Doordarshan completes 50 this year. To commemorate the milestone, Chennai Doordarshan organised a cultural extravaganza recently at Narada Gana Sabha. The event was telecast live on Podhigai. S. Jagathrakshakan, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, presided.
The programme commenced with a speech by the Governor of Tamil Nadu Surjit Singh Barnala, and the Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam and S.Ve. Shekher were felicitated for their contribution to the channel. P.V. Krishnamurthy, first Director General of Doordarshan, and N.S. Ganesan, engineering in-chief of Doordarshan, were also felicitated.
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The highlight of the event was the dance ballet titled 'Endrendrum Podhigai' that showcased the milestones of DD. The lyrics were specially written for the occasion by Dr. V.V.Subramanian. The music was composed by music director Ramesh Vinayakam and the choreography was by Radhika Shurajit.
More entertainment was provided by a comedy play 'Krishna', by 'Crazy' Mohan, Balaji and troupe. Playback singers Saindhavi, Mathangi, Roshni, Srilekha Parthasarathy, Sathyan, Prasanna and Mukesh belted out melodious songs.
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August 15, 1975, was a Red Letter Day for the residents of Chennai as that day, the television centre was inaugurated. The year 1982 witnessed the introduction of a regular satellite link between Delhi and other transmitters, the commencement of National programmes and Doordarshan (DD) switching over to colour transmission.
Another memorable event in the State's television history was the inauguration of 'Second Channel' (DD2) of Chennai Doordarshan on July 1, 1988, when people could watch Tamil programmes telecast from Chennai Kendra.
Podhigai, Chennai Doordarshan's 24-hour satellite channel, was formally inaugurated on January 15, 2000. The channel has been described as a package of 'infotainment programmes.'