Malgudi Days (TV series)

Malgudi Days is an Indian television series based on the eponymous

works of R. K. Narayan. The series was directed by Kannada actor and Malgudi Days
director Shankar Nag. Carnatic musician L. Vaidyanathan composed
the score. R. K Narayan's younger brother and acclaimed cartoonist R.
K. Laxman was the sketch artist.[1] The series was made in 1986 by film
producer T. S. Narasimhan with Anant Nag as the lead actor.[2]

Contents
History
Episodes
Episode 1: A Hero
Episode 2: A Horse and Two Goats
Episode 3: The Missing Mail
Episode 4: The Hoard
Episode 5: The Jug Spirit
Episode 6: The Missing Necklace
Episode 7: Old Man of the Temple DVD Cover of Malgudi Days
Cast Created by R.K. Narayan
References Directed by Shankar Nag
External links
Country of India
origin
Original Hindi
History language(s)
The series Malgudi Days comprising thirty nine episodes was first No. of episodes 54
telecast on Doordarshan in 1987. Subsequently, reruns were aired on
Production
Doordarshan, Sony Entertainment Television, and MAA Television
Running time 22 minutes
dubbed in Telugu. Most of the series was shot in Agumbe village in
Shimoga district, Karnataka[3][4]. Some episodes were filmed in Release
Bengaluru and some others in Devarayanadurga located in Tumakuru Original DD National, Sony
district in Karnataka[5]. Episode number 22, "Nitya", was shot entirely network TV, TV Asia
in Devarayanadurga. [6] In 2004, the project was revived with film-
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
maker Kavitha Lankesh replacing Shankar Nag as director. [1] The new
series was telecast from 26 April 2006 on Doordarshan. [7]

Most of the stories in the series are one episode long. The stories were derived from the books A Horse and Two Goats,
Malgudi Days, Swami and Friends and The Vendor of Sweets.
Swami and Friends revolves around the life of 10-year-old Swaminathan or Swami as he is better known. Swami
portrays the growing-up pangs of a boy who despises school, plays truant and roams around Malgudi with his friends
instead. Swami's father works as an Advocate and his mother is a housewife. At home, Swami shares his adventures
with his aged grandmother who lovingly addresses him as "Chamy". Swami has two close friends; Rajam, the son of the
police chief, and Mani. Swami's character was played by Manjunath, who acted in many of Shankar Nag's productions.

The Vendor of Sweets narrates the story of sweet vendor Jagan, his business and confrontation with his son who had
returned from abroad. Most of the actors cast in this TV serial were from the Kannada film industry.

Episodes

Episode 1: A Hero
Ten-year-old Swami lives in Malgudi with his parents and grandmother. His father reads about the bravery of a boy
almost his age in the newspaper, and wants Swami to do something similar. Swami sleeps with his grandmother after
listening to a story told by her. Annoyed by this habit of his, Swami's father forces him to sleep in his office. When
Swami tells his friends about the ordeal, they warn him about a ghost who lives near the office. Asleep in his father's
office, Swami gets a nightmare about the ghost and wakes up with a start. He spots an intruder breaking into the office.
Mistaking him for the ghost, Swami grabs the intruder's leg and yells for help. The members of the household rush
inside the office and nab the intruder. The police tell Swami that the intruder was a thief wanted by the police and
congratulate him. The incident is subsequently published in the Malgudi Times.

Episode 2: A Horse and Two Goats

Muni is a very poor man living in Malgudi with his wife. Every day he takes his two goats to graze near an old statue of
a horse. One day Muni's wife asks him to buy some food, but Muni doesn't have any money. He goes to the grocer's
shop only to be thrown out because he has unsettled debts. The same night, his wife tells him about a corpse found
near the village well. She is afraid to go out for fear of the police. The next day when Muni takes his goats out to graze,
he spots a motor car. A white man from New York steps out of the car and tries to speak with Muni in English, but he
does not understand a word of it. Muni thinks that he is a policeman who has come for the corpse and starts telling his
suspicions about other people. The conversation carries on with neither man understanding each other. The tourist
then examines the statue of the horse and makes an offer to buy it. Muni misunderstands it as an offer for his goats and
is reluctant but when the American offers a hundred rupees, Muni relents. When he gets home he surprises his wife
with the money and tells her that he sold off the goats. When they hear the bleating of their goats outside they find the
goats in their yard with the statue gone.

