Jai Shri Krishna on Colors Channel

Serials on mythological subjects such as the Mahabharat, Ramayan, Shri Krishna, etc, tend to be very popular. From a smaller number of such serials earlier, now we have more serials, with serials on Mata Vaishno Devi, serials on Sai Baba, and many others. There have been many serials on the past related to one of the most important mythological and religious characters, Lord Krishna. There is another serial on the same subject that is becoming fairly popular, called Jai Shri Krishna. The serial is made by Sagar Arts, and appears on Color TV at 8:30 PM weekdays (8 AM in the morning). The serial started on July 21st, 2008.
The serial is probably the most detailed look at the childhood of Shri Krishna, since the show is still focused on the childhood of Shri Krishna. A lot of other shows show the childhood of Shri Krishna within 10-12 episodes, but this show is taking a much longer time, and showing many more things. The serial shows in more detail the attempts made by Kans on the life of Shri Krishna when he was an infant and a young boy, employing many different methods to try and kill the young boy, but failing everytime. The show has shown many different demons, birds and the like trying to kill Shri Krishna but failing everytime.
There is a lot more detail shown about the frustration of Kans about his inability to kill the young boy, especially when Krishna appears in front of him and Kans cannot do anything about it (and the others cannot see Krishna). There is a lot more focus on the antics of Krishna, including his divine connection to Radha, his playfulness, his devotion to his mother Yashoda, and his connection with the Gopis. Overall, to many the serial may seem a bit slow, but there is a lot of focus on the younger Krishna, and one would expect a lot of people also to be devoted to this serial.

Video of an episode from the serial:



Videos from the serial Jai Shri Krishna (youtube)

Kahani Hamaray Mahabharat Ki on 9X

When it became known that Ekta Kapoor was going to be making her own version of the Mahabharat on 9X, there was a lot of fear that with her concept of entertainment, TRP's, and popularity being pegged to things such as the drama of saas-bahu serials, abrupt screen transitions, plastic surgery, and so on, this will be a Mahabharat that will remove the positive memories of the BR Chopra version. And now the serial is on air, having been launched on July 7, 2008, and appearing on 9X at 9 PM on weekdays.
The serial started out with depicting the episode of 'Draupadi Vastraharan', and this one did not go down too well. There was a lot of screaming by Anita Hassandani (playing the role of Draupadi), and one could actually see her using the full level of her voice while exhorting the Pandavas to take action to save her, while also screaming at the Kauravas. Over a period of time, the serial has started to reveal its cast, and the cast is essentially all the regulars of her serial (so far, no major new faces).



The costumes are very different from that of the original Mahabharat serial, more in the nature of costumes that would be there from the Indo-Greek fights shown in the 'Bharat Ek Khoj' serial. There is less of an emphasis on color (as in the original), and more of a focus on tight skin, functional costumes, a slightly darker hue, and tattoos. Acting is okay for the episodes that one is now seeing, although the initial reaction was one of shock.
Some of the traditional TV artists that one can see in the serial are / were Kiran Karmakar (Shantanu), Makrand Deshpande (Ved Vyasa), Rakshanda Khan (Amba), Chetan Hansraj (Bheem), Saakshi Talwar (Ganga), Ronit Roy (Bheeshma), and so on, all people from the various saas-bahu serials.

Link to Youtube videos on the serial (link)

The promise made by Bheeshm

Aladdin, Jaanbaaz Ek Jalwe Anek on Zee TV

Based on the famous story of Aladdin and his magical lamp (and produced by Applause Entertainment & Sagar Arts with some Computer Graphics - but not comparable to the best of CG that you see in movies), this is a serial that is full of drama. The story of Aladdin is taken from the Book of One Thousand and One Nights, Persian fables. The serial appears on Zee (started on November 16, 2007) and appears every Friday, Saturday and Sunday on 7:30 PM (prime time for children).

