Surabhi was an Indian television cultural magazine programme that explored Indian art, heritage, traditions, crafts, cuisine, festivals, and folklore. Hosted by actor Renuka Shahane and filmmaker Siddharth Kak, it became one of the most popular non-fiction shows on Indian television during the 1990s and is widely remembered as a landmark programme on Doordarshan.
Key facts
| Title | Surabhi |
|---|---|
| Genre | Cultural magazine, documentary |
| Language | Hindi |
| Country of origin | India |
| Original network | Doordarshan (DD National); later DD Metro |
| Presenters | Siddharth Kak, Renuka Shahane |
| Production | Cinema Vision India |
| Producer/Director | Siddharth Kak |
| Original run | Late 1980s – 2001 |
Overview
Surabhi was conceived as a half-hour weekly programme that travelled across India to document the country's cultural diversity. Each episode contained several short segments covering subjects such as classical and folk arts, regional cuisines, religious festivals, historic monuments, traditional crafts, languages, literature, and lesser-known communities. The format combined location-based films, studio narration, viewer interaction, and quizzes.
Background and production
The show was produced by Cinema Vision India, the production company of Siddharth Kak, who also co-hosted and directed the series. Renuka Shahane joined as co-anchor and the on-screen pairing of Kak and Shahane became a defining feature of the show. The programme was telecast on Doordarshan, the national public broadcaster, at a time when private satellite channels were still emerging in India.
Format
- Feature stories: short documentary films on artisans, communities, monuments and traditions from different states.
- Studio links: Kak and Shahane introduced segments and provided context, often demonstrating objects sent in by viewers.
- Viewer participation: the show invited postcards from viewers carrying answers to questions or contributions on cultural topics. Surabhi is frequently cited as having generated one of the largest volumes of viewer mail received by any Indian television programme, prompting the Department of Posts to issue a special "competition postcard" to manage the response.
- Quizzes and contests: linked to themes featured in episodes.
Broadcast history
The series began on Doordarshan in the late 1980s and ran for over a decade, with breaks and format revisions. After a long original run on the national channel, the programme later moved to DD Metro before ending around 2001. Across its run, Surabhi produced several hundred episodes and visited locations across the length of India, from Himalayan villages to coastal towns in the south.
Reception and significance
Surabhi is considered a milestone in Indian non-fiction television. It received recognition for popularising heritage and cultural reporting in an accessible, family-oriented format and won multiple awards, including honours at the Indian Television Academy Awards and the Onida Pinnacle Awards in its category. The show is credited with introducing many viewers to regional traditions outside their own states and with creating a model for travel and culture programming subsequently adopted by other channels.
The careers of its hosts were significantly shaped by the programme. Renuka Shahane gained nationwide recognition through Surabhi, which ran parallel to her work in Hindi and Marathi cinema. Siddharth Kak became identified with cultural broadcasting in India through the series.
Legacy
Episodes and clips of Surabhi continue to circulate as archival material illustrating Indian crafts and customs of the 1990s. The show is often cited in discussions of Doordarshan's public-service programming and of the pre-liberalisation and early liberalisation era of Indian television.