PROJEKT iVIEW : The awesomeness of BR Chopra’s Mahabharatha
iVIEW AUTHOR:
Dabba (New York, USA)
email: withheld
I loved B.R.Chopra’s Mahabharatha growing up (still do and own it) and
want to stake a claim that I have seen the entire series more times
than anyone else. Other than my mother. But really, 17 times when I
was growing up. The entire series. 12 times in hindi, and 5 times in 3
other languages. But now that I am 29, I have seen it several more
times since. Every time I watch it, I pick up another facet of the
tale, another character’s importance in the grand scheme of things and
most importantly how they relate to me from a tween to an adult. It is
also THE influence in my appreciation of stories, and growth now as a
filmmaker. You say La Dolce Vita, I say Mahabharatha. It’s all good
y’all.
I have always loved The Mahabharata from the Amar Chitra Katha days,
but this series is truly fantastic. I loved learning about all the
other characters besides the Pandavas and Kauravas and the main royal
family. As for the source material, for a debut epic, Ved Vyasa was a
bit of alright not to mention his assistant Ganesha’s ability to write
it all down in one life time.
Leave aside the production design and special effects of the televised
version. Everything else is top notch. The storytelling and the
Acting. Fantastic. Yes, I’m lauding the acting of a day time Indian
telly show from 1991. Aside — I ran into the actor that plays the
Arjuna part in a gym in Bandra about 3 years ago, got him to sign my
sweaty shirt for lack of paper and discussed with him my favorite
episodes. Sweet. He rather liked it…
Anyways, back to the series. Voice Over by Samay in a tale about gods
and humans? Brilliant! In mankind’s eternal need for understanding the
space-time continuum, my man BR integrated quantum physics and
answered the question that arises in Stephen Hawking’s book “What was
God doing before He created the Universe?”; My answer based on the
Mahabharatha is, God was battling Time.
Mahabharatha as a whole is a tremendous work of art, and combines
myth, gods, humans and ultimately the prominent philosophy and beliefs
of the day in one grand epic. I don’t think they ever show temples
(curious aside) in the series. They did not sermonize and the story is
dramatized and structured to bring different arguments out for any
particular ethical/philosophical/legal quandary.
I present one such. How Draupadi came to ‘marry’ all 5 Pandavas.
For whatever strategic reasons, she was to be Arjun’s wife cos Arjun
was always the
bowslinger, quick to draw and pet of God (Krssna–I have seen this
spelling in some respected literature, it’s so weird, I had to use it)
and he “won” her or she chose him in the swayamwara or something. I’m
not interested in those details. I’m interested in what happens after.
I think this is when the boys and Mama are in hiding/exile.
Mama is busy cooking a meal for her boys (like all good mamas
and some papas). The boys come in and Yudi being the oldest is bursting with
pride and wants to announce the good news and make Mama happy.
Yudi: Mama, Look WHAT we brought you?
Mama is busy in the kitchen (that kichchidi doesn’t cook itself biyaatch) and
without turning around says,
Mama: Go ahead and share it.
Cue in close ups and melodramatic music. Pandavas think, fuck, did she really
mean that? Nakul-Sahadev are like, sweet. Arjun is pissed. Yudi tries
to reason and tells Mama to look around. Mama turns and
dheeendheeendheeen CLOSE UP. What’s a mother to do?
Somehow Krssna shows up there. Hmmmm. You lads are on a sticky wicket.
First, the chastisement of the boys. To Yudi and the rest of the boys -
Krssna: Why did you say What?
Yudi: What?
Krssna: Who.
Yudi: Who what?
Krssna’s enjoying this, smiles his sweet Vrindavan smile.
Yudi: Who? What? WHAT?!? Arjun, you talk to him.
Arjun: Prabhu, What?
Krssna: Exactly.
Everyone is upset Montage — Yudi pretends to be lost in thought.
Arjun looks longingly at Draupadi.
Nakul-Sahadev also yearn for Drupad’s daughter, eye each other and wink.
Bheema watches the kichchidi overflowing from the pot to the dirty floor.
Kunti gives a saas-bahu look to you know who.
Draupadi has remained SILENT the entire time while there is a furore over her.
Mama Kunti bangs her forearm against her forehead and starts to do one
of those Indian mother melodramatic things when Krssna cuts her off.
Krssna: Why didn’t you look around?
Kunti: What? WHAT?
Krssna: Here we go again…
Kunti: No, we are not going there again. You try feeding Bheema.
Bheema is confused by everything that’s going on but knows that pretty
soon people are gonna start blaming him for shit. And the Kichchidi
runneth over.
Bheema: Let’s eat?
Krssna: A good mama always gives her undivided attention to her
children when they talk to her.
Kunti: I have to cook and clean for them, find a wife for their ugly mugs—
Nakul-Sahadev: Ma…
Kunti: —AND listen to them whine?
Collective dismay ensues. Pandavas can’t disregard what Mama said and Mama
feels bad for you know, being not-good-mama. Wise God speaks after he has
savoured his daily dose of human schadenfreude.
Krssna: So Draupadi, what do YOU think about all this?
Draupadi: Finally! I have always wanted to do twins but this is beyond
my wildest
dreams. I can have the cake and they will eat me too?
All’s cool. But the kichchidi is on the floor and Bheema is still hungry.
Draupadi: psssst. You owe me one.
Krssna: No sweat. If someone ever disrobes you…
(thinks for a beat)
….without your permission, just call for me.
And what did we learn children— Women were objectified, kids don’t
question their parents or go against their words no matter how stupid
and single moms are overworked and undervalued. And orgies are
endorsed by God!
Peace out. More lessons from the Mahabharatha if I get a chance.
Tags: Television
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
what Iliad and Odyssey are to Greek Civilization, Mahabharata is to India – an epic to be proud of. And BR Chpra’s TV version virtually brought the whole of India to a standstill. Infact the roads used to be virtually deserted during the telecast time garnering the programme an entry into the Guinness ook of World Records. Welcome to PFC Dabba. Let’s have that post on Korean cinema now, before you move on to teaching us other lessons.:d
————————————————-
Quote from Chopra’s Mahabharata (Courtesy Amazon)
[Krishna has told Karna the truth about his birth and begs him to join the Pandavas in the upcoming Kurukshetra war. Karna turns down the offer, but later that day, he approaches at a temple alone]
Karna: O, Creator! Why have I been tormented like this, to learn the truth about my birth? The Sun is still the source of light to the world! My mother is still a respected queen! Yet I, the result of their union, am a wanderer… But I will never give up Duryodhana!
[shouts]
Karna: Do you hear me? I will never betray him! He has given me far too much in friendship! I will never betray Duryodhana!
Karna: Do you know that I have two sweethearts?
Duryodhana: Really? Who are they? If necessary, I will kidnap them to get them for you!
Karna: They are not girls, my friend – besides, I can only get one of them and not the other!
Duryodhana: What do you mean?
Karna: It is simple – one is the death of Arjuna, the other is my own death.
pankaj, thanks for the quote. The language transported me instantly and I could see the episode. Karna. What a character. Who was Dridharashtra’s other brother, they guy that could not become king because his mother was a dasi, but he was the wise one and always had the best advice.
post on SoKo cinema coming soon.
Dabba, I guess you are talking about “Vidura”.
My fav characters of Mahabharata remain Shikhandi and Shakuni.. Sequences that I admire apart from obviously the |great battle| and |geeta saar| is “laakhagraha” and “vastra-haran”. But truly, what other civilization could boast of epics like ours which teach you about “dharmas”, “karmas” and the baap of them all – ‘the book on sexual pleasures’. Clearly, what have we done to us!!!!