The show has new actors playing the prominent characters:
Mandar plays the 15 year old Aladdin
Nazea Hasan plays Princess Jasmin
Ranvijay Razdan plays Jafar
Arjun Dutt plays the Ginnie

The story of Aladdin is pretty familiar to a lot of people - Aladdin is a young boy whose parents were killed in his childhood by a wicked magician (remind anyone of Harry Potter?); he is brought up by his mother's sister and her husband, and is not exactly treated very well. His parents Zoya and Zahir were killed by the magician Jafar; now Jafar wants to get the magic lamp for his own needs, but the lamp is buried in a cave and the only person who can get the lamp has to be from a certain clan, bearing the mark of the sun, and the most important, has to have a pure soul, and Aladdin has all these hallmarks.
So Jafar tricks Aladdin to learn magic from him, and then get the lamp. Aladdin, with his companions, learns a lot, and manages to reach the cave based on his skills. He somehow manages to get the lamp, and escape the cave, and he has also learned that Jafar motives were evil, so he evades the magician. Now Aladdin has a magical carpet and the lamp, and slowly moves from adventure to adventure, till he meets the beautiful Princess Jasmine, but with Jafar always after him, he cannot stay long. What will Aladdin do ? How can he escape the magician ? Does he get the princess ?
Watch the serial to learn more.

Watch a video from the serial:

Dharti Ka Veer Yodha Prithviraj Chauhan on Star Plus

Prithviraj Chauhan is a well remembered figure in Indian history. The most common stories around his revolve around these concepts:
- He was most likely the last Hindu king of Delhi, and after him, the Sultans took over
- He married a princess called Sanyogita, who was the daughter of his arch rival. He was not allowed to come to her swayamvar, and in fact, his statue was placed outside the hall. She garlanded the statue and he came and whisked her away in front of her father
- He defeated the invader, Mohammed of Ghori, and let him go; but in the next battle, he was defeated and taken prisoner. He finally killed Mohammed in captivity, when even though blind, he was able to locate the sound of Mohammed and shoot with an arrow
You can read more about Prithviraj Chauhan at this Wikipedia entry.



And now this epic take is available in a pretty good serial that appears on Star Plus on the weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) at 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM. It is made by Sagar Arts who are also the creator of older serials such as Ramayana, and have a lot of experience in making historical serials.
The serial is right now in the age of the young Prithviraj Chauhan, being played by a teenager called Rajat Tokas (a resident of Delhi who is all of 13 years old). The role of Sanyogita is played by Mughda. As the character of Prithviraj Chauhan grows older, the role will be played by Angad Bedi, the son of cricket legend Bishen Singh Bedi.
The costumes of this serial have been developed with a lot of hard work done by Nisha Sagar and Neerushaa, both of whom spent months doing research, visiting places associated with Prithviraj Chauhan and reading books on the era.
Eventually, the show the show will trace the life of Prithviraj Chauhan from birth till death, highlighting all aspects of him and his life - bravery, duty, patriotism and love. This will be presented in a lot of detail as the serial promises to be one of the most expensive serials in Indian television history.

More updates of the serial can be found in these locations: India-forums, Apnicommunity, Song

Doordarshan Nostalgia: Mythology - Ramayana

The Ramayana is the most popular and holy epics in Hinduism, the story of the God who came to Earth and lived among humans in the form of a human, and who is now worshiped as epitomizing the ideals of the ideal man, in thought and action. In the 80's, as society developed, people were slowly moving away from religion and faith. TV was developing as a new media that would provide information and entertainment. And then came the serial written and directed by Ramanand Sagar called 'Ramayan' (with 78 episodes).



The serial took the epic and presented in a dramatized form. It started coming on Doordarshan Sunday Morning at 9:30 AM from January 1987 to July End 1988. India had never seen something like this serial. It ignited the religious thought in people like nothing that had been seen. Television in India was not so common then, and yet, people found a set somewhere to watch. If a neighbour had a TV, you would go there to watch, or go over to a relative's place. In smaller towns or villages, a single set would have a large number of people watching the single set.
The effect was apparent. Roads would be empty when the serial came, and woe betide a electricity board office if the light would go off; people would gather and raise slogans and threaten. At one time, it set a record for the world's most watched mythological serial. In addition, it opened the floodgates for more mythological and historical serials after that.
The serial took the whole story of the Ramayana from before the birth of the God Rama and all the way till the story of how he re-discovered his sons, Luv and Kush when they had grown up to be child warriors. This was covered through an extension of the serial called 'Uttar Ramayan', created on public demand. The serial brought about a much greater understanding of the epic in a way that no amount of reading would have brought about, and also served to highlight the values and culture embedded in the epic.
The serial also made celebrities of the main actors, who were revered as godly figures (except for Dara Singh (played the role of Hanuman) who was already famous)
* Arun Govil as Ram
* Deepika as Sita
* Sunil Lahri as Lakshman
* Arvind Trivedi as Ravan
* Vijay Arora as Indrajit
* Sameer Rajda as Shatrughna
* Mulraj Rajda as Janak
* Lalita Pawar as Manthara

