Indian Sherlock Holmessss...

Have you ever given it a thought as to where have the classic veteran detectives disappeared from the small screen and never came back in punar janam? Where have the thrills gone? In the 90s era, detective serials like Karamchand, Byomkesh Bakshi, Tehqiqaat, Hello Inspector etc were an integral part of our growing up.

But today, except for CID who earns the major chunk of TRPs amongst other players in the same genre like special squad, DON - Detective Omkar Nath or Mr. & Mrs. MIshra (names you might have not even heard of), there aren’t any detective serials left that could match up to the Karamchand or Byomkesh Bakshi standards that ruled the roost in Indian television in the 90s. The channels are so busy warring with the saas-bahu and reality shows TRPs that it makes you think that has the detective thriller genre died?

The advantage that yesteryear’s detective serials have over the current crop of publicity hungry serials are the strongly etched characters that leave an unending impression in your mind and take you back to good ol'days with a smile on your face instantly. Be it the computer minded Pankaj Kapur pacing around hastily to solve the case in a jiffy along with his carrot munching assistant – Kitty aka Sushmita Mukherjee in the show Karamchand or Byomkesh Bakshi (the Indian Sherlock Holmes), whose mere mention brings to your mind a no nonsense, dhoti-kurta clad, strong Bengali character –immortalised by Rajat Kapur. Then there was Tehqiqaat with Vijay Anand playing the cool-headed, intelligent eccentric detective in typical black-goggles and black coat.

Then came CID with believable characters, simple narrative technique minus any camera gimmicks. Also the show was on a different track showing the role of a Government agency in solving dangerous crimes. Btw ek raaz ki baat – I find Inspector Daya played by Dayanand Shetty very cute. I have a crush on him :) Mummy ko mat batana. He he he. The serial is still continuing to thrill and entertain the audience for the past 11 years and has become a part of Friday ritual (that’s when the serial is aired).

Let’s hope that we get to see some more of these Who-dun-it!! kinds of shows. Till then happy nail-biting…