Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan

Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan (New Life (Urdu) New Life (Hindi)[notes 1]) was a BBC television programme broadcast from 1968 until 1982.

It was the first major programming for Hindi and Urdu-speaking viewers and represented the beginnings of regular broadcasting in the UK for non-native English speakers. Until that point, all BBC programmes had assumed an English- or Welsh-speaking audience.

Each programme included domestic and international news (including that from the Indian sub-continent). Also included were cultural and current affairs interviews, and performances of music. It was presented by (amongst others) Mahendra Kaul and Saleem Shahed.

Usually broadcast at the beginning of programmes on BBC1 on Sundays, it was occasionally repeated on BBC2 during the week. It was produced in Birmingham. By the time of its demise in April 1982, the BBC Asian Programmes Unit (APU) was a well-established provider of Asian-language programmes across the BBC network.

Asian programming on BBC television began at 9:00am on Sunday 10 October 1965 on BBC One with In Logon Se Miliye meaning "Let me introduce you to these people".[1] In January 1966 this was replaced with Apna Hi Ghar Samajhiye meaning "Make Yourself At Home", which also ran on Sunday mornings on BBC Radio 4. By 1968 this programme was replaced on television with Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan.

In 1977, a companion programme aimed programme for Asian women, Gharbar, was launched. The programme had only been intended to run for 26 weeks but continued for ten years, finally ending in April 1987.[2]

A tribute to the television programme appears on the top-twenty album Community Music (2000) by electronica band Asian Dub Foundation. The lyrics to the fourth song on the album, "New Way, New Life", credited to numerous members of the band, describe growing up in families of Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan fans.

Notes

  1. ↑ The title was often incorrectly translated as 'New Way, New Life'

References

  1. ↑ "Immigrants feel at home with BBC". BBC On This Day. 1965-10-04. Retrieved 16 May 2009.
  2. ↑ BBC Genome Project BBC2 listings 19 October 1977
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