Mahabharata discussion : Share your thoughts, favorite characters, scenes, anecdotes.

[BacktoCricaddict]

7 hours ago, Muloghonto said:

BR Chopra gets -1/10 for special effects and 11/10 for casting. Everyone was excellently cast. Karna, Yudhisthir, Krishna, Dhritarashtra,Bhisma, Bheem, Duryodhana, etc. 

His 'may samay hoon' narration was genius too.

 

And it was a huge upgrade over Ramayan that had come before it - with Arun Govil and Deepika (?). 

 

With Mahabharata cast, Puneet Issar as Duryodhana was my favorite. His emoted that character to perfection.

 

 

[coffee_rules]

8 hours ago, Muloghonto said:

Favourite character : Karna, Ekalavya, Nakul & Sahadev

Least favourite character : Bhisma, the real villain in the story IMO. 

 

Thanks to Ramdhari Singh Dinkar who has glorified the character of Karna in his epic poem Rashmirathinot intended by VyasaBharata in the original He was a lampat aadmi and deserved all the punishment in the end. His story shows you always have two paths to choose, which path you choose is up to you alone. You can’t choose adharma and cry about it later. He was born to misfortune chose to die with it.

 

 

He was wrong in many ways 

Edited October 19, 2024 by coffee_rules

[ravishingravi]

10 hours ago, Number said:

In my view BR Chopra ji and his team did a splendid job. Let's be fair, the visuals and audio effects can't match a Rajamauli film of today because it was made for Indian TV in 80s.

Casting, dialogue writing and delivery was top notch. 

Nitish Bhardwaj played Krishna in such great depth, the pronunciation of Sanskrit words, the expressions and everything was so damn perfect.

My worst fears are if it is written by today's Netflix's writers half of the sentences will be in Urdu. I hope whoever takes it up now, keeps the dialogues along the line of BR Chopra's one.

 

I am absolutely aligned. I watch the entire series once every two years. The opening song and finale of each episode still gets to me. And I couldn't have thought of better casting. 

 

However, as one delves deeper, one sees that the epic is way more nuanced. For instance, the character of Draupadi. She is portrayed as a somewhat seething, arrogant and not that intelligent woman who was driven by circumstances in her life. But the text gives a much more nuanced take. For instance she did not provoke Duryodhana with "Andhey ka beta Andha". And even her dynamics between her five husband's kept evolving which show doesn't capture. 

[ravishingravi]

10 hours ago, Muloghonto said:

BR Chopra gets -1/10 for special effects and 11/10 for casting. Everyone was excellently cast. Karna, Yudhisthir, Krishna, Dhritarashtra,Bhisma, Bheem, Duryodhana, etc. 

His 'may samay hoon' narration was genius too.

 

 

For its time, and given the state of technology in India, it is as good as possible. Even now when I watch the vastra haran scene, I am amazed how they did it with practical effects. 

[ravishingravi]

Don't let self proclaimed atheists hijack every thread. 1) They are not very smart. 2) They appropriate western frameworks for validation and can't operate from first principles. 3) They are fairly uni dimensional and predictable. Thus boring. 

[coffee_rules]

14 minutes ago, ravishingravi said:

 

For its time, and given the state of technology in India, it is as good as possible. Even now when I watch the vastra haran scene, I am amazed how they did it with practical effects. 

Funny incident. Was a kid then, remember reading in a Kannada daily - “Today is Draupadi’s vastraharan “ !

[Muloghonto]

3 hours ago, coffee_rules said:

Thanks to Ramdhari Singh Dinkar who has glorified the character of Karna in his epic poem Rashmirathinot intended by VyasaBharata in the original He was a lampat aadmi and deserved all the punishment in the end. His story shows you always have two paths to choose, which path you choose is up to you alone. You can’t choose adharma and cry about it later. He was born to misfortune chose to die with it.

 

 

He was wrong in many ways 

 

I see Karna as a more honourable fellow than Bhisma,because Karna's honourable choice of siding with Duryodhan ( the one who helped him and elevated him to kingship while his own siblings treated him as untouchable) didn't come at a cost to the entire nation and he didnt have the power to alter the course of the mahabharata. 
He is, IMO, the best anti-hero character in any epic i've ever read, perfectly straddling the divide of 'definitely not a villian, but definitely not the hero either'. 

