First things first - I've rarely watched JSK (except when I caught Vasudev in psycho mode), so won't comment on it here.
But on DBSK, I'm missing the complaints about the Narakasura track. IMO, it was one of the finest tracks they did - the costumes (except of course Satyabhama's) were pretty authentic, unlike that of Jarasandha's allies, the story was also quite accurate (except the Satyabhama haran part and the attempted suicide by Narakasura's captive women). So I just didn't get how anyone can claim that it was dragged. Sudama's story is dragged - we're now in week 3. I have no idea of whether Chakradhar was real or not, but I do think that yesterday's scene would have been on day 4 of week 1.
Also, analyzing this serial, I'll say it's been continuously improving. At the beginning, when they'd show Krishna fleeing from battles w/o explaining the original contexts, him mocking Balarama, Rukmi acting like another Kansa, that was when they had it completely screwed up. And the costumes worn by Jarasandha and his allies was just laughable, and less so was Balarama's helmet. It continued that way when they showed the incident w/ Kritavarma's child, and Devaki's behavior w/ Krishna.
In the Syamantaka gem episodes, it was a mixed bag - they totally butchered Satrajit's character, and in the process made Krishna look greedy. This was inexcusable. Then they showed BRKR doing an puja to Ganesh, and later, another puja to Mahadev to trump Ganesh And Rukmini's character was totally shredded - the way she'd tremble @ those apshakuns was like she was Mandodari, rather than Rukmini. I never thought anyone could screw up a Rukmini act, but Priya showed one how.
Narakasura was in fact the turning point - all the episodes shown were authentic, except of course the capture of Satyabhama. This of course depends on which version one follows - the original had Krishna killing Mura & his sons w/ ease, and then Narakasura: Satyabhama was just there for the sightseeing. One version had Satyabhama herself fight Narakasura, and in the serial, they showed them both killing him. The context of what Narakasura did was important, so the coverage given to him was appropriate.
I agree the parijat & tulabharam episodes were twisted, and this serial seems to have given Jambavati a long leash while losing Rukmini. Right now, Rukmini's only remaining role is the birth of Pradhyumna, which could even be a cameo role, since she's just there having given birth to him, and then loses him. The last time they showed her, she was welcoming Krishna & Satyabhama back from their battle, but didn't say anything. The role that is left could possibly be done by Priya's double.
For the balance, depending on what they show, Satyabhama in MB meets Draupadi during the Pandava exile, while according to SB, all wives of Krishna met Draupadi and told them their stories about how they married Krishna. Given what they've been showing, it makes more sense to focus on the MB version. Rukmini did have a role in helping Subhadra raise Abhimanyu and Draupadi's kids, but other than that, not much else. None of Krishna's wives have a Sita like role in his story.
It will be interesting to see what they show once Sudama is over.
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