Mega serial to launch on Zee TV based on the life

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. - The Buddha

Indeed it was on a beautiful full moon night that Lord Buddha who is the founder of the Buddhist religion was born, attained salvation and passed away (attained nirvana). This blessed day which is celebrated in the remembrance of Lord Buddha is known as Buddha Poornima.

This year Buddha Poornima fell on 26 May 2013. On this beautiful full moon night, the press conference of the mega tele-series which historically follows the life of Prince Siddhartha and his transition from being a prince to the Buddha was held. A lavish set which everyone in Film City colloquially refers to as The Buddha sets was the venue of the event. This grand set is simply the starting point of the show. It was just the replica of the grand courtroom at Kapilavastu where Siddhartha's (the Buddha's birth name) father King Suddhodana, the leader of Shakya clan sat on the throne.

The press conference opened by enacting the legendary tale of the prediction by the wise old sage that Siddhartha would grow up to be either a famous king or a holy man. Kabir Bedi who was playing the sage said with a sigh that he wouldn't live long enough to see this blessed child grow up to be famous.

B.K Modi, Global Chairman of Spice Global, Producer of the show which is to be telecast on Zee TV said, "It is absolutely an emotional moment for me as making Buddha is like a personal commitment that I made to myself. The Buddha is perhaps the most important personality to have born in the recorded history of India and we are sparing no effort in making this series special. We have put together a very competent cast and are close to finding the actor who is going to play the role of the Buddha."

We asked Gajra Kottary, renowned TV writer who is writing the show, how much of the Buddha biopic will be fact and what portion of it would be fiction. She replied, "It is not that we work in a particular ratio. The brief is that we have to humanise the Buddha's story. The aim of this serial is that viewers get to know of Buddha as the human being who evolved to being a Yugpurush. There is a sanctity to the facts but within those boundaries of fact and the pace of the story, we want to concentrate a lot on the latter part of the Buddha's story which is yet untold. We all know the basics of how he left his wife and newborn child to go out in the world to seek enlightenment. That is just a part of it. There is a lot after that which history books don't talk about. There are certain bare bones of fact that we have to stick to. Beyond that it is fictionalised."

When a journalist asked Kabir Bedi as to why he had agreed to do a small role in this series, he explained, "I thoroughly agree it is a small role.

Nevertheless it is a very significant one. The sage I play after all made a prediction which radically changed the history of the world. When my dear friend B.K. Modi asked me to do this role, I couldn't refuse. He shares my love, affection and reverence for Buddhism."

Sameer Dharmadhikari who plays the Buddha's father King Suddhodana said with honesty, "I am not claiming to be a follower of Lord Buddha. I have obviously studied about him in school though. I am getting to know about him in the process of doing this show. Later Suddhodana became a disciple of his son." Gungun Uprari plays the Buddha's mother Queen Maha Maya.

This show which is to run for a year in the weekend slot (preferably early morning slot) will have 52 episodes each of which will be an hour long on Zee TV.😊