Episode 3: The Missing Mail

Thanappa is the village mailman who knows everyone and knows everyone's business by virtue of reading the
recipients their mail. Over the years he becomes good friends with Ramanujam and his family. He watches
Ramanujam's daughter Kamakshi grow up and meets Ramanujam's brother. When Kamakshi comes of age, Thanappa
helps the family find a suitable match by telling them about a failed matchmaking attempt involving another family in
Malgudi. The young suitor and Kamakshi are compatible and the wedding is arranged for the 20th, the last day before
the young man leaves for two years of training. If the wedding isn't held by that date, it won't take place at all.
Two days before the wedding, Thanappa is given an urgent letter to deliver to Ramanujam informing him of his
brother's serious illness. Thanappa goes to the house, but amidst the gaiety of the wedding preparation, decides not to
deliver the letter. The next day a telegram arrives informing Ramanujam of his brother's death. Thanappa again delays
delivering the message. The wedding proceeds. Two days later Thanappa delivers the bad news to Ramanujam, with
his sincere apologies.

Episode 4: The Hoard

Gopinath is the village miser who cares more about money than his own family. He never spends a rupee when he
doesn't have to. One day in an indulgent mood he takes his grandson to see a movie. He won't spend money on sweets,
telling the boy they are not good for him. While Gopinath finds the movie entertaining, the boy is bored and sneaks out
of the theater to meet his friends to play cricket. Gopinath eventually realizes the boy is missing and goes in search of
him. Suddenly his money is of no benefit, as he searches fruitlessly for the boy. He buys a packet of sweets for him and
even pays homage to the gods, promising to offer a whole coconut if the boy is found. When darkness falls, he makes
his way back to his daughter's house and struggles to find the words to explain the situation. Just as he is about to
admit his mistake, his grandson comes bouncing into the house joyous at having won his cricket match.

Episode 5: The Jug Spirit

Seth is a merchant and a grocer who also owns a boarding house filled with tenants who constantly complain about his
tight-fisted ways. One of his tenants, an exorcist, makes a living by removing evil spells and spirits from afflicted
individuals. Merchandise is disappearing from Seth's shop. While Seth suspects a thief, the trap he sets up reveals that
the shop is overrun with rats. The exorcist suggests that Seth get a cat to stop the thievery. One night Seth is aroused
from his sleep by a tremendous racket caused by a brass jug flying around the shop. Seth pleads with the exorcist for
help. When the exorcist diagnoses a jug spirit as the source for the problems and enters the darkened shop to rid it of
the demon, he is struck by the jug, which lands on the floor and releases a cat that was caught inside. As the cat and the
exorcist emerge from the shop, Seth ridicules the exorcist that only a cat was in the jug. The exorcist acknowledges that
a cat was in the jug, but then asks, "But what was in the cat..?"

Episode 6: The Missing Necklace

Leela's mother Kamala works hard around the home. When she complains to her husband to find domestic help, Sidda
overhears it and offers to work as their servant. Leela instantly takes a liking for Sidda and begs her parents to hire
him. He works hard and becomes a favorite of Leela. One day Kamala sends Sidda to the market, and Leela begs to go
along. When they return, Kamala notices that Leela's necklace is missing. She questions Sidda, who does not answer
her accusations but instead leaves the home. Kamala tells her husband, who reports the incident to the police. The
police locate Sidda and take him to Leela's house, where Kamala and her husband again confront him. Sidda maintains
his innocence, but is taken away by the police for questioning. Later, Kamala finds the necklace in a jar in the kitchen.
Leela's father decides that Leela must not be given any more jewellery to wear, and decides to let the police know about
the discovery the next day. Meanwhile, the police continue to beat up Sidda to extract a confession.

