When I heard that Ekta Kapoor was remaking the epic, Mahabharat, my first thought was, what would her K-obsession lead her to name it? ‘Kahabharat’, ‘Kaho na Mahabharat hai’, ‘Kahe ki Mahabharat!’ ‘Kahani Mahabharat Ki’ or worse ‘K- Company’ were some of the titles that crossed my mind. I patted my back in self-praise when I read that it would be called ‘Kahani hamare Mahabharat ki.’
I then wondered in how many ways she would twist the story, till I realized that Mahabharat, with its premise of lust, greed and revenge is the perfect plot for her.
So far, not so bad, until the first episode unfurled before my surprised eyes.
The characters were shrouded in shadows and the whole atmosphere was dark. And a shrilly screeching woman-in-red-prestitched-saree who I realized was Draupadi (Anita Hasanadani) was dragged out for her vastraharan, while a creepy looking Duryodhan (Aryan Vaid) smirked. A vastraharan in the first episode, I wondered, but then who can argue when Ekta Kapoor decides?
Manish Malhotra, obviously suffering a massive hangover from watching Gladiator, Troy and 300 on repeated mode, must have decided that because he can’t put the men in Romanesque - skirts, he would at least imitate the capes and accessories. So we have most of the male cast swathed in black with bride-like capes trailing them, while oxidized jewelry adorns their foreheads, instead of crowns. The women I have seen so far, Draupadi and Ganga (Sakshi Tanwar) were draped in pre-stitched sarees, with Ganga wearing exquisite oxidized and turquoise jewelry, and a cool layered haircut, if you please!
The sultry Ravee Gupta playing, hold your breath, Mata Satyawati, is seen wearing revealing outfits and looks and behaves like she’ll burst into a lusty item song any minute.
Ronit Roy plays Bhisma, and is surprisingly wooden. And he wears this irritating bejeweled flower on his forehead that makes him looks immensely stupid! He is a king/prince for Gods sake, not a courtesan!
Then we have Markand Despande playing Ved Vyas, with grey, waist-length, blow dried hair who is so over-the-top that he could teach Shahrukh Khan a lesson, or forty, about hamming. The character playing Ganpati, who is writing the Mahabharat as Ved Vyas dictates is, has horrible make up/getup, making him look like the sleaziest Ganpati ever seen on screen. And the screen where he comes in riding the mooshak (mouse) was howlarious!
Most of the main male characters have unnaturally chiseled and bronzed physiques, and there are certain camera - angles due to which you can spot the pencil lines used for enhancing and contouring the body-parts with make up!
The special effects are tacky and the sets and locations pathetic. The direction is heavily inspired by Ram Gopal‘s style, with tight close ups, long shots and top shots making up the scenes. The dialogue and language used is almost pedestrian. The actors perform like they are in a daze.
It is very difficult to see Ektas well-known characters like Om, Parvati, Mr Bajaj etc, whom we have seen conniving and going through multiple marriages on screen so far, playing mythological characters.
More than an iconic epic, this version of Mahabharat is turning out to be a comedy, and the only reason I’ve watched it so far is because I get a few laughs out of it.