So it has been more than a week so it is safe to review the show as we have gathered all the necessary information with regards to the storyline, cast and the concept.
The promos had captured my attention from the start, I was really excited about the show to the point that I watched the first episode an hour after the release on hotstar. Namah the story of Narayan and Mahadev and their friendship, it is an interesting concept even though my heart goes out to the third often neglected part of the triad Lord Brahma, I could put that aside if the show delivered on its promising promos but sadly the cv's are forcing this fiction based story down our throats with their emphasis on the word Mitra.
Before delving into the negative aspects of the show I want to mention the aspects that I have come to like, the CGI has me hoodwinked I can't take my eyes off the screen, those glamorous shots are very much life-like and are worth every penny they spent I just hope they don't overdo it because then it would be too straining, small does of CGI is absolutely fine. Second is surprisingly the actress Yukti Kapoor aka Goddesses Lakshmi (this is the first time I am seeing the actress on-screen and I absolutely loved her if u guys have suggestions of her other shows I would very much appreciate it) her skin tone is very much on the darker side of the skin palette and it is rare to see such complexion on screen and she has a charm about her that just says Goddess.
First of all the story is too fast-paced, they should start off by setting a time frame where we are made aware of the characters and their motivations. For all intents and purposes, Mahadev and Narayan seem to have switched their primal core characteristics, with Narayan taking out his anger on Samudradev despite being known form his calm and amused nature to seeing Mahadev being a little too romantic despite him detesting worldly pleasures (remember when he killed Kamdev for it). I wanted to see the balance that this friendship would create as the Preserver and Destroyer they have opposite perspectives on things though little effort has been made to shed light on this subject.
When the show started with Samudra Mantha I expected them to show the counterforce of the gods and demons as a metaphor for the said friendship as in the tales gods reverence to Vishnu and demons to Shiva and importance of both their worldviews. But the whole Manthan was over before it began the creatives definitely don't want to tell us the philosophy behind the storytelling as the story so far has been severely fictionalised.
Lakshmi was second to last to come out of the ocean and first came Halahal but Cv glossed over this fact entierly, In one of Devdutt Patnaik's articles he mentions how all the evil and impurity (Halahal) should be cleaned out by churning to gain purity and goodness, it is a really an interesting read and gave me a new insight over the Manthan process and how it is applicable to us in our daily lives.
Brahma in the epic itself has little to do but one of his prominent roles arise in Samudra Manthan where he provided stability to the Mandrachal Parvat by sitting on top of it. But here the stabilising part was given to Mahadev who pushed it on top of Kurm Avatar. And Brahma the Creator has been reduced to play the part of the narrator to his creation Srishti, I didn't completely understand the point of it. Also, the Kurm Avatar just lasted 20 secs, like it's an Avatar it definitely deserves a more screen space than that but we are stuck on seeing CGIed Kali and his lover Mrityu.
Coming to Kali, I am well aware that Hindu Mythology has many scriptures with different versions the versions I am well aware off are as follows the most prominent being that he is the great-grandson of Brahma who is awaiting his turn to rule his won age, who will be defeated by Kalki the 10th incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Another tale of his creation is that he was born after Krishna died at the Dwaparyug allowing Kali to be born and start his reign the third one is that he was the remains of the poison Halahal which fell into the ocean and created a dark force by the name Kali, Also from the Halahal emerged Alakshmi, Lakshmis elder sister and consort to Kali. I have scorched the internet today in search of Mrityu but I couldn't find her in relation to Kali whatsoever she is associated with Yama, so I don't know what the creatives are playing at.
So so far everything shown related to kali has been false, I think they just wanted a big bad villain and came across Kali and stuck with him. And CV's are overdoing it I mean we get it they are friends it's the most obvious thing in the world you don't have to force the point across whenever they are on screen.
Also, I watched the first episode of Jag Janani Maa Vaishnov Devi which is one of the reasons that drove me to make this post, I really liked the first episode it has its priorities and concepts straight and blended spirituality and philosophy so well, I am gonna properly review that show in a weeks time, till then I just hope Namah gears up and delivers well. I really hate it when they fictionalise mythology, I learned the tales of our religion by watching them on TV but before they were true to their origins nowadays it seems as if the CV's are taking too many liberties I don't want the future generation to grow up watching tales twisted and turned according to whims of CV;s just so they could top the TRP chart.
comment:
p_commentcount