:            From one transmitter in 1958 to as many as 1,410 of them now, one studio in Delhi to 66 in 32 states. This is the story of India's  first-ever TV channel, Doordarshan, which is celebrating its golden jubilee on Today (15-09-2009). And one of the men behind this success is none other than Pune-based octogenarian Vasant Mulay.

        It was Mulay who, along with humorist P L Deshpande, established Doordarshan's first TV station in New Delhi 50 years ago. Speaking to TOI on Monday, he said, "In 1955, there was an industrial exhibition in Delhi where Philips imported some TV equipment and set up a stall and beamed some short clips. That was the first time we saw a TV set. The Indian government decided to keep this TV equipment in India. Then we set up a TV unit in 1958 and started experimenting." 

       It was a team of two to three people led by Mulay, which experimented with just one camera, a transmitter and 25 TV sets. The crew then started televising programmes, films from the Film Division and the American Embassy and transmitted the same to these 25 TV sets. "We became more ambitious and in 1959, we televised the Republic Day parade. We procured the equipment from the defence ministry on loan and televised the parade. Soon in April, the American government donated a studio equipment that was set up in Delhi and ready to transmit programmes," recalls the 82-year-old legend. 

        Meanwhile, P L Deshpande joined the team and started planning programmes, says Mulay, adding that the same year, in September, the team planned to transmit a one-hour live programme from the Akashwani Bhavan studio in Delhi. "However, on September 15, 1959, Doordarshan came into existence when actress Vaijayanti Mala's dance was telecast live. Besides, some programmes on social awareness and documentaries by the Film Division were transmitted that day," Mulay, who has completed his graduation in telecommunication engineering from Jabalpur College of Engineering, says. 

        Doordarshan became the public television broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati, a public service broadcaster nominated by the government of India. Thereafter, a regular four-hour programme between 7 pm and 11 pm was transmitted daily, says he. Meanwhile, the Indian government kept getting TV sets from various foreign organisations, including the American embassy and Unesco. These TV sets were distributed to people in and around Delhi. 

       Later, Mulay's team grew larger and it broadcast programmes such as Queen Elizabeth's visit to India and her address to the public on February 20, 1961 and the Ramlila performances. Technology progressed and the Doordarshan team even got a video tape recording equipment as a gift from the Ford Foundation, following which educational and music programmes were recorded and transmitted, smiles Mulay. When filmmaker Sai Paranjpe joined as a producer, she produced programmes for children and women, he adds. 

      According to Mulay, an outdoor broadcast (OB) van was acquired In 1969. "I had the privilege to interview prime minister Indira Gandhi at her residence for a German television, which then uplinked it to their news channel."  It was no looking back for Mulay. He developed expertise in setting up TV studios and in the early 1970s, the Indian government decided to set up a relay station at Sinhagad in Pune. A television training institute was established in Delhi, which was later shifted to Pune, which is now called the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). 
 
       In 1971, Mulay set up a TV station in Mumbai. Later, he set up a station at the Pune SNDT and after he retired, he helped set up Balchitrawani that produces programmes for schools now. He was also a consultant to the University of Pune for their Educational Media Research Centre (EMRC). 

    For the last 24 years, Mulay has been teaching TV engineering, video systems and audio-video engineering in several engineering colleges in the city. 


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Vasant Mulay one of the hundreds of employees whose professional excellence , amidst of so many constrains enabled Dooradarshan to script a glorious story of 50 years service to our Nation . 

Dooradarshan employees  are  now serving at most difficult and terrorist prone areas (close to LOC) with very little facilities. In some places no other civilian employees are deployed .

On this occasion FRIENDS OF PRASAR BHARATI salutes  all such brave citizens.