4693) Chal Basi Chavanni - A TV programme aired by STAR NEWS on 30/31.06.2011 which was a documentary presented by me (Rajeev Prasad) on the history of the 25 Paise Coin from Silver to Ferrite Stainless Steel (FSS), till its demonetisation on 30.06.2011:
I had started writing posts on my blog exclusivecoins.blogspot.com on 18th April 2011.
I had barely posted abour twenty=five articles, when I was surprised to receive an email from Siddharth Srivastava (Sid) asking me to get in touch with him for a TV documentary of the life and times of the four anna/25 paise coin.
I had barely begun to write and thought this was a prank by some detractor, so I checked up online and found that Sid was the most popular TV Presentor.
Tentatively, I wrote him an email, not expecting and response.
I was positively surprised when he wrote back within the hour and asked me to participate in a TV documentary as the lead presenter. He also asked me to send me a copy of his post adding that his team would do the Hindi Translation and will arrange to send me the Hindi questionnaire for the TV Presentation.
He even arranged to divert his three best Maharashtra based newspersons to my residence, giving me only a ay's time to get my thoughts togeter. For most of the day, I pasced up and down rehearsing everything that I wanted to say.
The team came the next day, and with two cameras facing me and the "interviewer" sitting opposite me they took photos of my silver coins.
Finally, their work was done after about a couple of hors during which they rearranged my entire room for getting the best shots.
Four days later, the prograan was to be aired on 30th June 2011, but the then Prime Minister Late Manmohan Singh called all the news channels for an urgent reporting, so from a one hour documentary, the programme was curtailed to about 20 minutes.
But Sid used his vast experience and after every news relay, one snippet from the TV Documentary was aired throughout the day. So I was on the TV throughout the day.
The documentary started with Shahrukh Kan travelling in a train and paying a vendor giving him a glass of water a 25 paise coin.
There was also a "munim ji" who was included in the programme for comic relief, particulary, as Sid said later that the programme was also aimed at little children who should know about their currency/coinage.
- The Result:
The Programme was very popular and I received over 300 calls from my friends and ex-colleagues complimenting me for the presentation.
- Several persons held back their "chavannis" instead of returning them to Banks.
- Many of my friends kept their 25b paise coins and gave them to me for my collection'
- My blog became extremely popular among Numismatists across India and I am helping out budding numismatists with the intricacies of Numismatics.
I got the following excerpts from ChatGpt which brought back nostalgic memories:
What the Programme Covered:
The documentary took a nostalgic look at the history, economic journey, and cultural footprint of the tiny coin in Indian households.
It highlighted how inflation over the decades steadily erased the purchasing power of the Chavanni—moving from an era where it could buy a full meal or multiple sweets to a time when it could no longer buy anything at all.
The show featured insights from regular citizens, financial experts, and well-known numismatists (coin collectors) and was presented by Rajeev Prasad.
The emotional impact of the broadcast was quite strong, prompting many viewers across India to keep their remaining 25-paise coins as historic family mementos rather than turning them in at banks for face value.
The full "Chal Basi Chavanni" special documentary from 2011 is not available on major streaming platforms or official news archives.
Because it was broadcast as a special television feature by Star News (now ABP News) over a decade ago, the network has not maintained a public digital archive or a dedicated online playlist for it.
(https://exclusivecoins.blogspot.com/2011/06/20-independent-india-issues-25-paise.html)