Episode 7: Old Man of the Temple

The 'talkative man' joins his friends at the town square and begins to gosspi about the local driver, Daas. While
everyone seems to agree that Daas is a wonderful driver and handyman, the talkative man insists that, despite this, he
knows a tale which will show good old Daas in a bizarre light. To prove his point, he begins narrating a story from the
time he used to work in Kumbam, a town near Malgudi. On his way back he says he had used Daas as the driver.

He was fast asleep when Daas swerved through a mud path and almost rammed the car near an old and abandoned
temple. On waking up and inquiring about the incident Daas started telling the talkative man about how he was trying
to avoid hitting the old man. The talkative man found no one in sight. Just as they were about to leave the place a
relatively young Daas undergoes a weird transformation. He starts to talk and walk about like an old man who he
claims was the builder of the temple. He even starts to call himself Krishna Bhattar. This scares the talkative man a
little but he keeps his wits about him. He continues to humor Daas (now in the old man's personality) and extracts
information on how he died 500 years ago while crossing the forest one night. To get the old man's spirit out of Daas
the talkative man reminds him about his wife Seeta, whom he loved dearly, and convinces him to leave Daas and go
back to her. As the old man's spirit leaves Daas, the talkative man and people living nearby help Daas back.

The story ends with the talkative man trying hard to convince his listeners about how, without a drop of alcohol on
him, Daas sounded weird and absurd that night. Suddenly, they all spot Daas walking in the distance and to test his
theory the talkative man yells, "Krishna Bhattar! O Krishna Bhattar!" to which Daas does not respond. The talkative
man turns around to his listeners and says, "See?"

Cast
Master Manjunath as W. S. Swaminathan (Swami)
Girish Karnad as Swami's father
Vaishali Kasaravalli as Swami's mother
Suhasini Adarkar as Swami's grandmother
Kanti Madiya as Muniya (Muni)
B. Jayashree as Muniya's wife
Somu as Shopkeeper
Teddy White as tourist from New York, US
Deven Bhojani as Nitya (Episode 22)
Harish Patel as Gopinath (Episode 53)
Anant Nag in various roles (Episodes 9-16, 24, 31, 33, 45 and 54)
Dada (Episodes 30 and 31)
Vishnuvardhan (Episode 49)
Shankar Nag (Episodes 39 and 40)
Ramesh Bhat in various roles
Padmini Sirish

References
1. "The return of Malgudi Days" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080415182433/http://in.rediff.com/movies/2006/jul
/21malgudi.htm). Rediff. 21 July 2006. Archived from the original (http://in.rediff.com/movies/2006/jul
/21malgudi.htm) on 15 April 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
2. "Classics from Karnataka" (https://web.archive.org/web/20100326134554/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/02/09
/stories/2004020900900200.htm). The Hindu. 9 February 2004. Archived from the original (http://www.hindu.com
/mp/2004/02/09/stories/2004020900900200.htm) on 26 March 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
 3. Riti, M.D. (16 May 2001). " 'You acted exactly as I imagined Swami to be' " (http://www.rediff.com/news/2001
/may/16spec.htm). The Rediff Special. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
4. "The Malgudi that is Agumbe" (http://www.hindu.com/mag/2011/02/20/stories/2011022050370800.htm). The
Hindu. 20 February 2011.
5. "Memories of Malgudi" (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/Memories-of-Malgudi/articleshow
/54875456.cms). The Times of India. 16 October 2016.
6. "Episode 22, Nitya" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gURphvnmDGQ). Youtube. 12 October 2016.
7. "Malgudi Days on DD1" (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/malgudi-days-on-
dd1/article3218097.ece). The Hindu. 12 May 2006. Retrieved 2 October 2016.

External links
Malgudi Days (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244911/) on IMDb

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Malgudi_Days_(TV_series)&oldid=820325971"

This page was last edited on 14 January 2018, at 05:03.

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