Watch Videos from Ramayan on Youtube

Doordarshan Nostalgia: Epic Serial - Mahabharat

After the success of Ramanand Sagar's Ramayana, it was the turn of the other great epic of India, The Mahabharat to be brought to television viewers. The series was produced by B.R.Chopra and directed by his son, Ravi Chopra. It was a spectacular success, maybe the most popular serial ever in terms of dedicated viewing. The serial had 94 episodes and ran for a length of 45 minutes for each episode, appearing on Doordarshan between 1988 and 1990. For people who know the Mahabharat as a great epic that also incorporates the Gita, the spiritual guide to all Hindus, it was as if the epic had come to life.
For many, the Mahabharat was a story that was not supposed to be kept in the house, and a story that they could relate to only with context to having read in their childhood as an 'Amar Chitra Katha' comic. Seeing it in life and blood, with real life characters was an incredible experience, and kept the immense crowds watching the serial. If you did not have a TV, then you would go to the neighbor's house to watch the serial. If you wandered out, the roads would have much less traffic than you would expect.
If you watch the serial now, having watched much more slick serials, you might think that the serial was a bit crude in terms of sound and shooting quality, but my recollection of the serial (including re-runs that happen from time to time) was that of a fast paced serial combining some good acting of these-larger-than-life characters with the weaknesses and human failings that they had. It was essentially a serial that conveyed a deep sense of what The Mahabharat was all about, the depth of human emotions such as loyalty, love, bonding, jealousy, hatred, envy, and bitterness.
Starting with the fore-fathers of the Pandavas and Kauravas and the twists and turns in their life, along with the life of that incredibly complex character known as Bheeshma; and the life and machinations of Krishna, the Supreme Being who knows what good and evil is all about, but prefers to let people do what they are doing rather than trying to make major changes, and the titanic clash between good and evil in the end that forces people to use loyalty rather than good vs evil; and one of the most doomed characters of the epic, Karna, who was steadfastly loyal out of gratitude even though he knew that he was going to be fighting against his kinsmen and against the good side; the serial presented all these in enough detail. There are few major acts of the epic that were missed out.
The serial made stars out of a number of people such as Harish Bhimani who essayed the voiceover of Samay (time), Mukesh Khanna as Bheeshma, Nitish Bharadwaj as Lord Krishna, Girja Shankar as Dhritrashtra, Puneet Issar as Duryodhana, Pankaj Dhir as Karna and Gufi Paintal as Shakuni. For more cast members, refer to this link.

Here are some video scenes from the Mahabharata serial:

