The era of lengthy Indian soap operas with 1000 episodes has faded into the past. In India, the television landscape has embraced a blend of soap opera elements and seasonal formats. Just twenty years ago, it was commonplace for shows to exceed 1000 episodes. However, in the present day, most shows conclude after a couple of hundred episodes, only to make a comeback a few months later as a new “Volume 2.”
Despite this trend, there exists a singular TV show that has defied this pattern. Spanning a continuous run of over 56 years, it holds the title of being the world’s longest-running live-action TV programme. Remarkably, it isn’t one of the anticipated contenders in this category.
Have you guessed which show has achieved this feat? No, it’s not one of your usual sagas, Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah or KBC or any reality show!
The show we’re talking about is the agricultural programme “Krishi Darshan,” which was broadcast on Doordarshan in 1967. Over its impressive 56-year duration, this non-fiction show has amassed approximately 16,700 episodes, earning it the distinction of being the world’s lengthiest live-action television programme running, surpassing even prominent American soap operas like “Guiding Light” (with 15,762 episodes) and “General Hospital” (with 15,081 episodes).
When considering the count of episodes, the title for the longest-running show goes to the German animated series “Sandmännchen,” which boasts of an astonishing 22,000 episodes in its repertoire.
Debuting on January 26, 1967 on Doordarshan as a part of the Indian government’s experimental television broadcasting, “Krishi Darshan” initially aired in 80 villages in the vicinity of Delhi. However, its popularity quickly led to a nationwide expansion. The show aired on DD National from 1967 to 2015 before transitioning to a new channel- DD Kisan. The programme’s primary objective is to provide rural and farming communities with valuable agricultural insights and knowledge.
Following “Krishi Darshan,” the next longest-running Indian shows were “Chitrahaar” with an impressive 12,000 episodes, and “Rangoli” with a significant count of 11,000 episodes. Shifting to the realm of soap operas, the list of long-running shows is led by “Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai” with a total of 4152 episodes, followed by “Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah” at 3842 episodes, and “Kumkum Bhagya” with 2562 episodes.
Have you watched any episodes of Krishi Darsha? If not yet, then you must watch at least some episodes of the series and try to understand how and what made this series the longest running TV show from India.