He is the perfect example of a guy you dont want to win, but are also sad when he loses. 

my admiration for karna mostly relies on his perfection of the anti-hero role. 

 

[Muloghonto]

4 hours ago, Prabhdeep Singh said:

Worthy Character: Bhisma

 

•Defeated his guru Parshuram (Avatar of Lord Vishnu) in a long battle

•Selfless, let go of kingship, marriage and children for love of father

•Strongest Warrior other than Lord Krishna possibly 

but he is singularly to blame for the entire disaster of mahabharata and had he not prioritized personal honour and personal punya, the entire event could've been avoided at any point before the war. 

 

[Muloghonto]

4 hours ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

And it was a huge upgrade over Ramayan that had come before it - with Arun Govil and Deepika (?). 

 

With Mahabharata cast, Puneet Issar as Duryodhana was my favorite. His emoted that character to perfection.

 

 

To me, the best actors of BR Chopra's mahabharata were Duryodhan, Bhisma, Krishna and Draupadi. 

Arjun was way too mopey and Bhim always came across as 'duffer mushtanda who gets worse the more he speaks' and Yudhishtir was straight up an indecisive panzy. Shakuni guy also does a good job of Shakuni but to me, Shakuni is also one of the easist role to play - you basically just have to pretend to play the 'evol moneygrabbing scheming jew' trope of muslims/whites, get some long dice and bang, you are 100% shakuni.

 

[jigjig]

Shakuni - Caused Mahabharata war to take revenge for his sister.

 

Bhishma - icha mrityu vardan and a great warrior. Bhishma pratigya.

 

Duryodhana - if someone insults your dad calling him blind, you got to take some revenge 

 

 

[Lannister]

Some thoughts on Karna.

 

He was too obsessed on gaining respect from others, which reveals a submissive mentality. Although he had the power and wisdom to create his own path, he wasted his life focused on trivial matters. I would have found his character more compelling if he had overthrown Duryodhana and became the face of the evil. That would have given his character more depth.

 

As it is, he's a poorly written character. 

[Lord]

16 hours ago, Muloghonto said:

To me, moral of bhisma is, if you put personal karma/dharma above all, the nation suffers. Sometimes, its good to sacrifice personal merit, for the greater good. 

Bishma is the ONLY ONE who could've prevented this catastrophe that cost millions of lives, by simply going 'you know what ? i changed my mind. All of you are fools and not the primary claimant to the throne, i am. I made a **** promise, i break promise and take bad karma myself, now you children all play nice else i will banish all of you'. 

And clearly, he COULD have done that, given that the man literally was undefeatable in battlefield and had icchya-mrityu.

So i see the entire tragedy that is Mahabharata to be singular fault of Bhisma, who chose personal punya and personal merit over the greater good of the people.

 

 

That makes him mistaken not necessarily a villain with evil intentions. If you see it that way, even Dhritarashtra could have avoided the war by giving Pandavas their rightful throne. He preferred his own sons instead even though he knew what was right

[Lone Wolf]

4 hours ago, jigjig said:

Shakuni - Caused Mahabharata war to take revenge for his sister.

 

Bhishma - icha mrityu vardan and a great warrior. Bhishma pratigya.

 

Duryodhana - if someone insults your dad calling him blind, you got to take some revenge 

 

 

Duryodhana was a proper grey character.  He was fed throughout his childhood by Shakuni that Pandavs are their mortal enemies.

He prefers death over giving them even a inch of land coz for him it was never about Kingdom or riches.

 

Karna in hindsight was more evil than him coz he knew what he was doing all along & still went along & never made an effort to remove Duryodhana's delusion 

[ravishingravi]

6 hours ago, Muloghonto said:

 

I see Karna as a more honourable fellow than Bhisma,because Karna's honourable choice of siding with Duryodhan ( the one who helped him and elevated him to kingship while his own siblings treated him as untouchable) didn't come at a cost to the entire nation and he didnt have the power to alter the course of the mahabharata. 
He is, IMO, the best anti-hero character in any epic i've ever read, perfectly straddling the divide of 'definitely not a villian, but definitely not the hero either'. 

He is the perfect example of a guy you dont want to win, but are also sad when he loses. 

my admiration for karna mostly relies on his perfection of the anti-hero role. 

 

 

Another view on Karna. 

