SRJ is really an awesome actor
I hadn't watched StarBharat because of distortions but watched him in initial episodes of CGM and he was just awesome
Starbharat wasn't actually too bad. If we talk about distortions, even BRC MB had a bunch, lol, and Starbharat's saving grace was its Yudhisthir IMO. Rohit Bharadwaj undid a lot of damage that BRC's Yudi did to people's minds. Of course, Starbharat did have a great number of distortions, but it got a lot of the characteristics right...and I like how it didn't glorify the negative characters like BRC did. And one of my favorite scenes from the show is how, before Bhishma, Drona and Karna all died, Krishna had a sort of "Gita-like" scene with each of them where he describes why they had to die, what exactly their wrong deeds were, and for what sins they were paying a price. Sure, these scenes were never in the text, but they did help youth today understand where exactly these characters went wrong.
I'm prob one of the few people who prefers StarB to BRC, lol 😆, but I'm sure we can all agree SK got Krishna right more than any show till now.
StarBharat Yudi character might have been better no doubt, but to make him good they made a mockery of the Dyut Sabha, deliberately made Dury stake humans to compel Yudi do that. And that happened before Yudi lost his state. We all know this is wrong. It seemed like a desperate attempt to undo the wrongs of Yudhishtir.
More than that I hated the useless demonizing the character of Ashwathama. I don't like this character at all, but he is never mentioned to be inhumane since the beginning. He was a pretty normal student who might have been inclined towards Dury but mostly was cordial to both sets.
About glorification, I found StarBharat's Karna lot more glorified than BRC's Karna (although glorifying Karna is the new good but actually hate it, this has actually made people think that Karna was someone great just stuck with Dury due to his indebtedness, although epic has it very clear that he was with Dury because of his choice and was very much ill natured like Dury), rest of the negative characters I don't think BRC tried to justify either.
To come on the positives of StarBharat, those mini Geeta thing you said is actually a nice addition.(didn't see it but the promos made it look good)
This show was definitely more beautiful and actors were much more good looking, there is feel good factor while seeing this show (that was same for me which bettered AS Ramayana over RS Ramayana although otherwise both were equally good.)
You are definitely not the only one, many people prefer StarBharat over BRC, but we can't deny that even with all its distortions, BRC was second closest to the real thing only after SriKrishna. All later shows can at max be called careful rewritings
In this serial, I liked Sarvadaman as Vishnu, but not as Krishna. In other words, I liked him at the start of the serial when he keeps giving instructions to Yogamaya and others, and I wish he kept playing that role during Swapnil i.e. whenever Swapnil would show his divine form, Sarvadaman should have appeared. I didn't like it when Sarvadaman disappeared.
If one talks about adult Krishnas, my favorite was Vishal Karwal in DBSK, if one ignores the shows other shortcomings. Again, I liked SRJ as Vishnu in DkDM, but that didn't automatically make him a good Krishna or Shiva in other serials.
Also, despite them being avatars, I reject the idea that the same actor has to play Vishnu and Rama, or Vishnu and Krishna. Incidentally, did Arun Govil play Vishnu as well in Ramayan?
^^^ No some other actor played Vishnu in Ramayana. In fact he was the one who originally played Vishnu here too.
Sarvadaman played only Krishna originally. They were originally showing Golok with Radha Krishna and Vaikunth with Vishnu. Both were played by different actors
But later they removed the Golok stuff, removed the adult Radha Completely and got Sarvadaman playing only Vishnu in Vaikunth n Krishnaji on earth
I think the reason Sarvadaman was so awkward as Krishna was that the direction was kind of bad too, and also such a long time period passed between the earlier Krishna episodes and the latter ones. When there's a break in a show, it's harder to get back in the groove comfortably, particularly when the direction of the show completely changes. Sarvadaman really was good as Golok Krishna/Vishnu. He had that serene smile and soft, lilting voice that people associate with the divine character, but the human Krishna requires a little something more...he needs that playful smirk, that naughtiness, that political charisma (that Swapnil excelled at) and the ability to carry off witty banter well. This is why SDB and even Vishal did well in this role, no matter the direction that StarB and Dwarakadheesh took.
Imo, the roles also played a...role 😆 Sarvadaman was good as a preacher, a lecturer, a narrator and an instructor, like when he'd sit and talk to the likes of Radha, Narada, Yogamaya, the devas and so on. But those are not the same qualities as that involved in someone who had great interpersonal skills, like Swapnil had. Which is why I thought that Swapnil was great as Krishna and should have solely played that role, but Saravadaman could have made cameo Vishnu appearances.
Incidentally, when RSK resumed after Ananda and Moti took over, was Swapnil unavailable? B'cos by then, he'd have grown some more and looked adequately adult enough to play Krishna, no?
^^^ Yeah, it's there in the Mahabharat, in Sauptika Parva. But I don't recall Krishna saying yes, and then Ashwatthama being unable to sustain its weight, as they showed
The Tulabharam story was not there either in SB nor Mahabharat: it must have been from one of the regional folk stories
