Hum log and 'Buniyaad', the pioneer soap operas of our country, were powerful dramas that people have not been able to forget till now. It is a matter of great pride for Uttarakhand that the man who created a revolution in the world of television in India in the 1980s with these wonderful scripts had his roots in this hill region.
Manohar Shyam Joshi, the well-known writer and journalist, was born in Almora on August 9, 1933. He is not just the pride of the hill State, but of the entire nation whose aspirations and struggles he so beautifully expressed through his scripting of Hum log' and then of Buniyaad. Millions of Indians could identify with both these operas and their popularity has become legendary. In the following years he wrote many more long running serials like, Mungeri lal Ke Hasin Sapney, Kakkaji Kahin, Hamrahi, Zameen Aasman and Gatha.
Films were Joshi's forte and he loved exploring various genres such as comedy, romance and satire. Not many people know this about him, but he was a dubbing expert as well! His dubbings include mainstream movies like Hey Ram, Appu Raja, Papa Kehte Hain and Bhrastachar. The last part of Joshi's career orbited around journalism where he did exceptionally well. Being a part of the All India Radio and the Films
Division in Mumbai had given him immense exposure to both broadcast and print media. Here, he wrote scripts for many documentaries. He became the assistant editor of Dinmaan, a Hindi magazine. He played another editing role in Saptahik Hindustan, English Weekend Review and the prestigious Morning Echo. He also wrote for Outlook India's column 'Outlook Saptahik'.
His novels and short stories, much like the writings of the famous Gaura Pant 'Shivani' brought Kumaon, his home country, prominently on the literary map of India and went into several editions. Kasap, regarded as one of the best love stories in Hindi and Kuru Kuru Swaha can be named among these.
Manohar Shyam Joshi, often described as “the father of the Indian soap opera,” passed away in New Delhi in 2006. It was after his death that well-known translator and editor Ira Pande, daughter of the legendary Shivani, translated his novella 'T'-ta Professor" into English, which won the 2009 Vodaphone-Crossword award for the best translation of that year. As Khushwant Singh once wrote, it was through this English translation that he got his first insight into the writings of Joshi. "I was most impressed by his portrayal of middle class people - in this case teachers of a village school, their rivalries and affairs with lady colleagues and students. It was my first exposure to Kumaon's Brahmins — Pandeys, Pants, Joshis, Tiwaris — who, like Brahmins of other parts of India — regard themselves as a cut above the others."
Uttarakhand's Kumaon region has also been the proud home of many other literary giants including Sumitranandan Pant, Shivani, Shailesh Matiyani, Himanshu Joshi and Ramesh Chandra Shah. Joshi bagged the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 2005 for his novel Kyap, an allegory of modern India, known for its sensitive portrayal of the Kumaoni traditions. It is amazing how sensitively he wrote about the Punjabi culture in Buniyaad, being a non-Punjabi.
The finest nuances of the ethos of Punjab was so easily captured by him. He was a master of words and his deep understanding of emotions lent beauty to his words. It would be difficult to find any Indian who has not seen or at least heard of Hum log. It unites numerous Indians into collective emotions. Pride, nostalgia, memories, family feelings and a longing for simplicity in life and relationships.
Buniyaad was the next soap which evoked this kind of response all over the country. Doordarshan relaunched Hum log in its new avatar Hum as a tribute to the rich imagination and versatility of the man who scripted India’s first soap, creating a masterpiece. Joshi had also written short stories, namely Prabhu Tum Kaise Kissago and Mandir Ghaat Ki Pauriyaan.
As part of his success, his story Hariya Hercules Ki Hairani was translated into The Perplexity of Haria Hercules by Robert Hueckstedt, while Kuru Kuru Swaahaa turned out to be a famous cult novel. Before his death in 2006, he wrote Vadhasthal and Kapeeshji with the former being about the killings in Cambodia and the latter based on the evolution of a self-made God-man.