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Kal El

@Kal El

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 16 years ago

There was a recent article saying that the Sagars are going to launch a serial called Mahavir Hanuman soon. At the same time they've also started a remake of Vikram Betaal. This got me thinking. Don't you guys think that these serial makers are wasting their time and resources on the same old material again and again? I mean how many times are they going to make the Ramayan? This new serial on Hanuman is essentially going to be yet another Ramayan serial with some added bits about Hanuman. What gives?

Think about it. There's a wealth of stories in Indian/subcontinental culture and these people just keep going back to the same stuff. How about focusing on Vedic history for example? The Dasarajna Yuddha would be quite epic. Short but epic.

Or how about the Kathasaritasagara? That one's quite literally an ocean of stories that can keep the Sagars going for years! 😆

If they really feel they have to stick to the old material then how about the Raghuvamsa? This would alloow them to remake the Ramayan for the umpteenth time while also giving us something knew with the history of Suryavansh. If they have to revisit Vikramaditya then how about a serial on the life of Emperor Vikramaditya (reconstruct his life in chronological order from all the sources available)?

Instead of brute forcing Jataka Tales into the Ramayan, why not a separate serial on Jataka Tales and other Buddhist literature? Then there's untapped potential in Jain literature. Hey, if you have to revisit the Ramayan, why not do something fresh and give us the Jain Ramayan?

How about other regional literature? The five great tamil epics come to mind. The Mahavamsa and Dipavamsa from Sri Lanka would be great too. And we can go on and on with more material from all over the subcontinent.

I wish someone in the tv world would focus on these other gems of Indian/subcontinental literature for once. There's so much potential. 😊

Edited by Kal El - 16 years ago

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Kiran Raghu

@kiranraghu

Inactive

Posted: 16 years ago

Agree with u, but don't know what Sagars are thinking about it? It seems that they are very much confident about success of their project

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Vrish

@Vr15h

Stunner

+ 6

Posted: 16 years ago

Kal El

Given what they did w/ this Ramayan, I do not want Sagars doing any more mytho serials (not that it will stop them, but I won't watch), be it Raghuvamsa or Mahabharat or anything else (Incidentally, even in their 'best' serial JSK, they include some major shockers, like Vasudev, Krishna's father, wrestling Chunar on the orders of Kamsa, and mocking Kamsa - totally out of character). For the same reason, I wouldn't watch any history flicks they show, since that would be as distortable as the Ramayan was (I normally look at the Ramayan as historical, and prefer it w/o any of the miracles added from other versions, such as Lakshman rekha). If they have no new ideas, let them do Vikram Betaal, or include Jataka tales or Panchatantra in their stuff.

If a different and more authentically oriented production house (not Sagars, BRC or Kekta) were to do religious or mytho oriented serials, here is what I'd suggest:

Raghuvamsa (have 2 serials - one showing Rama's ancestors and ending w/ the end of Dasharath, and another showing Rama's descendents, starting w/ the Uttarkand)
Dasha Avatar (not sure whether they should show Kalki)
Vishnu purans
Shiva purans
A complete story of Krishna, including all parts of the Mahabharat in which he appears or is related.
Some day, a Valmiki-only Ramayan, including Uttarkand
Mahabharat (Given how long it is, I'd suggest breaking it into 2 serials - one uptil Yudhisthir's completion of the Rajasuya yagna, but including the narrational parts to Janamejaya, and the next part from the Dhootkriya to Yudhisthir's re-union in swargalok

Exit question: talking about history serials in your context of doing one on Vikramaditya, what on earth was there about Prithviraj Chauhan that made it such a long drawn out serial? And same question about Maharani Padmini - her story was really brief and sad - how on earth does anybody manage to extend it to 100+ episodes? And Padmini fighting the Khilji intruders 😲 - give me a break 👎🏼

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Bhoot on Break

@chatterbox

Trailblazer

+ 14

Posted: 16 years ago

chandra congrats on 2000 posts yaar

let me now read what all is written above

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purvi

@coolpurvi

Voyager

Posted: 16 years ago

sagars hav tried their hands on non-mythological historical ones but failed

M liking Vikram Betal show though i've read it earlier.

I would like to see a show based o kathoUpnishad

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Kal El

@Kal El

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 16 years ago

@Chandra: I share your sentiments. The Sagars have disappointed me greatly. Not only do they insist on twisting things around but they seem to be permanently stuck in the 80s on technical issues as well.

As far as BRC goes, the only serial from their stock I still like is the Mahabharat. Yes, even that was neither an accurate nor a complete adaptation. There were many changes and omissions. However, I think the script was quite well written and flowed nicely despite the changes. This was due to the talented Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza who wrote the script. He had a wonderful grasp of the material. Despite the flaws, I think he did a brilliant job of adapting such a gargantuan piece of work for the television medium and make it relevant for modern times (I like how he focused on issues of democracy and repeatedly emphasized it). The same cannot be said of the Sagars or of BRC's later work.

I recommend reading the critique of Dr. Reza's script by Dr. Pradip Bhattacharya. There is a 10 volume reproduction of the BRC Mahabharat script and Vol 10 includes The Mahabharata TV Film Script--A Long Critique by Dr. Bhattacharya. It is a fascinating study of the script. The various changes are analysed in detail. Highly recommended. 👍🏼

As for Ekta, the less said the better. 😳

Aside from the things I have listed in the first post that I would like to see some production house adapt for tv (hopefully doing a better than either Sagars or BRC), I would like to add this: one of my dreams is for a high quality tv series on ancient India before the Mauryas. It would be a historical that covers the period from the end of the Stone Age to the beginnings of the Mauryan Empire, covering the Indus and Vedic eras right down to the Mahajanapadas and the Magadha Empire. The connection with ancient Persians should also be explored as well as the Greek and Persian invasions. Maybe it should be broken down into smaller mini-series. With proper budget and academic input this could be a truly fantastic show! 😃 It could even spawn a sequel that covers the period from the Mauryas to the rise of the Sultanates. 😉

Edited by Kal El - 16 years ago

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Vrish

@Vr15h

Stunner

+ 6

Posted: 16 years ago

Kal El

Agree w/ much of what you wrote.

