Kahani Hamare Mahabharat Ki - Review

So, another product from balaji factory is out. having the same prototype as any other Ekta Kapoor drama prefixed by K. However, for this one, Ekta Kapoor had an excuse that the copyright associated with the title Mahabharat are already registered with B.R. Chopra so she had to find a replacement and later, that was verified by her dedicated astrologer Sunita Menon and numerologist Sanjay Jumaani.

Alright, somehow Ekta has easily replaced the Mahabharat (1988) title with her own Kahani Hamare Mahabharat Ki (2008), but will she be able to replace the royal presentation, the premium language and accent of epic characters, the base of power and mightiness in elders' voice, the charm and personality of Krishna-Arjun-Duryodhan generation, excellent combination of beauty-gestures-traditions of Rajmata and Rajkumari/Putravadhu; and above all, the matured voice of Harish Bhimani as Samay ? (Remember 'main samay hun'? that was the only dialog which was repeated by him over and over in all the episodes of Mahabharat (1988) otherwise, Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza (the dialog writer of Mahabharat (1988)) had given him something new, something different to say in each and every episode. If one can put all the dialogs by Harish Bhimani as Samay on a single audio file, thats the best knowledge and philosophical funda one can ever give to anybody.)

Very few people know that the first attempt to portrait Mahabharat on cinema screen was made in 1920, by Jyotish Bannerjee, and of course, it was a silent movie. But the revolution what B.R. Chopra's Mahabharat had brought, none else had been able to do that. It was a must watch show for the entire family from 1988 to 1990. In those days when cinematography in india was technical handicapped; the costumes, sequences, dialogs and character players have set such milestones that it is nearly impossible to bring that magic back on screen.

Now, coming back to Kahani Hamare Mahabharat Ki (2008), after watching the first episode, anybody would feel like someone has thrown the same Agrawal/Viraani Parivaar in hastinapur. There was no difference from day to day saas-bahu drama. The only question would bug you is why the hell characters of Mahabharat look like people from Greek mythology !!!!!!!! The costume designers of Kahani Hamare Mahabharat Ki (2008) seem like great fans of Age Of Empires or Age of Mythology game.

Neither there is anything good about cinematography. The camera views are same as any other Balaji television, Zoom from left right top bottom, fade in fade out and added glow effect. Hard base drums in background adding more into the noises created by thunder and lightening voices.


Coming to a very important character, Draupadi. Earlier, in Mahabharat (1988), this character was played by Roopa Ganguli (ya, the same one who appeared in a Bengoli movie, Antarmahal (2005)) is played by Anita Hansandani (one of the females with Akshay Kumar in Khtaron Ke Khilaadi Show) looks less mannered and more seductive in that red bed sheet designed by Manish Malhotra. She is pathetic at dialog delivery. Neither she has that power and proud in her voice what a Panduvadhu should have. All other leading characters are so unfledged that they are doing injustice to the actual characters of Mahabharat. All five Pandu Putra are looking less from Hastinapur and more from Salman Khan's highly equipped gym. Neither their gears are well designed. Bheem used to carry a golden Gadaa, but here, he is carrying a bunch of cutters hooked together. Over all, all these five characters are looking like a poor a gardener family who found a couple of jeweleries while digging into the ground.

In one line, by looking at the first two episodes, Kahani Hamare Mahabharat Ki is a big disaster and the same quality continues, i don't think Ekta will be able to recover the investment she has done for the high definition recording of the series, doesn't matter how much numerology she applies.