Opening sequence of Mahabharat



All the major characters who are involved in the war

Chanakya, a serial from the past

In the midst of so many serials about troubles within the family, about the serials that explore the relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law (saas bahu) and the constant problems between them, one sometimes get a wish (driven by nostalgia) for some of the serials that appeared on Doordarshan. One of these was Chanakya; and why am I thinking of Chanakya ? Because while I was browsing on YouTube, I came across some videos of Chanakya (watch them here), and that activated the section of brain dealing with memory.
I remember Chanakya for many things. At a time when serials based on ancient India or mythology were mainly costume dramas with a heavy focus on heavy language, where every other sentence referred to honour or the lack of it, here was a serial heavy on political drama. While in school, we learnt in a few short paragraphs (or maybe it was one chapter, I don't remember) about who Chanakya was and what he had done. However, as far as I can recall about what we were taught, we were primarily taught that Chanakya was the writer of the 'Arthashastra, the book on Indian politics and that he was a very clever tactician who brought his favorite king to power.
However, it was the serial that presented things in a slightly different (maybe it was just more detailed) context, labeling Chanakya (known as so because his father was called Chanak) (also known as Kautilya or Vishnugputa) as a person who was inspired by a mission to bring the country together after the invasion of Alexander (or Yakshendra as I remember the name being pronounced in the serial). Just like the Discovery of India series (Bharat ek khoj) brought the history of Indian to everyone, this serial brought the life of times of one of India's greatest thinkers and tactician to the screen.
The serial essentially captures the rise of Chanakya in those time when the Nandas were the rulers (but not very skilful). They had a superb minister, almost to the level of Chanakya himself, called Rakshas. Rakshas was able through his actions to keep the Nandas in power and ensure that no one was able to plan or execute any actions against the Nandas. It was Chanakya, a ruthless person in his mission, who was able to weld together the different states, defeat the Nandan and bring his brave protege, Chandragupta Maurya to power.
There are many examples of his determined nature shown in the serial, but the most famous of them have to be the episode of where when grass hurts his feet, he gets the grass eaten by ants; and probably the most famous one where he makes a solemn vow not to tie his hair till he has got rid of the Nandas.
The serial seemed to be very well-researched, and spent a lot of time and effort to make the entire portrayal including the sets seem authentic. The director and lead actor (Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi) essayed the role in a way that seemed to be very authentic (including the fact that people rode horses bare-back since the saddle was not yet introduced in India). One person who did not come off so well in this serial was Alexander, since the serial also mentions his brutality many times. People will also be surprised to know that the serial was somewhat controversial at its time because of the large use of saffron flags particularly because there was already a lot of feelings about the ongoing rise of the BJP and the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation.

Raavan, a different kind of serial

There is a serial on Zee, which can be truly called a serial with a difference. There have been a number of serials on air to do with mythology, with most of them being loud, very flashy costumes, big dialogues, etc, not at all subtle. But there is now a serial with a difference. Ravan attempts to tell the history that no one knows about, the story of Ravan, the embodiment of evil. The makers have tried to present his entire history, including many of his positive points. The attempt of the makers is that the serial will not glorify Ravan. It will simply give Ravan's point of view - why he abducted Rama's wife Sita - without justifying what he did. The serial will show Ravan's transformation from mahamanav (a great human being) to a mahadanav (a great demon).
“Ravan has been portrayed in a negative light so far. He is known as Sita’s kidnapper but what people don’t know is that he was a big pandit and a powerful man. His real persona has been hidden from the audience and in this show you will see him as a warrior, a real hero!” The serial will reveal little-known aspects about Ravan like the fact that he was the grandson of Brahma, that Hanuman was one of the ministers in his court who left after a misunderstanding, and that Ravana did not actually have ten heads; he actually wore a necklace of ten heads.



‘Ravan’ is shown Saturday nights at 9 PM (and started on 21:00 from 12th November 2006). Basic story starts with Ravan's mother Kekashi (Ravee Gupta) shown trying to seduce Rishi Vishrava (R K Gupta), because she wants to have a child with him. It all began with the Daitya named Sumaalee ( maternal Grand Father), Raavan’s Nana. After Sumaalee lost his kingdom the Devta’s, he was very upset and started to conspire and wanted his kingdom back at any cost.
He got a vision that if he had son’s from Vishravaa, he would have sons equal to Kuber the ruler of lanka. Sumaalee’s daughter Kaikasee, was convinced to go and entice Vishravaa into marrying her and has children from him. Kaikasee went to seek out for Vishravaa, and managed to win his love. After some time she gave birth to a 4 children. His father named him Dashgreev (ten-headed). Then born Kumbhkarn and after him their sister Shoorpankhaa. Kaikasee’s last child was Vibheeshan.
Having watched it many times, it can be gripping, and because of the previous mythological serials, I was a bit apprehensive. But to connect to the 21st century, the loud drama of the 80s’ Doordarshan presentation has been cut out. Ravan speaks human. There is no thigh-slapping, foot-stomping swearing of a bigmouth. He is younger and leaner. Rama looks like a conscientious leader not given to lengthy discourse and beatific smiles.
The serial is also raising a toast to scientific progress of the age. “The sages, like Agastya Rishi, were actually great scientists. Why speak of only Ravan’s Pushpak rath? There were nine types of aircraft in vogue then, including fighter planes. The Brahmastra itself was a missile. It is well-known that centuries later Leonardo da Vinci was influenced by military accounts in Ramayana.
An excerpt from the serial that shows the inherent nature of Rama. Rama has picked up the Brahmastra and taken aim, but Ravana has desisted from countering with an equally destructive weapon from his arsenal. “I cannot let Creation come to end,” he thinks and embraces his own death.

