Mahabharat 2050…. Jai ektha kapoor!!

The much awaited magnum opus from ektha’s stable was showcased yesterday on one of the channels. Having a good knowledge of not only the original epic but also ekthas way of spreading the same was something i could not guess very much.

Before we begin dissecting the show, my due apologies to Maharishi vedavysa et all for the cruel descriptions.

If one follows kannada movies, we have a hero jaggesh – the navarasa nayaka. This means the actor can give splendid performences (?) in the 9 different emotions / aspects a person can possibly depict in a role/ roles as applicable.

The reason why we talk of jageesh here is because, the epic orginally has all the different emotions in different hues,shades,colours, vibrations etc which can be enjoyed, understood. Ektha is popular for her flashback – so much, the original script is forgotton, hystrinics, revenge – woman to woman variety.

The first episode was entirely depicted in a very cruel sattaire – barring a crying vedhavyasa at the end whom Lord bramha consoles. The episode mainly consisted of the pandavas loosing everything, Draupadhi being dragged to central stage, attempt to de-robe her and Lord krishna saving her.

Draupadhi was quite modern with her dress and if you didnt throw a soft porn gyration song in lines of bollywood with dhuryodhan – it was missing with all her mannerisums. Bheem was nicely picturised showing his agony and anger – the camera work was just great with a low closeup. The same was used on all other brothers which was not required.

All the warriors looked as if they decended from some modern sci-fi including Arjun who was wielding an iron bow!! Took me back to the basics taught about archery in discovery channel recently.

Why ektha decided to clad all the pandavas in black was haunting me through out but when Draupadhi called out for ‘sakha’ ( intelligent folks have to understand this as krishna), horror of horror, a nirma soap advertisement wheel came from some where and generated the required red colour saree – man was that china silk?

Draupadhi then breaks into ekthas trade mark hystronics and chastises every man on earth!!!

There are some plus points too. The sound track done on DTS is superb and a treat to ears. If you have the same, its enjoyable on home theatre systems. If sagar had to shoot some fireworks in closeup and show it for every fight, ektha has the modern software to do much more and irritate the viewers. The camara work is excellent who shows the anger of bheemasena using the sharp edges of his mace!

Characterisation plays a very important role in epics of this nature and ektha forgot this i suppose – maybe purposefully. None of the characters are recognizable unless they are addressed. They all are dressed, look and talk similarly!!

Was trying to help my junior understand the epic better using visual medium but knowing the future with ekthas methodology – its better junior doesnt learn such things!!