If I had to choose one word to describe the opening credits of the television show (then called programme) Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan (The Gardens Bloom with Endless Flowers) it would be: giddy. In contrast with Doordarshan’s state-ly pace, this montage of swans, bees and time-lapse blooming flowers had the rhythm of a flitting butterfly. It typified popular cinema as a garden of pleasures, a sensual variety show, like Nature. Giddy too was the presence of Tabassum, its anchor, exuding old-world adakari, all nayan matakka, mouth movements, exaggerated giggles, shayari and lateefay (a word I learned from the show). 

Tabassum anchored Indian television’s first talk show in 1972, featuring interviews with film personalities, interspersed with clips from their work. In state television’s spartan landscape the show, along with Chitrahar, made us into gulab jamuns, soaking up the intimacy with movie people, plump with abandonment and pleasure. Tabassum began as a child actor. Like many child actors, she was unable to transition to a successful adult career in films, but pivoted zestfully to a new medium, working in radio, television and social media through her lengthy career.