Mahabharat (2013 TV series)
Mahabharat is a 2013 Indian drama television series based on the Sanskrit epic "Mahabharata". It aired from 16 September 2013 to 16 August 2014 on Star Plus. The television show was produced by Swastik Productions Pvt. Ltd. Summary. The story begins with Bhishma, the son of Shantanu and Ganga, taking his oath of celibacy to convince Satyavati to marry his father Shantanu, the king of Hastinapura. Shantanu and Satyavati marry and have 2 children - Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. Chitrangad dies and on the advice of queen Saytavati Bhisma wins the three princesses of Kashi kingdom for Vichitravirya  but the eldest Princess Amba refuses to marry him and leaves for her lover who rejects her. She blames Bhisma and vows that she will be the reason of his death. Vichitravirya died without any children, but Veda Vyasa, the son of Satyavati born through occult is requested to impregnate Vichitravirya's 2 wives Ambika and Ambalika the same way he was conceived. Besides the queens, Vyasa also impregnates a maid Parishrami through occult. Soon, Ambika gives birth to Dhritarashtra, born blind, Ambalika gives birth to Pandu, born pale and Parashrami gives birth to Vidura. Section::::"25 years later". Dhritarashtra is  married to Gandhari, the princess of Gandhara Kingdom; because of her boon of bearing a hundred sons. After knowing her would-be-husband is blind Gandhari decided to blindfold herself to share her husband's pain. This angers Shakuni, the brother of Gandhari, and he vows to destroy Bhishma, as it was him who had brought the proposal for Gandhari's marriage. Dhritarashtra is denied the throne for being blind, and the throne is given to Pandu. Pandu marries Kunti, a princess of Kunti Kingdom, and Madri of Madra Kingdom. Pandu is later cursed by Sage Kindama, that he will  die if he attempts to impregnate his wives. Pandu, heartbroken, renounces the kingdom with his 2 wives. After this Dhritarashtra becomes de facto king of Hastinapur. Kunti uses her boon, given to her by Sage Durvasa, to invoke gods of her choice and obtain children from them. She begets Yudhishthira from Yama (the god of death and righteousness), Bhima from Vayu (the god of wind), Arjuna from Indra (the king of the gods). She also chants the boon for Madri, and Madri obtains twins - Nakula and Sahadeva - from the Ashwini Kumaras. Gandhari is jealous by this development and gives birth  to a lump of flesh after being pregnant for 2 years, but this is cut into 101 pieces by Veda Vyasa, and these pieces eventually transform into children - the 100 Kauravas (led by Duryodhana) and a daughter, Dushala. Section::::"15 years later". Years pass, and the Kauravas grow up to be evil, led by their eldest brother Duryodhana, who is highly influenced by his uncle Shakuni, contrary to the Pandavas who are righteous. Pandavas return to Hastinapur with Kunti, after the death of Pandu and Madri. Shakuni tries to poison Bheema, but he is saved by his great grandfather Naag Raj . Bhishma banishes Shakuni from Hastinapur, forcing him to return to Gandhar. All princes are sent to study under Guru Dronacharya Section::::"12 years later". Years pass and the princes return to Hastinapur, where they are engaged in a competition of showcasing their skills. Arjuna wins the competition, but Karna challenges Arjuna as Dronacharya declared Arjuna as the greatest bowman of the world. Kunti realises that Karna is her son whom she had obtained from Surya, the Sun God, long before marriage. In the meantime, Arjuna, also befriends Lord Krishna, his cousin (Lord Krishna's father was Vasudev, brother of Kunti), and  King of Dwarka. The Kauravas attempt to kill the Pandavas using a palace made of wax, but the Pandavas escape. They go into exile so all others believe them to be dead. In the process, the Pandavas encounter a demon by the name Hidimba. Bhima kills Hidimba but ends up marrying his sister, Hidimbi. The couple begets a son, Ghatotkacha. The Pandavas eventually marry Draupadi, the princess of Panchala and King Drupada's daughter, born from fire, thus revealing their identity. They return to Hastinapur and justify their polyandry. The sequence of events leads to the Kuru Kingdom being divided  - The Pandavas receive a new kingdom - Khandavprastha. Arjuna destroys the Khandava. They renovate the town, and rename it as Indraprastha. The prosperity of Indraprastha angers Duryodhana. A jealous Duryodhana summons Pandavas for a dice game, where Yudhishthira loses his kingdom, brothers as well as their common wife Draupadi. Draupadi is dragged and humiliated in the court, however, Krishna saves her honour at the end. The Pandavas and Draupadi, as a result of losing, are forced into a 12-year exile and a year of incognito, the latter phase being spent in the kingdom of King Virata. Pandavas reunite with their  children- the Upapandavas (the 5 sons of Draupadi) and Abhimanyu (the son of Arjuna and Subhadra), after the exile period. Abhimanyu is married to Uttaraa, the daughter of King Virata and Queen Sudeshna. The Pandavas' peace treaty with the Kauravas fails to materialise, thus confirming that a war is set to