Mahabharat (1988 TV series)
Mahabharat | |
---|---|
File:Mahabharat tv series.jpg | |
Genre | Indian History |
Created by | Baldev Raj Chopra |
Narrated by | Harish Bhimani |
Country of origin | India |
Original language | Hindi |
No. of episodes | 94 |
Production | |
Running time | 45 minutes approx |
Original release | |
Network | DD National |
Release | 2 October 1988 – 24 June 1990 |
Related | |
Kahaani Hamaaray Mahaabhaarat Ki Mahabharat (2008 TV series) Vishnu Puran |
Mahabharat is a successful Indian television series based on the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata. The 94-episode series originally ran from 2 October 1988 to 24 June 1990.[1] It was produced by B. R. Chopra and directed by his son, Ravi Chopra. The music was composed by critically acclaimed music director Rajkamal. Each episode was approximately 45 minutes long. It followed the highly successful Ramayan broadcast in 1987–1988.
It was shown in the UK by the BBC, where it achieved audience figures of 5 million, unheard of for a subtitled series being aired in the afternoon.[2] It was also the first programme broadcast on BBC2 after its 1991 revamp,[3] but was also shown late at night on BBC 1 the previous year [4]
According to production team member Kishore Malhotra, the total cost of producing the series was Rs. 90,000,000.[5]
Cast
- Harish Bhimani as Samay (Time) (voice)
- Rajesh Vivek as Vyasa (author of the Mahabharata)
Participating in war
in favour of (Pandavas)
- Gajendra Chouhan as Yudhishthira , Sonu as young Yudhishthira
- Praveen Kumar as Bheema , Malik as young Bheema
- Arjun as Arjuna, Ankur Javeri as young Arjuna
- Sameer as Nakula
- Sanjeev as Sahadeva
- Nitish Bharadwaj as Krishna, Shampa Gopikrishan as child Krishna, Kewal Shah as adolescent Krishna
- Razak Khan as Ghatotkacha
- Paintal as Shikhandi
- Arun Bakshi as Dhrishtadyumna (Draupadi's Brother)
- Mayur as Abhimanyu
in favour of (Kauravas)
- Puneet Issar as Duryodhana
- Vinod Kapoor as Dushasana
- Pankaj Dheer as Karna
- Gufi Paintal as Shakuni
- Mukesh Khanna as Bhishma
- Surendra Pal as Dronacharya
- Dharmesh Tiwari as Kripacharya
- Pradeep Rawat as Ashwatthama
- Ashok Banthia as Kritavarma
- Kapil Kumar as Shalya
Other cast
- Raj Babbar as Bharat (forefather of Kauravas and Pandavas)
- Ashalata as Shakuntala (mother of Emperor Bharata and the wife of Dushyanta who was the founder of the Paurava Dynasty)
- Kiran Juneja as Ganga (Goddess of the river)
- Rishabh Shukla as Shantanu (Bhishma's Father)
- Debashree Roy as Satyavati (queen of the Kuru king Shantanu)
- Sudesh Berry as Vichitraveerya, Shantanu's third son
- Vishnu Sharma as Vasudeva (Krishna's Father)
- Sheela Sharma as Devaki (Krishna's Mother)
- Kshama Raj as Rohini (Balarama's Mother)
- Ramlal Gupta as Ugrasena (Kans's father)
- Goga Kapoor as Kans (Krishna's Maternal Uncle, evil ruler of Mathura)
- Rasik Dave as Nanda
- Manju Vyas as Yashoda
- Sagar Salunke as Balarama (Krishna's Elder Brother)
- Ajay Sinha as Akroora (Kans's Minister)
- Devidas as Kans's Minister
- Girija Shankar as Dhritrashtra (Kauravas's Father)
- Renuka Israni as Gandhari (Kauravas's Mother)
- Virendra Razdan as Vidura (half-brother to the kings Dhritarashtra and Pandu, student of Bhishma)
- Tarakesh as Pandu (Pandavas's Father])
- Nazneen as Kunti (mother of Yudishtira, Bhima, Arjuna, and Karna, wife of Pandu, maternal aunt of Krishna)
- Roma Manik as Madri, Pandu's Second Wife
- Roopa Ganguly as Draupadi (wife of Five Pandavas)
- Channa Ruparel as Rukmini (Krishna's Wife)
- Varsha Usgaonkar as Uttaraa (Abhimanyu's Wife)
- Sameer Rajda as Uttar (Uttaraa's brother)
- Chandni Sharma as Sudeshna (Uttaraa's mother/Queen of Virat)
- Lalit Tiwari as Sanjay
- Dara Singh as Hanuman (one episode)
- Sumeet Raghavan as Young Sudama
- Chetan Hansraj as Young Balarama
- Parijat as Radha
- Ram Mohan as Head Priest
- Rafique Mukkadam as Minister
- Shivendra Mahal as Parashurama and Lord Shiva (Parashurama was the guru of Bhishma,Dronacharya and Karna)
- Rana Jung Bahadur as Jarasandha
- Karunakar Pathak as Shishupala
- Sharat Saxena as Kichaka
- Gopi Krishna as Chitrasena (Arjuna's dance teacher in heaven)
Episode Structure
The opening credits are shown over a backdrop of illustrations from ISKCON's edition of the Bhagavad-Gita, Bhagavad-Gītā As It Is. The Society and its founder, Swami Prabhupada, are credited for these illustrations. The sung verses at the end of the credit sequence are Verses 7 and 8 of Chapter 4 of the Gītā: "Whenever and wherever a decline of righteousness and a predominance of unrighteousness prevails, at that time I (Krishna) manifest myself personally, O descendant of Bhārata; for the protection of the devotees and the annihilation of the miscreants and to fully establish righteousness, I appear millenium after millenium."
The voice of Time (Samay in Hindi, voiced by Harish Bhimani) narrates the series. At or near the beginning of each episode, Time reviews relevant events that have gone before and sets the stage of the action happening in the present episode. During these sequences, a backdrop of stars and planets is shown overlaid with a transparent image of a statue's head and/or a slowly turning wheel. Time often speaks of perceiving or revealing patterns in the epic that only it can know from its cosmic perspective. Time also occasionally provides a narration while human-scale action is shown.
Each episode ends with a sung verse either summarizing the physical or emotional state of the episode's main characters, or a moral lesson that can be drawn from the action. The title song has been sung by Mahendra Kapoor, the Indian playback singer.
References
- ^ McLain, Karline (2009). India's immortal comic books: gods, kings, and other heroes. Indiana University Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-253-22052-3.
- ^ Epic Hindi Language Series Mahabharat Launches Exclusively on Rogers OMNI Television Channels In Ontario and British Columbia
- ^ "The TV Room". The TV Room. 1991-02-16. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
- ^ "The TV Room". The TV Room. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
- ^ Mahabharat Ki Mahabharat: The Making of B.R. Chopra's "Mahabharat"