On BRC, the main bugaboo I have is that by trying to retrofit modern philosophical themes (like democracy) into an ancient work like the Mahabharat, he distorted it badly. I'm all for demonstrating how ancient Hindu rulers adapted various degrees of democracy to one extent or another, but distorting the story to the extent he did was ridiculous. On one end, stories that were not part of the Mahabharat - like the birth of Krishna and his childhood - were included, and the entire Mahabharat beyond the Shanti-parva was excluded. What BRC succeeded in doing was converting MBH into a long soap opera, even to the point of distorting the main story and making the central figures Gandhari, Vidura, Shakuni, et al.

I hope to someday read/see the critique by Dr Pradip Bhattacharya. I once remarked to somebody that one could make a marathon serial of about 200 episodes just demonstrating the errors in the BRC serial.

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Bani

@Omshanti1111

Inactive

Posted: 16 years ago

Originally posted by: Chandraketu
Kal El

Agree w/ much of what you wrote.

On BRC, the main bugaboo I have is that by trying to retrofit modern philosophical themes (like democracy) into an ancient work like the Mahabharat, he distorted it badly. I'm all for demonstrating how ancient Hindu rulers adapted various degrees of democracy to one extent or another, but distorting the story to the extent he did was ridiculous. On one end, stories that were not part of the Mahabharat - like the birth of Krishna and his childhood - were included, and the entire Mahabharat beyond the Shanti-parva was excluded. What BRC succeeded in doing was converting MBH into a long soap opera, even to the point of distorting the main story and making the central figures Gandhari, Vidura, Shakuni, et al.

I hope to someday read/see the critique by Dr Pradip Bhattacharya. I once remarked to somebody that one could make a marathon serial of about 200 episodes just demonstrating the errors in the BRC serial.

You are absolutely right, there were many flaws in the BRC Mahabharat, but what was worth appreciating that BRC could complete such a saga within 52 episodes and they showed more or less all the events of Mahabharat. It was a big hit because at that time, even Ramayan was so popular, but it was very slow in its depiction and BRC could pace the serial well. But it was not shown in enough depth.

I would like to see a serial, where Shakuni's character is analysed. The two main characters that move Mahabharat are Krishna and Shakuni. Shakuni's details and his revenge to destroy the Kaurav clan should be emphasised, as that is never mentioned in any serial made till day.

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Kal El

@Kal El

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 16 years ago

@Omshanti1111: it was 94 episodes, not 52.

Originally posted by: Chandraketu
Kal El

Agree w/ much of what you wrote.

On BRC, the main bugaboo I have is that by trying to retrofit modern philosophical themes (like democracy) into an ancient work like the Mahabharat, he distorted it badly. I'm all for demonstrating how ancient Hindu rulers adapted various degrees of democracy to one extent or another, but distorting the story to the extent he did was ridiculous. On one end, stories that were not part of the Mahabharat - like the birth of Krishna and his childhood - were included, and the entire Mahabharat beyond the Shanti-parva was excluded. What BRC succeeded in doing was converting MBH into a long soap opera, even to the point of distorting the main story and making the central figures Gandhari, Vidura, Shakuni, et al.

I hope to someday read/see the critique by Dr Pradip Bhattacharya. I once remarked to somebody that one could make a marathon serial of about 200 episodes just demonstrating the errors in the BRC serial.

I agree that they made a lot mistakes, too many things were left out and there were decisions taken that I do not agree with either. It was however the very first time someone attempted to convert the epic into a tv serial and errors are understandable given the complex nature of the text. On top of that, they were quite clear about the nature of the adaptation from the very first episode where a lot of emphasis was placed on democracy and other modern philosophies. When I watched the first few episodes, I understood very well where this serial was going and prepared myself for it. And to Dr. Reza's credit, the serial was pretty consistent given their attempt to fuse modern ideas into the epic. They didn't go into some strange direction that had nothing to do with their initial presentation. Likewise, the Ravaan serial on Zee TV, regardless of its flaws, was very clear about its content from the first 1-2 episodes. The conversations between Ravan and his relatives clearly established what the writers were trying to do. And they remained consistent with that for the first part of the story (young Ravan) and much of the second part (teenage Ravan). Then the script fell apart obviously due to the producers developing cold feet. In fact, at least one writer left the show because of these off-screen issues. The serial then became something that was totally different from the initial presentation, to the point that various plot points in the later episodes directly contradicted the information provided in the beginning.

The Sagars had no such issues like Ravaan, and yet they were highly inconsistent for no reason other than to drag the serial. Did anyone realize when the show started that one day we'd be getting Jataka Tales mixed into the narrative? 😲 It's this peculiar inconsistency and dragging that annoys me about the Sagars.

By the way, did you ever watch Mahabharat Katha? It was a 45-episode sequel to the Mahabharata which covered some stories that were left out in the earlier serial, mainly the stories of Barbarik and Babruvahana. The annoying thing was that they recast Krishna: he was played by Rishabh Shukla, the actor who played Shantanu earlier. 😕

Edited by Kal El - 16 years ago

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