद और काले के बीच जो 'gray area' पड़ता है उसे समझा था, पहली बार तर्क के उलटफेर को समझा था |
तेरे हाथ कुछ नहीं आएगा,
और जीवन भी हाथ से चला जायेगा |
Its pithy gems like these that draw me back to the T.V. series (on youtube), and to the original text of Betal Pachisi itself. As the tradition of life and growing up is, I'm reading more into these seemingly-simplistic themes, and on the nature of observation/opinion itself: the vampire Betal makes it clear that any opinion from the King Vikramaditya would make him fly back (in a very low CG manner) to his tree of spirits (accompanied with a legendary scream); soon as the King opens his mouth, Betal would float up and fly away.
Saying too much - which I do through my blog - puts me in Vikram's shoes here as well. Keeping in tradition of realising the extremes of human nature, that is welcome, too.
Here's what a revamped version of Vikram-Betal, as presently being aired on Colors, looks. Tame and lame. I'm only 68 years old, and yet I could fall back into "those golden days" dialog, of how actors from the earlier series were more expressive.
Back then, this series was actually a focal point in our television history - now its a mere exercise in TRP (anything aired on DD is similarly remembered for their stronger content and better crop of actors). Back then, even the field of acting was a space reserved for those serious about it, even theater crowd, not the present army of gym-manufactured, socially-misdiagnosed, peer-pressured-into-the-industry jocks who equate biceps with talent. Back then, Arun Govil made for a potent-yet-conflicted King Vikramaditya. Betal was sensationally portrayed by Sajjan Kumar, who doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. In the present, one can clearly make out now the struggler faces of Vikram, Betal, and the rest of that horrid cast acting out the stories; and most of those random shitters have a Wikipedia entry.
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