Producer : Gulshan Sachdeva ( Film and Shots )
Research : Om Prakash
Screenplay Writer : Umesh Chandra Upadhyay
Dialogue Writer : Vijay Pundit
Director : Ranjan Kumar Singh
Star Cast : Narendra Jha (Ravan), Divya Desai (Mandodari), Ravee Gupta (Keksi), Rajendra Gupta (Sumali)

Bharat Ek Khoj on Doordarshan: Nostalgia

Way back, in the 1980's (1988 to be precise), there used to appear a serial on Doordarshan called Bharat Ek Khoj. It presented in dramatic form, a depiction of the history for India for 5000 years till the year 1957, and was based on a book by Jawaharlal Nehru (first Indian Prime Minister) called Discovery of India. This is a pretty famous book, and the series was very gripping. Written and directed by the famous director, Shyam Benegal, and was an excellent depiction of history, especially for those who either have not been very interested in Indian history, or never got a chance to see it in a connected form, that is, a single series covering 5000 years.
I was a kid at that time, but I remember watching it regularly, and now that I am older, I got a chance to suddenly view the opening track (very impressive) on Youtube,



and memories got suddenly refreshed. I still have not found the DVD of the series, and am actively looking. There were so many things that were great in the series. For one, they had an excellent narrator; Om Puri's voice seems like a perfect fit. And, unlike some of today's serials dealing with mythology or history, there was no excessive dramatization; costumes seemed of the period with seeming artificial.
One needs to of course remember that the serial was based on the writings and evidence available from the period when Jawaharlal Nehru wrote the book, and if such a serial came out at this point of time, just the period of history from the time of the Indus Valley would have sections either not acceptable to the Left, or to the RSS/BJP. In addition, sections dealing with the Marathas vs. the Mughals would be sure to have agitations, given how easily the Shiv Sena is wont to take up controversial series as a part of its appeal to its voter base and to seem relevant.
Having said that, the serial covered so many periods such as the Vedic people and the writings of the Vedas, beginning of the caste system (consider it part of the innocence of youth that I did not understand this part of the serial, of course I would easily understand it now, although whether I would still be able to rationalize it remains to be seen), the period of Chanakya and the invasion of Alexander, Ashoka, classical ages, Kalidasa, the formation and survival of the Delhi sultanate (the slave dynasty and ahead), Mughals, Marathas, British East India Company, the first war of Independence of 1857, and numerous others).
For those who are interested in the lyrics of the opening ditty, a bit of information, it is actually the Nasadiya Sukta from the Rig Veda. For those who are not so interested in the lyrics of this one, please ignore from this point onwards (I for one found it perfectly captivating):

Original lyrics:

Srishtee se pehle sat nahin thaa, asat bhi nahin
Antariksh bhi nahin, akash bhin nahin thaa
chhipaa thaa kyaa kahaan, kisne dhakaa thaa
us pal to agam, atal jal bhi kahaan thaa

Srishtee kaa kaun hai kartaa
Kartaa hai vaa akartaa
Oonche aakash mein rahtaa
Sada adhyaksh banaa rahtaa
Wahin sachmuch mein jaantaa..Yaa nahin bhi jaanataa
Hai kisi ko nahin pataa, nahin pataa,
Nahin hai pataa, nahin hai pataa

Weh tha hiranyagarbh srishti se pehle vidyamaan
Wahi to saare bhoot jaat ka swami mahaan
jo hai astitvamaana dharti aasmaan dhaaran kar
Aise kis devta ki upasana karein hum avi dekar