 

 

[Lord]

50 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Duryodhana was a proper grey character.  He was fed throughout his childhood by Shakuni that Pandavs are their mortal enemies.

He prefers death over giving them even a inch of land coz for him it was never about Kingdom or riches.

 

Karna in hindsight was more evil than him coz he knew what he was doing all along & still went along & never made an effort to remove Duryodhana's delusion 

 

Duryodhana is portrayed as a headstrong character who didn't listen to anyone,so that might have been futile anyway. Shakuni was most evil who plotted the war just to avenge his own humiliation

[coffee_rules]

7 hours ago, jigjig said:

Shakuni - Caused Mahabharata war to take revenge for his sister.

It’s is one of the regional versions of side stories that is debatable and doubtful that it is true.

 

7 hours ago, jigjig said:

 

Bhishma - icha mrityu vardan and a great warrior. Bhishma pratigya.

 

Duryodhana - if someone insults your dad calling him blind, you got to take some revenge 

 

 

That was an imagination of Bollywood’s  Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza who wrote BRC’s Mahabharat. Draupadi never said Andhe ka putra andha. It was Suyodhana’s misinterpretation . 

[BacktoCricaddict]

8 hours ago, Muloghonto said:

 

I see Karna as a more honourable fellow than Bhisma,because Karna's honourable choice of siding with Duryodhan ( the one who helped him and elevated him to kingship while his own siblings treated him as untouchable) didn't come at a cost to the entire nation and he didnt have the power to alter the course of the mahabharata. 
He is, IMO, the best anti-hero character in any epic i've ever read, perfectly straddling the divide of 'definitely not a villian, but definitely not the hero either'. 

He is the perfect example of a guy you dont want to win, but are also sad when he loses. 

my admiration for karna mostly relies on his perfection of the anti-hero role. 

 

Where people disagree is whether Karna actually made the honourable choice. Was it more of a personal weakness where he needed the shelter and adulation of Duryodhana? Weren't there bigger things at stake than his personal animosity against his brothers?  They say that he got what he deserved because he sided with the wrong guy.

 

But not only do I agree with you, but go even further to say that, in many respects, he is the epitome of how one can stay generous and kind, even when the entire world - including and especially one's own family - is unfair to you.

 

The only thing I wish he didn't do? Fall for Kunti's wiles and hand over his kavacha and kundala. It always angers me when someone is kind and generous, but also naive and ends up paying a hefty price for their naivete while not being rewarded for their kindness. 

 

Bottom line? Like any great epic should, Mahabharata leaves us with many moral dilemmas to ponder.

 

 

Edited October 20, 2024 by BacktoCricaddict

[Lord]

We need another series on this, probably an animation that is solely based on original version and covers most important aspects. No hope from Indian makers though

[BacktoCricaddict]

15 minutes ago, Lord said:

We need another series on this, probably an animation that is solely based on original version and covers most important aspects. No hope from Indian makers though

Why animation? This is just a personal quirk, but I just cannot take animations seriously.

[coffee_rules]

1 hour ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

Where people disagree is whether Karna actually made the honourable choice. Was it more of a personal weakness where he needed the shelter and adulation of Duryodhana? Weren't there bigger things at stake than his personal animosity against his brothers?  They say that he got what he deserved because he sided with the wrong guy.

 

But not only do I agree with you, but go even further to say that, in many respects, he is the epitome of how one can stay generous and kind, even when the entire world - including and especially one's own family - is unfair to you.

 

Pandava brothers didn’t know he was their brother , until after he died. Kunti knew , but she was afraid of societal moral code over unwed teenage mothers.  Krishna made sure Karna knew , but he Krishna knew that he will not take advantage. He took an oath from him that in case of war he will spare all brothers except Arjuna. There would be no Mahabharata war if Pandavas knew of Karna’s birth. 
 

1 hour ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

The only thing I wish he didn't do? Fall for Kunti's wiles and hand over his kavacha and kundala. It always angers me when someone is kind and generous, but also naive and ends up paying a hefty price for their naivete while not being rewarded for their kindness. 

 

 

It was Indra who comes in the guise of a poor Brahmin and asks for his kavacha and kundala. Also, Kunti asks him to not kill Arjuna and he refuses. He says in any event, she will still have 5 sons. Kunti will only ask him to not use the same astra twice.