The Mahabharata | |
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![]() DVD cover | |
Directed by | Peter Brook |
Written by | Peter Brook Jean-Claude Carrière Marie-Hélène Estienne |
Starring | Robert Langton-Lloyd Antonin Stahly-Vishwanadan Bruce Myers Vittorio Mezzogiorno Andrzej Seweryn Georges Corraface |
Cinematography | William Lubtchansky |
Music by | Tsuchitori Toshiyuki Rabindranath Tagore |
Release date |
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Running time | Film: 171 minutes TV Mini Series: 6 x 55 minutes |
Country | U.K. / Japan / Denmark / France / Belgium / U.S.A. / Australia / Ireland / Iceland / Sweden / Portugal / Norway / Netherlands / Finland |
Language | English |
Budget | $5 million |
The Mahabharata is a 1989 film version of the Hindu epic Mahabharata directed by Peter Brook. Brook's original 1985 stage play was 9 hours long, and toured around the world for four years. In 1989, it was reduced to under 6 hours for television (TV mini series). Later it was also reduced to about 3 hours for theatrical and DVD release. The screenplay was the result of eight years' work by Peter Brook, Jean-Claude Carrière and Marie-Hélène Estienne.
In general terms, the story involves epic incidents between two warring families, the Pandavas (representing the good side) and the Kauravas (representing the evil side). Both sides, being the offspring of kings and gods, fight for dominion. They have both been advised by the god Krishna to live in harmony and abstain from the bloody lust for power. Yet their fights come to threaten the very order of the Universe. The plot is framed by a dialogue between the Brahmin sage Vyasa and the Hindu deity Ganesha, and directed towards an unnamed Indian boy who comes to him inquiring about the story of the human race.
The French and eventual English version of the Mahabharata took several years for Brook and Carrière to write and bring to the stage. Three years before the film version was made, Peter Brook staged their adaptation in French at a quarry in Avignon, France. This and the eventual filmed version were the first time that the entire (albeit abridged) story of the Mahabharata was brought to the stage and made into a feature film. [1] In his book In Search of the Mahabharata: Notes of Travels in India with Peter Brook 1982-1985, Carrière speaks about the difficulty of adapting the Sanskrit into the European languages, particularly in regards to choosing the right words for certain terms. An example of this is atman, which is translated in the adaptation as depth of one’s being. [2]
"It’s quite impossible to ‘forget’ the Mahabharata. The poem says it itself: ‘Everything which is in the Mahabharata is elsewhere; which is not in the Mahabharata is nowhere.'"
Jean-Claude Carrière, co-writer
Using an elaborate-yet-minimal set and multi-racial cast from 16 different countries for the film, Brook's Mahabharata stood in contrast with the "opulently religious melodrama" of the 94-episode BR Chopra version of the Mahabharata which aired a year before the Brook-Carrière adaptation appeared on TV. Along with one Indian actress, other actors of Caucasian, African, Asian ancestry filled the cast of Brook's version, including Vittorio Mezzogiorno as Arjuna, Sotigui Kouyaté as Bhishma, and Tapa Sudana as both Pandu and Lord Shiva. [1]
While working on the adaptation, Marie-Hélène Estienne travelled across Nepal and India, journeying from Manipur to Kanchipuram, in order to learn of the many different forms of the ancient epic from "Brahmins and writers and dancers and theatre people" across the subcontinent. Music composer Tsuchitori Toshiyuki remained in India for months on request from Brook make sure the play would "not use the music which everybody knows". Musicians from Iran, Turkey, and Denmark joined the production in order to score musical elements discovered by Tsuchitori, who was particularly influenced by Rabindra Sangeet. [3]
The film version of the Mahabharata received a 20-minute standing ovation at the 1989 Venice Film Festival and received an Emmy Award after the film was aired on TV. [3] The production's use of an international cast caused heated intercultural debate.[ citation needed ] On the topic of the multi-racial cast, Mumbai-based writer and critic Sanjukta Sharma writes: "The epic becomes intelligible and universal – and tells us why something as captivatingly human as the Mahabharata should not belong just to one nation or race." [1]
In 1990, the film won the award for Performing Arts of the International Emmy Awards and the Audience Award for Best Feature at the São Paulo International Film Festival.[ citation needed ]
The Mahābhārata is one of the two major Smriti texts and Sanskrit epics of ancient India revered in Hinduism, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kurukshetra War, a war of succession between two groups of princely cousins, the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas.
