Ekta's Krishna is born - Article

After making a number of daily soaps, Ekta Kapoor ventured into a new territory and set out to make Mahabharat once again.

Her show Kahaani Hamaarey Mahabharat Ki on 9X has raked in high TRPs and the telly czarina is more than happy with the way the magnum opus has shaped up, she tells BT...

Along with compliments there's criticism too for your show?

That's a part of making a show that's different. We've freed the mythological of its cliches.

Why did you open with the sensational vastraharan scene?

There can be different ways of narration. You can take the most essential point of your drama as your introductory scene and then go back to the first chapter again and begin. Even novels do it. Since Mahabharat has always had a conventional method of scripting, we said why not do it differently.

Some say your show is more of the Greek era because of the costumes ...

That's again a perception. Mythology is not history. Till now we have no references of that era except a few findings. We have kept a historian on our sets to actually decide what can be used. That kind of authenticity has been maintained.

How do you plan to maintain the high TRPs?

Honestly, the story doesn't need me to maintain ratings. The story has that power in it. Whoever makes it, B R Chopra, Peter Brook or me with our distinctive styles, it will do well.

Lord Krishna was born on your show last night?

We planned a special celebration at 11.30 last night and Lord Krishna was born sharp at 12 on Indian television. The normal telecast happens today (Wednesday, 9 pm). We worked for days together on this episode. The child we have cast as Krishna was born on Janmashtami. The morpankh has come from Jagannath. The jewels have been blessed at Tirupathi. We have got the chakra that Krishna will carry blessed from Sreenathji because they say the asli chakra is in Sreenathji.