Superhit Muqabla

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In the 90's, Sunday nights meant Superhit Muqabla on DD Metro. This was the brainchild of Harish Thawani of the Nimbus Group. In those days there were no sms-es and therefore the number one song every week was selected through, hold your breath, Postcard-polls. Even I once sent a postcard. In those days Baba Sehgal, as a VJ in this musical countdown show, had become the most popular entertainer in India. He rocked us with the song Dil Dhadke and its music video featuring Pooja Bedi had become a rage. Baba Sehgal with his fast-talks, raps and his sense of humour became a phenomenal success in the early 90's. Even Shah Rukh Khan as a guest VJ with all his tomfoolery was no match for Baba Sehgal! 

Then there was Apache Indian too. 

Also some obscure guy named Style-Bhai had become a one hit wonder. Daler Mehndi gave us the earthy rustic feel of rural Punjab. The music director Biddu was back with newer music videos of old songs. Remakes and remixes were the order of the day. And then Alisha Chinoy created history with Made in India. 

I also loved Colonial-Cousins very much. From the 80's, Doordarshan showcased the talents of names like Sharon Prabhakar, Gurdaas Mann, Penaz Masani etc. With the 90's, names like Ila Arun, Anaida, Suchitra Krishnamurthi, Suneeta Rao, Shaan and Sagarika, Rageshwari, Shweta Shetty, Bally Sagoo and many more came up. Palash Sen made us euphoric with his band. And finally there was the one and only Amitabh Bachchan with Aby Baby. Remember Ek Rahen Eer?  

During the early part of the 90's, Michael Jackson was supposed to come to India and perform at Bombay. India was witnessing Michael-mania in anticipation of his arrival. Kruttika Desai as a VJ of Superhit Muqabla was damn smoking hot. In one funny scripted episode, most probably shot in Singapore, she was trying very hard to get an interview of Michael Jackson. She even 'pataoed' MJ's bodyguard. However she failed to gain access for the interview. She came back to her hotel room, got sad, depressed and kept on sulking. Suddenly she saw Michael Jackson standing at her door. She fainted! 

However this India tour was later cancelled by MJ due to health reasons and subsequently many Indian hearts were broken, including mine. Found this picture in the internet : 

Here are some of my favourite non-filmi songs which I used to relish on Superhit Muqabla : 

And here is an interesting trivia. Superhit Muqabla used to play only Bollywood and Indipop songs. But only once the show had included the title track of a Doordarshan serial named Kismat in its countdown. But it was no coincidence that the serial was produced by the same company that made the Countdown Show. Here is that soulful song sung by Sanu : 

If I remember correctly then this serial Kismat had its own music album which was launched in the mid 90's. 

And here are some of my favourite filmi songs from Superhit Muqabla. Hardly hear these songs anywhere nowadays, though in those days these songs were chartbusters : 

To counter the growing popularity of Superhit Muqabla, other Countdown Shows started erupting like mushrooms in monsoon. BPL Oye appeared on Channel V. Philips Top Ten emerged on Zee TV. Also Ek Se Badkar Ek came on DD1 and All The Best aired on DD Metro. But none could match the magic created by Superhit Muqabla. It was so popular that it launched its own Superhit Muqabla Awards and artists from the music industry would almost kill each other to win this award. Plus its own title track proved to be immensely popular. And again there was Baba Sehgal with his pep-talks and his raps and his coolness and his Yo-Yo attitude... 

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