Dadi Maa Jagi is a Hindi television show that used to air on the Doordarshan television channel. Doordarshan is the National television that caters to the Hindi speaking crowd all over India. This television show used to air every Friday at 9.15 PM on the Doordarshan Channel. The other programs on Doordarshan were considered very boring when compared to Dadi Maa Jagi. The television show revolved around a funny, fascinating Dadi (grandmother) and her array of servants and family members. Each episode of Dadi Maa Jagayi lasted for around half an hour. It was the dialogues that were written for the characters and their brilliant delivery that made the show interesting to watch.
In this television show, Dadi Maa or grandmother goes to sleep for a long time, a time span of a few years, but when she wakes up, she wakes up to the change of society. Her waking up signifies her embracing the transformations that took place in society in the time span of a few years. Despite being the older one in the family, she accepts the social changes in a better manner than other younger members of the family. She helps her family adapt to these changes by allowing them to look at the world from her standing.
In one episode, dadi defies all instances of class difference and arranges the marriage of her grandson with the gardener’s daughter. This allows the gardener to get her daughter to marry without the burden of dowry and into a family that he knows well. In another instance, her other granddaughter runs away from her in-law's house when she learns of a plan hatched to burn her. When she returns home in fear, Dadi hatches the in-law's plan, and the in-laws come begging for mercy.
In another such case, the Dadi builds a hospital in the village with all her wealth so that her granddaughter can practice medicine and at the same time help the villagers who are in dire need for a hospital in their locality. The Dadi Maa is the social figure who with her forward mentality and her new-aged thinking leads the entire family to help themselves and the society they live in to become more progressive and developed. This television show was advanced of its time and was a breath of fresh air for the audience. Dadi Maa Jagi is a metaphor for her ideas awakening a generation.