Jis ke bal par tejomay hai ambar
Prithvi hari bhari sthapit sthir
Swarg aur sooraj bhi sthir
Aise kis devta ki upasana karein hum avi dekar

Garbh mein apne agni dhaaran kar paida kar
Vyapa tha jal idhar udhar neeche upar
Jagaa chuke vo ka ekameva pran bankar
Aise kis devta ki upasana karein hum avi dekar

Om ! Srishti nirmata swarg rachiyata purvaj raksha kar
Satya dharma palak atul jal niyamak raksha kar
Phaili hain dishayen bahu jaisi uski sab mein sab par
Aise hi devta ki upasana kare hum avi dekar
Aise hi devta ki upasana kare hum avi dekar


English translation:

At first was neither Being nor Nonbeing.
There was not air nor yet sky beyond.
What was wrapping? Where? In whose protection?
Was Water there, unfathomable deep?

There was no death then, nor yet deathlessness;
of night or day there was not any sign.
The One breathed without breath by its own impulse
Other than that was nothing at all.

Darkness was there, all wrapped around by darkness,
and all was Water indiscriminate, Then
that which was hidden by Void, that One, emerging,
stirring, through power of Ardor, came to be.

In the beginning Love arose,
which was primal germ cell of mind.
The Seers, searching in their hearts with wisdom,
discovered the connection of Being in Nonbeing.

A crosswise line cut Being from Nonbeing.
What was described above it, what below?
Bearers of seed there were and mighty forces,
thrust from below and forward move above.

Who really knows? Who can presume to tell it?
Whence was it born? Whence issued this creation?
Even the Gods came after its emergence.
Then who can tell from whence it came to be?

That out of which creation has arisen,
whether it held it firm or it did not,
He who surveys it in the highest heaven,
He surely knows - or maybe He does not!

DD National : Losing its strong initial advantage

Doordarshan is a public broadcast television network run by Prasar Bharti. It began in Delhi in 1959. National programes were introduced in 1982. In the same year live telecast of Independence Day parade followed by Asian Games was shown.
With the cable and so many channels coming up, I just wonder whether people still watch Doordarshan because to be very true I don't. But I truly believe that some of the quality serials that are remembered till now were shown on DD National. I still remember those days (eightees era) when I was a kid and like every child I used to wait for the Sunday to come because all the good serials used to come starting with Rangoli (around 7:30 am if I am not wrong). I still remember my mother used to make 'pakodis' for breakfast on Sunday and everything was settled before 9 am because it was the time for mythological dramas like Ramayan (1987-1988) and Mahabharat (1988-1989). Every character fitted so well in these serials, the image that comes to me if I talk about Lord Krishana is Nitish Bhardwaj and Mukesh Khanna as Bhism Pitamah.
Now-a-days you can hear songs on any channel but at that time there were two famous hindi film songs based popular serials, Chitrahaar (how we would wait to see songs on this one) and Rangoli. Crime thrillers like Karamchand, Byomkesh Bakshi (my favourite detective serial till now) and Tahqekaat (lead role played by Vijay Anand) were some good and substantial thrillers. Though Karamchand has started again but I just don't find that kind of quality detective serials on any channel now.
Soaps like Humlog, Buniyad and Nukkad were very popular. I don't remember them but I still find people praising about them. I can't forget two romantic serials because I really liked them and I wish them to start again on any channel, Kashish (Sudesh Berry and Malvika Tiwari) and
Farmaan (Kawaljit and Deepika Deshpande). Both were romantic in nature, may be the age I was in when these serials started made me very fond of them. Shanti, the first daily soap started on Doordarshan on one 15th August and after that there was no end to daily soaps. Then came Swabhimaan, Itihaas. No end.
Now Doordarshan is often criticized for poor telecast and presentation quality, the media have regularly criticized the channel for telecasting too many ads in cricket matches often showing 5 of the 6 balls of an over. However, Doordarshan is still the only television provider for a number of people who don't have cable television. Those were interesting times, one of my other regular memories from that time is of fiddling with the antenna to ensure that reception is good.
I don't know about the present but some really good quality and my favourite serials came from Doordarshan.