Known for its relatable content and simplistic approach, India’s first soap opera, Hum Log, completed 39 years recently. The actors who were part of the series reflect on how the show connected with Indian families and made them household names.

Aasif Sheikh fondly recalls the day when he went for the audition for a small part in Hum Log. The actor, who made his acting debut as Prince Ajay Singh in the show, recalls, “I had just finished school and joined theatre when I got to know about this show. Back then, the concept of a TV soap was like a dream for every actor. I was so nervous during the audition that I thought there was no way I could get it, but in the evening, I got a call that I had to go for rehearsals at Himachal Bhawan, and my character will be in the show for three episodes. And those three episodes extended to 60-70! As an actor, Hum Log was a great learning experience, I would say that it was a game-changer for me.

Hum Log was Kamiya Mulhotra’s first acting assignment and it was offered to her by the show’s writer Manohar Shyam Joshi, who also wrote Buniyaad. She says, “I had completed my schooling and expressed my desire to pursue an acting course to my parents. One day, my mother was going to meet a writer at a coffee house in CP and asked me to come along. The writer was Manohar Shyam Joshi. He asked me what I was doing, and I told him that I wanted to be an actor. He just looked at me and asked me, ‘main Indian TV ka pehla soap opera likh raha hu, tum kaam karogi?’ I was overjoyed. That’s how I started my acting career.”

Seema Pahwa, who played the character of Badki in Hum Log, says that she had her first taste of fame after the show. “The best part of that show was its honest and simplistic approach. It was a reflection of society and its issues back then, aur jis sachchai aur imaandaari se woh dikhaya gaya tha woh logo ko aaj bhi yaad hai. Hum uss show se pehli baar star bane thay. For the first time, people wanted to get clicked with us, take our autographs wherever we went. The kind of popularity we got was no less than what any film star would get in that era.”

She adds, “Those two years were a turning point in my life, behatareen din thay woh. Even today, for everyone who has watched Hum Log, I am still Badki. My kids asked me one day ki aapka naam Badki tha kya.”

Abhinav Chaturvedi, who played Nanhe in the show, says, “The best part of the show was its content, which no one could match till today. The show appealed to people of all age groups. It was everyone’s story and that is why people cancelled appointments, and parties were not hosted at that time just because they wanted to watch Hum Log. In fact, the cinema business was affected a great deal because people refused to go to 6 pm and 9 pm shows on Tuesdays and Saturdays as they wanted to watch Hum Log,” he adds.

- Hum Log was created on the lines of a Mexican TV series, Ven Conmigo (1975), using the education-entertainment methodology.

- It was shot in Delhi and Gurgaon.

- Special cars were arranged for Sushma Seth and Vinod Nagpal, who were senior actors on the show, while the rest of the cast used to travel in a van to the shooting location in Gurgaon.

- Each episode concluded with a message from Ashok Kumar (below), who reportedly received more than 400,000 letters from young viewers requesting him to convince their parents to let them marry the partner of their choice.

- As per reports, Ashok Kumar would wear sunglasses while shooting the epilogue, because he didn’t want the audience to know that he was reading from the teleprompter.