MAHABHARATHAM

I was a mega fan of the B.R Chopra's version of the Mahabharat. The characters have been etched in my mind to such a n extent, that if I have to close my eyes and think of krishna, Nitish bhardwaj pops into my head! likewise for almost all the other characters in that series. Having said that, I am following the latest series of Mahabharat. It has a lot of grandeur and the costumes and location are much more beautiful and elaborate compared to the previous series. Initially i felt it certainly lacks that kind of life the earlier version had. But I have to give it to them. Except for a few glitches in character, all of them have evolved quite well. The Pandavas and draupadi of the new series are as good as their previous version.  I do not feel the same for the characters of Krishna and shakuni. Krishna played by Nitish bharadwaj definitely had the mischievous look in his eyes (a well known attribute of Krishna ) whereas saurab raj in the new series looks sad or lets just say sad eyes. Krishna just cannot look sad. Then we have shakuni- a little more villainous look is definitely needed. In the new series, the character of dussasana is nothing but plain irritating. Ofcourse that's the whole point of his character. But his make up and looks took it a notch higher.Karna- It could be clearly seen in the new version that they wanted to pick someone who resembles the pandavas. Karna is very powerful and central character in the epic and his portrayal in the series does not do any justice to it. 

Finally when it comes to the story line I found a lot of stories being changed for the benefit of the audience. For instance, the battle at the end of the "Agyanavasam" definitely does not happen the way it was seen on tv. Draupadi is supposedly a very strong woman whose only goal was to end the kuru warriors in any way she can. Here, she was portrayed crying innumerable times. She lacked the show of strength. 

Mahabharatam has a number of great stories that are intricately interconnected and those stories did not come into light. Those short stories brings the essence of the mahabharatham, not just the dice game, draupadi's shame or the war itself. 

I do not remember enough to write about the story line of B.R chopra's version of the mahabharath, how much it was changed or the lack thereof. To me it was one of the best series that I watched as a rule every sunday at 9. I might be prejudiced but to me any other version of it will just be OKAY