On 23 March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown, until 14 April, to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country, which means all of us will be quarantined at home for some days to come.
On public demand Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar, announced the return of the late 80’s shows Ramayana and Mahabharat. Mukesh Khanna's show Shaktimaan, one of the most popular television serials in India in the 90’s, is also returning owing to huge public demand. Similarly, another popular show Chanakya is also lined up for re-telecast on DD Bharati in April.
There is a never-ending list of shows from the 90’s that people want to watch and one of them is Malgudi Days. Little Swami has been everyone’s favourite and so, we thought of reintroducing you to Swami aka Manjunath Nayaker who is now a father to a 10-year-old and living life away from the spotlight.
Manjunath Nayaker says he is reliving his school days with his son during this lockdown. And that he was around the same age as his son when he was offered Malgudi Days. The show was shot in Hindi and English but the 11-year-old Manjunath didn’t know either of these languages.
“A big challenge was that I didn’t know a word of Hindi or English. I had to literally learn that language, translate it in my brain into Kannada, understand what it is and then figure out the commas and full stops and then go through it twice.”Manjunath Nayaker, Swami from ‘Malgudi Days’
He even told us what was his son’s reaction when he got to know his father is Swami from Malgudi Days.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)