happen. Both, the Pandavas and Kauravas, gather their respective armies by allying with different tribes and kingdoms. Shortly before the Kurukshetra War commences, Arjuna obtains the knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita from Krishna, which helps him fight for righteousness without any remorse of killing his own people in the  process. The war begins and continues for 18 days - both sides face mass destruction. The Pandavas and Kauravas lose all of their children, in-laws, and allies, and the war officially ends after Duryodhana, the only remaining Kaurava, is killed by Bhima. Ashwatthama (the son of Dronacharya), on seeing Duryodhana's death, gets angered and raids the Pandava camp at night, killing many soldiers in the process. Dhrishtadyumna, Shikhandini ( eldest sister of Draupadi who helped Pandavas in killing Bhishma) and the Upapandavas are killed by Ashwatthama while they are sleeping. He also tries to kill a widowed Uttaraa and her  unborn baby rather unsuccessfully, but both of them are revived and the child is named as 'Parikshit' by Krishna. Krishna also curses Ashwatthama to remain in severe pain and immortality for the rest of his life because of his heinous act. The Pandavas return to Hastinapura, where Dhritarashtra attempts to kill Bhima but ends up being unsuccessful. Gandhari curses Krishna for letting the war happen as she lost all of her sons and grandsons, so he suffers the same fate. The show ends with Yudhishthira being finally crowned by Krishna, as the king of Hastinapur. Production. Background. In November 2005 , a report from "Variety" stated Bobby Bedi's plan to make three feature films and 100 hours of television programming on Indian epic Mahabharat under Kaleidoscope Entertainment with the television version planned to be delivered by the end of 2007. In 2006 it was revealed making for Star Plus which was to be directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi. It was a part of Bedi's 360 degree approach to the epic through TV, film, gaming and theme parks. Planned for 100 episodes with new actors, it was planned to premiere in March 2008 but got postpone due to production to August  2008 and later January 2009. During this, Ekta Kapoor was simultaneously producing a series on Mahabharat since January 2008 titled "Kahaani Hamaarey Mahaabhaarat Ki" for a rival channel to premiere in mid 2008 which she earlier planned for Star but could not as the channel roped Bedi. This led on to a pressure in the production as they wanted to rush their premiere before Kapoor due to which Dwivedi quit midway after association with them for two years after which three directors were working on it. But, they were not able to rush up the series before Kapoor's. 50  episodes were shot at the sets created in Morna between Noida and Delhi for a year after paying ₹6 Crores. However, as the channel was not satisfied with those episodes, they were asked to rework the entire series again pushing its premiere to 2009. But, Bedi reportedly started selling it in DVDs which created problems between them and the channel, and the production was stalled. However, in December 2008, Star took Bedi to Bombay High Court filing an arbitration petition alleging that the production house took ₹6 Crore for the production of the series in advance but has  not produced even a single episode while a senior executive from the production house stated, " This legal notice is Star's way of pulling out of the show. Maybe it doesn't want to go ahead with the Mahabharat project after all." After these, the shooting was expected to restart from February 2009 but in mid 2009 the production was cancelled and the project was given over to Siddharth Kumar Tewary's Swastik Productions to start fresh. Development. More than 400 people were involved in production with 200 people working on graphics. Renowned author Devdutt Pattanaik was roped as the  chief consultant and guiding person for the series. Also writer Salim Khan, music directors Ajay-Atul and Ismail Darbar and action director Ram Shetty were involved. Speaking about bringing "Mahabharat" to television again, Star Plus senior vice-president Nikhil Madhok said, "With over 20 years having passed since the telecast of "Mahabharat" serial on Doordarshan, we felt that the younger generation should be re-introduced to this epic. Also, the plot of this epic is open to interpretation and has many intricacies in it, unlike that of let's say Ramayan, which is fairly linear and is passed on from  generation to generation." According to producer Siddharth Kumar Tewary, the Draupadi cheer haran (disrobing) sequence, which Tewary himself directed, took 20 days to shoot. Even in the last fight between Bheema and Duryodhana, the actors shared that the scene took 3 days to shoot. Originally planned for 129 episodes, its growing popularity gave an extension for about 100 more episodes as Tewary wanted to explore the story further in January 2014. However, it ended with 267 episodes. Design. The set covering 10 acres of land in Umargam, Valsad, Gujarat was designed by the art director Omung Kumar. The costume designer  of the series Nidhi Yasha