Mahabharat (1988 TV series)

Premise

The series covers the story of the epic Mahabharata with Krishna, the Pandavas, and the Kauravas as the main focus. It begins with Emperor Bharata emphasizing capacity over birth, then depicts the birth of Bhishma and his oath, the births of Pandu, Dhritarashtra, and Vidura, and the births of the Pandavas and Kauravas. The childhood of Lord Krishna is also shown. Dronacharya teaches the Pandavas and Kauravas warfare and later asks them to defeat his enemy King Drupada as guru dakshina; the Pandavas succeed and give half of Drupada's kingdom to Drona.

Dhritarashtra makes Yudhishthira crown prince, but Shakuni and Duryodhana plot to burn the Pandavas and Kunti alive; they survive and go into hiding. Duryodhana becomes crown prince. In Panchal, King Drupada performs a yajna from which Dhrishtadyumna and Draupadi are born. Arjuna wins Draupadi in her swayamvara.

Yudhishthira becomes king of Indraprastha and conducts the Rajsuya Yagna, where Draupadi insults Duryodhana. Duryodhana takes revenge by defeating Yudhishthira in a rigged dice game; Yudhishthira loses his kingdom, brothers, and Draupadi, who is saved from disrobing by Krishna. The Pandavas and Draupadi are exiled for 12 years plus one year of anonymity. After the exile, Duryodhana claims the Pandavas violated the anonymity condition, leading to the Mahabharata War.

Abhimanyu marries Uttara. Krishna attempts peace. Indra, disguised as a Brahmin, takes Karna's armor and earrings. Kunti's sorrow over Karna's corpse reveals Karna as the eldest Pandava.

Cast

Nitish Bharadwaj portrays Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu. Kewal Shah plays adolescent Krishna. Pankaj Dheer plays Karna, son of Kunti and Surya Dev, with Harendra Paintal as young Karna.

Mukesh Khanna plays Bhishma, with Krish Malik as adolescent Bhishma. Gajendra Chauhan plays Yudhishthira, with Sonu as young Yudhishthira. Praveen Kumar plays Bhima, with Mallik as young Bhima.

Firoz Khan plays Arjuna, with Ankur Javeri as young Arjuna. Roopa Ganguly plays Draupadi. Puneet Issar plays Duryodhana, with Amit Shukla as young Duryodhana. Sameer Chitre plays Nakula, and Sanjeev Chitre plays Sahadeva.

Vinod Kapoor plays Dushasana, with Kaushal Shah as young Dushasana. Gufi Paintal plays Shakuni. Girija Shankar plays Dhritrashtra.

Production

Casting for the series began in 1986, and shooting started in mid-1988. The show was mostly shot at Mumbai's Film City, with the Kurukshetra battle scenes filmed in Rajasthan using thousands of extras.

The series was initially submitted as 104 episodes but later shortened to 94. 15,000 people applied for roles; the casting team, led by Gufi Paintal, shortlisted about 1,500 for video screen tests. Most actors were newcomers except Raj Babbar (King Bharat) and Debashree Roy (Satyavati).

Nitish Bharadwaj, initially considered for Vidura, was chosen for Krishna at age 23 after being offered roles as Nakul, Sahadev, and Abhimanyu. Firoz Khan was cast as Arjuna despite being rejected in auditions. Asian Games gold medalist Praveen Kumar was selected as Bhima. Govinda and Chunky Pandey were signed for Abhimanyu but left; Master Mayur played the role.

Mukesh Khanna, who wanted to play Arjun, was initially offered Duryodhan and then Dronacharya before getting the role of Bhishma. Puneet Issar was offered Bheem but chose Duryodhan. Gufi Paintal was offered the role of Shakuni by the makers.

Reception

Roopa Ganguly drew praise for her portrayal of Draupadi in the disrobing scene, which is often called the series' most dramatic moment. Ravi Chopra later revealed that Ganguly was actually crying during the shoot, and the crew had to calm her down afterward.

For this sequence, Chopra replicated the visual style of Babubhai Mistry's 1965 film Mahabharat, and his version was more acclaimed than the earlier film's. When rerun during the COVID-19 lockdown, the show became India's second most-watched program after Ramayan, reaching 145.8 million impressions in week 13. Once Ramayan finished, Mahabharat took the top spot, ending its run with 22.9 million viewers.

Did You Know?

• The title song consisted of lyrical content and two verses from the Bhagavad Gita, sung by Mahendra Kapoor.
• The series was shown in the United Kingdom by the BBC, where it achieved audience figures of 5 million.
• A spin-off series, Mahabharat Katha, aired in 1997 covering untold stories not included in the original series.