There
aren’t many daily sops on Indian television that you can rely upon for a real
good engrossing watch, unless of course you have a strong appetite for those
overtly dramatic saas - bahu no
brainers. There are a few like ‘KBC’,’
Satyamev Jayate’ and ‘24’ that
one can watch with family for a gripping and a clean watch but despite that
there aren’t many that can easily fall in this category. And this is all the
more strange when we compare it with the ‘Nukkads’,
‘Buniyaads’, ‘Flop Shows’, ‘Ramanayanas’ , ‘Mahabharatas’, ‘Surabhis’ and
‘Chanakayas’ of the Doordarshan
era, where every other show that was telecasted was a pure gem and a must
watch.
Strangely
in today’s context, we have innumerable channels vis-à-vis 1 during the late
80s but still the quality of televised content is by and large poor and
monotonous. And this doesn’t hold good just for the vulgarity aspect of it but
even the safe bets in terms of mythological shows that have been televised in
the last decade or so have been poor in terms of the overall quality. No wonder
the ‘Mahabharata’ and ‘Ramayana’ of the late 80s are still
etched deep in our memories for the impact they still have on us. But as a pleasant
surprise we do have some good mythological shows in The New Mahabharata and Devon
ke Dev Mahadev, being telecasted off late and been received very well by
the audiences, mainly due to its very good content quality and superb visual
appeal.
The New Mahabharata, of course being the more popular one for its
age old rich story line and its familiarity among the masses due to its
telecast on Doordarshan in the early 90s. Though, when the new series started a
majority of the viewers disapproved it stating that the muscular male leads
with flowing tresses and jewellery laden female leads don’t appeal and rather seem
unreal , the dialect isn’t as pure and impactful as the earlier version and so
on. Naturally, the comparison with the former didn’t help in the beginning but
the detail with which the entire story progressed was truly laudable. So much
so that within few weeks it topped the TRP ratings and people across all generations
got glued to the great epic, yet again. And very soon the enigma and mischiefs
of Krishna, flamboyance of Arjuna, valore of Karna, arrogance of Duryodhana,
viciousness of Shakuni and brutality of Bheema became the talk of every
household once again.
The tone
among the masses gradually shifted from comparative to enthusiastic. People once
again started to seem a bit more interested in this magnificent epic, I for
that matter ended up reading half a dozen related books on the epic. Although, the
ones who have read some or the other interpretation of the epic might
rightfully agree that this recently televised version of Mahabharata was a bit
too Pandava centric and divulged on many occasions from the more popular
narratives. But that was understandable if one takes into account the warranted
masala quotient in the televised content these days. However, such aberrations
apart, the series easily managed to capture the imagination of its detractors and
supporters alike for almost a year.
Throughout
the year, while the series was on air, the biggest enthusiasm was to know about
what will be showcased tomorrow and the biggest fear remained that the series
shouldn’t end pretty soon. The missed episodes were sooner than later covered over
the YouTube, as if it’s on the school syllabus or has been prescribed by the doctor. The 8:30 PM
slot every day was easily the most anticipated one, however just the 20 odd
minutes episodes didn’t do justice to the long wait. There was hope that this
rich and enchanting storyline will continue beyond the 18 day war as well but
eventually when the news came in that it will end immediately after the war, it
was a heartbreak. There was already a strong connect with the characters, an
eagerness to know more about the greatest Indian epic and a desire to hear a
bit more from our beloved and divine Lord Krishna. But someday it had to end. It
may not be just to compare it with the yesteryear series in terms of the
quality and the authenticity but one can safely say that the manner in which
this televised version of the epic captured our imagination around 2 decades
back, the new series has also managed to keep the present generation captivated
in the same capacity. Such is the greatness and richness of this age old epic.
But this 8:30 PM void will surely haunt us for a while!
--
kin…
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