along with her consultant Bhanu Athaiya, had referred 450 books related to period textiles, costume and jewellery. Marketing and budget. Star spent on the project and spent another on marketing the show, making it India's most expensive TV series. As a part of marketing, Star constructed Mahabharat museum across malls in cities consisting selective weapons, jewellery and finery of Mahabharat along with 3D virtual tour of the sets of Hastinapur. In towns the same concept was adapted with wheels-canter vans along with LED. The sets of the series at Umargam in Gujarat cost  ₹100 crores and production costs of ₹13-15 Lakhs per day. Filming. The series was mainly shot in the sets at Umargam, Valsad in Gujarat. Shooting also took place in various exotic locations such as Jaisalmer, Amber Palace in Jaipur, Kashmir, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Training. The actors shared that they had to go through acting workshops and various trainings for about a year where they were explained in detail what to do and how. Rajit Kapur trained the actors by conducting acting workshops. Reception and impact. Critics. Writing for Rediff, Nishi Tiwari  wrote that "If it maintains the quality of writing and able actors who portray key characters, we may have another winner among us". DNA praised the costumes, scenery, Krishna's flute theme which was given by Raj Mohan Sinha, and most of the CGI special effects, but said the serial's pace was too fast. Hindustan Times criticised, "Everything is so exaggerated that you feel you are watching a series of unreal events rather than following a deeply emotional story. Even relatively less important moments are treated with such overblown drama that when you really need the drama at crucial  junctures — such as Bheeshma’s brahmacharya pledge — the impact is lost." The background music was also criticised for being loud all the time. Viewership in India. Its premiere had a viewership of approximately 8.4 million impressions (8.445 TVTs - Television Viewership in Thousands) and 4.09 TVR. That week it averaged 6.356 TVTs. The viewership ratings of the week of 1 December 2013 reached 9.801 TVTs. The game of dice leading to Draupadi's 'cheer haran' took "Mahabharat" at its peak viewership (10 TVMs) and helped the broadcasting channel Star Plus clock one of the highest GTVMs. Overall, it became the tenth  most watched Hindi GEC of 2013 with an average viewership of 5.6 million and a peak viewership of 7.2 million. In week 29 of 2014, it was at fifth position with 7.1 TVTs while the following week it jumped to second position with 9.2 TVTs. The show was listed in the list of top 20 TV series of all time in 2016. The series started re-airing on Star Bharat along with Devon Ke Dev...Mahadev and Siya Ke Ram on Sundays from 5 August 2018 to 8 December 2019. During the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown in India, it started  re-airing on Star Plus from 30 March 2020 to 25 July 2020. It soon became one of the most-watched Hindi GEC series featuring in the top five programs even during the re-run. Once again it has started airing on star plus starting from 23 January 2022 Impact. This series is regarded as the costliest show ever launched by StarPlus and one of the costliest Indian television series, being the first Indian television show to be made on a budget more than ₹100 crores. In 2014, the cast of "Mahabharat" were invited to hold a fan meeting  tour at Jakarta and Bali. "The Times of India" reported that the show has a huge fan following abroad and as result, the prominent characters from the show had been called to Indonesia for a special event. The main casts of "Mahabharat", performed on "Mahabharat Show: Fan Meeting Tour" in the year 2014 . In June 2020, Karnataka Chief Minister Yediyurappa then, on watching the Kannada dubbed version appreciated the series and stated that the character Krishna played by Saurabh Raj Jain impressed him and also stated that just like every Mahabharata. Adaptations. It has been dubbed and aired in other  Indian languages including Tamil, Bengali, Odia, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu. International broadcasts. In Indonesia, the drama was broadcast on antv dubbed in Indonesian in 2014. In 2015, the show aired in its original version and subtitled in English on MBC Digital 4 every Sunday in Mauritius. In Thailand, the drama was broadcast on Channel 5 dubbed in Thai in 2016. In Myanmar, it has been dubbed in Burma as မဟာဘာရတ and telecasted everyday on Sky Net World Drama Channel. In Sri Lanka, it has been dubbed in Sinhalese as "මහාභාරත්" and telecasted on Swarnavahini. Awards and nominations. It won  the trophy for the Best Drama in Star Guild Awards 2013 as well as number of accolades in other award shows. Show won Best Historical/Mythological serial award in Indian Television Academy Awards. It won the Indian Telly Awards for "Actor in a Supporting Role (Drama)", given to Aham Sharma for his portrayal as Karna, and "Actor in a Negative Role" to Praneet Bhat in 2014. The crew members also won the awards for "Best Costumes for a TV Programme", "Best Make – Up Artist", and "Best Stylist".