# Malgudi Days (1987)

> Gentle, witty tales of ordinary people in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi, adapted from R. K. Narayan's stories.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/14177

## Facts

- Seasons: 4
- Episodes: 54
- Episode runtime: 22 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, family
- Created by: Shankar Nag, Girish Karnad
- Network: DD National
- Cast: Manjunath, Girish Karnad, Anant Nag, Shankar Nag, Vaishali Kasaravalli, Raghuram Sitaram, Rohit Srinath, Vishnuvardhan
- TMDB rating: 9.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244911/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: gentle, witty, warm, ironic, wistful, nostalgic

## Synopsis

Malgudi Days (1987-2006) is an Indian literary television anthology created by Shankar Nag and Girish Karnad for DD National. Adapted from R. K. Narayan's short stories and novels, it spans four seasons and fifty-four episodes of roughly twenty-two minutes each. Rather than a single plot, the series moves from one self-contained tale to the next, following schoolboys, shopkeepers, servants, postmen, astrologers and wandering performers in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. Manjunath plays the schoolboy Swami, whose boyhood escapades and family life with his father, played by Girish Karnad, anchor the recurring warmth of the show. Anant Nag and Shankar Nag appear across many stories, lending continuity to a cast of small-town characters. Each episode is a modest engine of everyday desire and friction: a wish for a new cricket bat, a rivalry at school, a modest trade gone wrong, a superstition that tests a household. The tone is gentle, witty and wise, with irony and social observation balancing tenderness. Viewers drawn to literary adaptations, nostalgic family television and humane storytelling will feel at home. Fans of The Wonder Years, Northern Exposure and The Twilight Zone will find resonance in its small-community warmth and episodic moral observation.

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