Originally posted by: .Vrish.
Hi, ojaswiniprinces
Thank you for your post here.
I agree w/ you that there are many versions and interpretations of the MB, and just b'cos one is a fan of one character doesn't mean that one has to loathe others. However, there is a valid difference b/w admiring a multiple range of characters, vs admiring the dynamics b/w them.
Like for instance, it's perfectly valid for one to be a fan of both Karna AND Draupadi. However, it's well known that neither had any soft corners for each other, and any depictions that betray that would earn the resentment of their fans.
From Draupadi's end, she clearly declined to marry Karna if he won the contest (I know the different rendentions have different accounts varying from Karna not being there to him missing the target to Draupadi's objection.) Between her marriage and her vastraharan, there was nothing b/w them, and after her vastraharan, when Karna called her a vaishya, she had no reason to have any feelings for Karna: indeed, any such sentiments would betray a lack of self-respect. I'm not a Draupadi fan, but I can see how any Draupadi fan would resent such a message coming out of any show.
From Karna's end too, while he had his wrong doings against the Pandavas in the court, as well as his life long obsession w/ Arjun and hatred of the Pandavas, the reason HE gets sympathy is that he got a raw deal from his mother Kunti (incidentally, that's the only character that I fanatically LOATHE, and where I don't usually show much tolerance for people who differ w/ me 😈😆), was kept in the dark about his family secret throughout his life, and only revealed that to undermine his resolve as well as his confidence in the righteousness of his cause. That's the reason people admire Karna. There are also some who admire him due to the fact of him being born to Kunti - no point denying that. So there are people who admire Karna for being what he became DESPITE being deprived of his rights as a Kaunteya, and then there are those who admire him for what he sacrificed once he got to know the secret about himself.
However, just b'cos Karna & Draupadi may be the most admired character for some people does not justify weaving a 'relationship' b/w them as this serial did - whether it was their interactions pre swayamvara, or Karna saving Draupadi from Sishupala from being raped. In fact, given that this serial was ostensibly about Karna at the beginning - hence the name of the show - they could have avoided showing much of the Pandavas at all, and made this fully Karna centric. They did it to some extent in showing Karna helping Dury abduct his wife, but by & large, they've disappointed. They could have covered Karna's rule in Anga and even SHOWN some parivartan, however fictitious - they could have shown Karna giving equal rights to lower castes in terms of rights to well water and so on. Instead, by showing too much of Arjun, as well as Karna-Draupadi-Krishna, they've totally ruined this show for their presumptive viewership - people who are first & foremost fans of Karna. Like they have a Vrushali who is yet to marry Karna, but he already has a baby from his other wife Supriya.
Also, as you pointed out, there are many versions of things, but in this serial, they've butchered the character of most of the people in the show, and totally whitewashed others. Like Bheeshma or Vidura were nowhere near as evil as depicted on this show. Pandu never met Karna in his life, and Kunti was anything but a saint. Krishna's primary relationship in this story was w/ the Pandavas: if one is interested in Krishna, a show on Karna is the wrong vehicle in which to pursue it.
The expectations that one had from this serial was that it would show the Mahabharat from Karna's POV - deal w/ his internal dilemmas re: his relationship w/ both Dury and the Pandavas. Karna was 2 people before and after he got to know who he was. Before he knew that he was Kunti's son, he was heroic in his own right, but happily supported Duryodhan in many of his plots against the Pandavas. Once he was told who he was, he accepted that the Pandavas were wronged, but decided to pay off his debts to Duryodhan. But at no time did he split w/ Duryodhan the way they depict in this serial, nor did he have a strong resentment @ the way the Pandavas had been treated. And remember - everything they've shown TO DATE is before Karna is told by Krishna & Kunti who he is, and in that time period, he was an unapologetic supporter of Duryodhan. If they wanted to show Karna as remorseful of his hatred of the Pandavas, it would ONLY have made sense AFTER those revelations, not before it.
In all those aspects, this serial has let us down
comment:
p_commentcount