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Salim Khan's compliment on Mahabharat precious: Siddharth.
Creative Producer Siddharth Kumar Tewary has come a long way career wise. His Magnum Opus Mahabharat is getting appreciated all over the nation.
On his birthday today (23rd January, 2013) he speaks about his journey in the world of Television.
How did you keep your production house's name Swastik? It's a strange story that made me believe that dots from the past always connect.
Years back my friend Brijesh got his first tattoo done and I was thinking of what I should do as it would remain with me for the rest of my life. One night I got a thought of getting a Swastik tattoo. I wondered as to why Swastik of all things in the world? But I went ahead and got the Swastik tattoo on my arm and then a few years later when we were starting off, we had applied for another name which we didn't get due to some government regulations and then I said let's name it Swastik. This is how Swastik happened.
You and your brother Rahul Kumar Tewary are the pillars of your production house.
Comment Rahul and me are definitely important people in the organisation, but I don't believe we are the only pillars of Swastik. The whole team working with us are the main people who drive it all.There is Gayatri who is also a partner in the company, she prefers staying behind and doing her work, then there is Ritesh, Nitin, Dhruv, Amit, Charmaine, and many more passionate people who make Swastik the organisation it is today.
Your most ambitious project Mahabharat is being appreciated and now getting good Trp's also. How do you feel? Creating Mahabharat is an honor for me and each and every person at Swastik. It's been a life changing experience and I'm blessed by my father to be able to achieve this challenge. When I started working on Mahabharat I didn't believe I would be able to do justice to the epic, it took me a lot of time to just understand the text, every minute I used to think of how will we tell this story to the today's viewers, whether they are open to viewing a different interpretation and many many more questions.
Finally, we came on air after 4 years of hardwork and it feels blessed to see that viewers have loved our work and I'm ecstatic with what we achieved so far, I believe we have interpreted the same Mahabharat story in our own way and viewers have appreciated it.
How did you react to criticism with constant comparison to original Mahabharat? We live in a subjective world and everyone is entitled to have an opinion, from the very beginning I was aware of what is coming my way, I respect everyone's opinion. It has its own interperation and somewhere the viewers who have only seen the previous version, found it little difficult to accept our version initially but eventually the same people are loving it and giving a cult status to this series as well.
How do you feel when you look back at the effort you had put in creating this project? A lot has gone in the making of this series, it cant be expressed.
Mahabharat doesn't come easy to anyone and it entails a huge amount of work and more so when a generation had already viewed an interpretation earlier, we had to work doubly hard to create our own identity and that's what we have been able to achieve. It gives me immense satisfaction that all our efforts have been accepted and more importantly appreciated by the both the young and the old viewers. The way we have mounted the series is said to be the best ever on Indian television. We have set a new benchmark and that feels blessed.
Which character you personally like the most? All characters are important to this magnum opus, each and every character has a extremely significant role to play, its a little difficult to say who I like the most but if I really have to say about one then it will be Krishna, he is one who changes the game and paves the path of learning in the mahabharat.
What to expect from Mahabharat in January? In the New Year, we get into the popular phase of the story now, with Draupadi's birth, her relationship with Krishna, and by the end of the month we would have her swayamavar where Arjun wins her over.
Which compliment has been the most precious to you? I have received more compliments on this series than all my previous work put together. The one that stays with me is what Mr Salim Khan said after watching the the first few episodes. he said, I couldn't think of anybody who could have told the same story in such an interesting way in this entire industry, the way you have presented the series is applaudable and I hope your passion to create doesn't get diluted with this achievement.
What changes you have noticed in the industry over the years?
The Television industry in our country is just 20 years old, its an evolving industry which is changing everyday. There is a huge change in every aspect of Television, from channels providing a digital platform for viewers paves way to create quality content for the production houses. This also ensures that we would not always make the so called 'safe' shows. Its time we raise bar of the kind of stories as well as the way they are presented to the viewers.
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