Posted:
I have been contemplating writing this post for a while now and I am not the most active person on here as well. But that being said, today is a lazy saturday, I do need some distractions and I do have some time at hand as well. So here goes and I apologize for any grammatical errors.
I have always loved Mahabharat, the concept, the multiple themes presented, the pscyhe, the spiritual and the humanistic aspect of it and how everything in the entire story was building to this one big sort of climax. I think its sort of a mosaic, all the different pieces of the stories have some purpose that is not seen until the mosaic is complete and when it is..its like Voila!
And don't get me wrong, I loved the old Mahabharat. I mean no one and no one can ever be a better Bhishma Pitah then Mukesh Khanna. And everyone including Kunti, Gandhari, dhritarashtra, Shri Krishna, Pandavas and Draupadi were awesome. I mean BR Chopra really tapped into a goldmine in terms of actors and their credentials. However, I also think that their acting was awesome, was dramatic because that's what the time required. It was the 1980's, India had not tapped into its global potential yet, technology was not as widespread and graphics were sort of amateur. With all those factors, the entire show was completely reliant on the credentials of the actors. The dialogues, the script, and the actors needed to portray the essence of this amazing epic on their credibility without any external support of graphics or fantastic sets. I mean the old Mahabharat had great sets of course, but they were not as awe inspiring. The fighting scenes and techniques were only taught to a select few actors who needed to shown as Valiant. The physiques did not really matter beyond a certain extent, and i don't think anyone waxed their chests ;)..Without too many external distractions, those actors literally lived their character and got so absorbed into it, that even 25 years later we cannot see them as anything else. I will never be able to see Rupa Ganguly as weak little pretty lady no matter what. She will always be the regal, beautiful, aristocratic queen who had fire in her eyes.
However the Mahabharat today, the actors of this current crop, have so much external support. The graphics, the sets, the attention is enough to take the pressure off from their acting capabilities. In a ideal setting, that really should not affect the actors at all and they really should live the character and breathe him or her. However, we don't live in an ideal setting. These actors, have a certain physique that they need to show and it needs to be maintained. They have 30 different "behind the camera" tv shows and hosts coming in to interview them about their favorite food. Between all this attention, its hard to see these actors become their character and yet I think many of them have done a commendable job. The dramatics have been toned down making their expressions subtle but I think that has a lot to do with the demand of the audiences today. We have a lot of young people watching these shows who are used KSG or Barun Sobti with their amazing bodies. To compete with those shows/storylines, the historical shows have to follow a similar guidelines. Yes a lot of these actors could be a lot better, but they are not bad enough for me to write them off.
All my justification aside, I am not at all happy with the extreme story distortion and character distortion to the point of absolute fiction. Some is necessary like I am glad I got to see the sheer physical power and strength that Dhritarashtra was capable of. BUT I do not like how manipulative and almost evil his character is now. As far as I know, his fault was his ambition for his son, for himself was greater then anything else but I never thought of him as evil. Or for that matter, Dhrupad. I liked Dhrupad being powerful but that arrogant??? Those distortions are not called for at all. A good thing that I did like about this Mahabharat, that it does go into some of the lesser discussed aspects of the story that previous version did'nt go into like Takshak. It tries to take a full rounded view about the happenings of the events of that time.
I guess my biggest problem with both the series is that the Pandavas were always portrayed with a halo around them. Nothing could tarnish their reputation. And the Kauravas were just evil. Duryodhan was not a horrible king and did stick by his vows. I would like for once a portrayal of these people to show that they are not plain EVIL, they have their shades of "dark gray", but not black. One last thing before I end my whole discussion, I am happy that this show does give a tiny bit more importance to Nakul and Sahadev but its nearly not enough. I have always thought that Sahadev had the biggest challenge of all. Seeing or knowing the future but helpless to change it to even tell anyone!
Anyhow that;s it about it for now, I would love to hear more things from everyone so please do comment. thanks :)
I have always loved Mahabharat, the concept, the multiple themes presented, the pscyhe, the spiritual and the humanistic aspect of it and how everything in the entire story was building to this one big sort of climax. I think its sort of a mosaic, all the different pieces of the stories have some purpose that is not seen until the mosaic is complete and when it is..its like Voila!
And don't get me wrong, I loved the old Mahabharat. I mean no one and no one can ever be a better Bhishma Pitah then Mukesh Khanna. And everyone including Kunti, Gandhari, dhritarashtra, Shri Krishna, Pandavas and Draupadi were awesome. I mean BR Chopra really tapped into a goldmine in terms of actors and their credentials. However, I also think that their acting was awesome, was dramatic because that's what the time required. It was the 1980's, India had not tapped into its global potential yet, technology was not as widespread and graphics were sort of amateur. With all those factors, the entire show was completely reliant on the credentials of the actors. The dialogues, the script, and the actors needed to portray the essence of this amazing epic on their credibility without any external support of graphics or fantastic sets. I mean the old Mahabharat had great sets of course, but they were not as awe inspiring. The fighting scenes and techniques were only taught to a select few actors who needed to shown as Valiant. The physiques did not really matter beyond a certain extent, and i don't think anyone waxed their chests ;)..Without too many external distractions, those actors literally lived their character and got so absorbed into it, that even 25 years later we cannot see them as anything else. I will never be able to see Rupa Ganguly as weak little pretty lady no matter what. She will always be the regal, beautiful, aristocratic queen who had fire in her eyes.
However the Mahabharat today, the actors of this current crop, have so much external support. The graphics, the sets, the attention is enough to take the pressure off from their acting capabilities. In a ideal setting, that really should not affect the actors at all and they really should live the character and breathe him or her. However, we don't live in an ideal setting. These actors, have a certain physique that they need to show and it needs to be maintained. They have 30 different "behind the camera" tv shows and hosts coming in to interview them about their favorite food. Between all this attention, its hard to see these actors become their character and yet I think many of them have done a commendable job. The dramatics have been toned down making their expressions subtle but I think that has a lot to do with the demand of the audiences today. We have a lot of young people watching these shows who are used KSG or Barun Sobti with their amazing bodies. To compete with those shows/storylines, the historical shows have to follow a similar guidelines. Yes a lot of these actors could be a lot better, but they are not bad enough for me to write them off.
All my justification aside, I am not at all happy with the extreme story distortion and character distortion to the point of absolute fiction. Some is necessary like I am glad I got to see the sheer physical power and strength that Dhritarashtra was capable of. BUT I do not like how manipulative and almost evil his character is now. As far as I know, his fault was his ambition for his son, for himself was greater then anything else but I never thought of him as evil. Or for that matter, Dhrupad. I liked Dhrupad being powerful but that arrogant??? Those distortions are not called for at all. A good thing that I did like about this Mahabharat, that it does go into some of the lesser discussed aspects of the story that previous version did'nt go into like Takshak. It tries to take a full rounded view about the happenings of the events of that time.
I guess my biggest problem with both the series is that the Pandavas were always portrayed with a halo around them. Nothing could tarnish their reputation. And the Kauravas were just evil. Duryodhan was not a horrible king and did stick by his vows. I would like for once a portrayal of these people to show that they are not plain EVIL, they have their shades of "dark gray", but not black. One last thing before I end my whole discussion, I am happy that this show does give a tiny bit more importance to Nakul and Sahadev but its nearly not enough. I have always thought that Sahadev had the biggest challenge of all. Seeing or knowing the future but helpless to change it to even tell anyone!
Anyhow that;s it about it for now, I would love to hear more things from everyone so please do comment. thanks :)
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