THE STORY OF DORDARSHAN’S ICONIC LOGO, NOW IN CONTROVERSY OVER ITS COLOUR
The change in the colour of Doordarshan's logo from ruby red to saffron last week triggered criticism from opposition parties who accused the public broadcaster of adopting a colour closely associated with the ruling BJP, especially because the change was made in the middle of the election process.
Doordarshan (DD) said the change was only one of visual aesthetic, and officials pointed out that when the broadcaster went all-colour in the early 1980s, the logo was saffron on a green background.
This is the story of the evolution of the DD logo from its black and white days to the bright saffron of today.
DD's early days
An experimental broadcast started on September 15, 1959, using a small transmitter and a makeshift studio. Daily transmission began in 1965 as part of All India Radio. The TV service was extended to Mumbai and Amritsar in 1972, and to seven other states in 1975.
In those days of black and white transmission, the first logo, the 'DD Eye' as it was called, was colour-agnostic too. It was only during the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi that the logo went colour — orange or saffron against a dark green background, which was perhaps a nod to the colours of the National Flag.
The signature Doordarshan tune was composed by sitar virtuoso Pandit Ravi Shankar and the master shehnai player Ustad Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan, and was aired for the first time on April 1, 1976. Both the tune and logo went on to achieve iconic status with the audience.
The original 'Eye'
The original ‘Eye’ logo was designed by Devashis Bhattacharyya of the National Institute of Design (NID). The logo was picked by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (who was also Minister for Information & Broadcasting) in the early 1970s out of a few design options.
Bhattacharyya was working on a government project in Ahmedabad with eight friends from NID when Doordarshan was envisaged as a distinct entity separate from AIR. In an interview published five years ago, Bhattacharyya said he had designed the two curves, a variation of the classic depiction of yin and yang, the ancient Chinese philosophy of contradictory and inseparable opposites, which was one of 14 artworks that were initially submitted to his teacher.
The original design was fine-tuned through the 1980s and 1990s, and the revamp was led by students from NID. RL Mistry, who worked on animating the still logo, shot copies from various angles, and rotated them to create the final form of the DD Eye. Satyam Shivam Sundaram, the tagline in the initial versions of the logo, was removed in the later adaptations.
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2024-04-23T15:07:29Z dg43tfdfdgfd