Peter Stephen Paul Brook was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). With them, he directed the first English-language production in 1964 of Marat/Sade by Peter Weiss, which was transferred to Broadway in 1965 and won the Tony Award for Best Play, and Brook was named Best Director. He also directed films such as an iconic version of Lord of the Flies in 1963.
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Bhishma, also known as Pitamaha, Gangaputra, and Devavrata, was a prince, statesman and commander of ancient Indian Kuru kingdom and is a major character of the epic Mahabharata and the protagonist of the Bhishma Parva episode. He was the supreme commander of the Kaurava forces during the Kurukshetra War. He was the only character who witnessed the entirety of the events of the Mahabharata, beginning from the reign of his father, King Shantanu of the Kuru kingdom. Bhishma was the stepbrother of Vyasa, the grandfather of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas. He was a prominent statesman of the Kuru Kingdom. He was born as the youngest son of the King Shantanu and goddess Ganga.
Gandhari is a prominent figure in the Hindu epic the Mahabharata. She was the princess of the Gandhara Kingdom and wife of Dhritrashtra, the blind king of Kuru. In the epic, she is depicted with a blindfold, which she wore in order to live like her blind husband. Due to divine boons, she became the mother of a hundred sons, the Kauravas, who are the primary antagonists of the epic. She also had a daughter named Duhsala. Following the Kurukshetra War and the end of her hundred sons, Gandhari cursed Krishna, leading to the destruction of his Yadu Dynasty.
Dushasana, also spelled Duhshasana, Dussasana or Duhsasana, also known as Sushasana, is an antagonist in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. He was second eldest among the Kaurava princes and the younger brother of Duryodhana. Dushasana's jealousy and herd mentality were the two qualities said to have led to his downfall in the Mahabharata.
Dhritarashtra was a Kuru king, and the father of the Kauravas in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. He was the King of the Kuru Kingdom, with its capital at Hastinapura. He was born to Vichitravirya's first wife, Ambika.
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Yudhishthira also known as Dharmaraja, was the king of Indraprastha and later the King of Kuru Kingdom in the epic Mahabharata. He is the eldest among the five Pandavas, and is also one of the central characters of the epic.
Nakula was the fourth of the five Pandava brothers in the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata. He and his twin brother Sahadeva were the sons of Madri, one of the wives of the Pandava patriarch Pandu, and Ashvini Kumaras, the divine twin physicians of the gods, whom she invoked to beget her sons due to Pandu's inability to progenate. Nakula is described as the most handsome man of his lineage, and was renowned for his beauty, skill in swordsmanship and horse keeping.
Sahadeva was the youngest of the five Pandava brothers in the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata. He and his twin brother Nakula were the sons of Madri, one of the wives of the Pandava patriarch Pandu, and Ashvini Kumaras, the divine twin physicians of the gods, whom she invoked to beget her sons due to Pandu's inability to progenate. Kunti, Sahadeva's step-mother, loved him the most despite his birth to Madri. Sahadeva is renowned for his wisdom, knowledge of astrology, and skill in swordsmanship.
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Mahabharat is a 2013 Indian epic mythological television series based on the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata. It aired from 16 September 2013 to 16 August 2014 on Star Plus. The series is available digitally on Disney+ Hotstar. Produced by Swastik Productions Pvt. Ltd, it starred Saurabh Raj Jain, Pooja Sharma, Shaheer Sheikh and Aham Sharma.
The Mahabharata is a French play, based on the Sanskrit epic Mahābhārata, by Jean-Claude Carrière, which was first staged in a quarry just outside Avignon in a production by the English director Peter Brook. The play, which is nine hours long in performance, toured the world for four years. For two years the show was performed both in French and in English. The play is divided into three parts: The Game of Dice, The Exile in the Forest and The War. In 1989, it was adapted for television as a six-hour mini series. Later, it was reduced to about three hours as a film for theatrical and DVD release. The screenplay was the result of eight years' work by Peter Brook, Jean-Claude Carrière, and Marie-Hélène Estienne.
Suryaputra Karn is an Indian historical epic television series, which premiered on 29 June 2015 on Sony Entertainment Television. Produced by Siddharth Kumar Tewary of Swastik Pictures, the series covers the life journey of Karna in the Mahabharata. The show starred Gautam Rode, Vishesh Bansal and Basant Bhatt as the lead character at various stages of his life.
Dharmakshetra is a fictional drama series which aired on the channel The EPIC Channel. The series is set in the aftermath of the battle of Mahabharata. The story is told from the perspective of the various characters as they are brought to the court of Chitragupta. All the episodes are available on streaming network EPIC ON.