Mahabharat 2013 Film
Dierdre Roussin
Mahabharat is a 1965 Hindi adventure fantasy film based on the Indian epic Mahabharata, starring Pradeep Kumar, Padmini, Dara Singh, Abhi Bhattacharya, Mahar Desai, Tiwari, and directed by Babubhai Mistri. The score was composed by Chitragupta and the title song was sung by Mohammed Rafi.
The film was dubbed into Tamil with the title Panchali Sabatham and was released in 1966.[1] K. Devanarayanan wrote the dialogues. Kannadasan and Panchu Arunachalam penned the lyrics. Music to the Tamil version was composed by D. Srinivas. The Tamil-language film was produced by N. M. Ramachandran.[2]
Pandu and Dhirtrashtra are two brothers who rule Hastinapur. Pandu marries Kunti, who conceives five sons and names them Yudhister, Bhimsen, Arjun, Nakul and Sahdev, while Dhirtrashtra, who is blind, marries Gandhari, and gives birth to a 100 sons, including Duryodhan and Dushasan. Gandhari's brother, Shakuni, also resides with them. After Pandu passes away, Dhirtrashtra decides to bequeath the empire to Yudhister much to the chagrin of Duryodhan, who plots with Shakuni to kill them in a palace made of wax, but the brothers and Kunti manage to escape and live incognito in a forest where Bhimsem meets with, Hidimba, slays her demon brother, Hidimb, marries her and sires a son, an illusionist, Ghatotkach. The brothers do reveal their identity when Arjun wins a competition at Panchal to wed Draupadi defeating Duryodhan, Dushashan, Jarasandh and others. Kunti unwittingly asks the brothers to share Draupadi, as she had in a previous birth as Devi Maa Parvati, prayed to Lord Shiva five times for a husband. Dhirtrashtra acknowledges the enmity between the cousins and asks five brothers to re-locate to Khandavprasth, which is subsequently transformed by Devraj Indra's aide, Vishwakarma, and renamed Indraprasht. Duryodhan is then humiliated by Draupadi, who mocks him and tells him that sons of a blind man are also blind, when he stumbles in the Maya Mahal, and he takes a vow to humiliate her. Shakuni then invites the five brothers to gamble at Hastinapur where Yudhister ends up losing Indraprasht, his brothers, his wealth as well as Draupadi herself. Lord Krishna comes to her aid when Dushashan publicly disrobes her as no one comes to her defense. The Pandavas are then sentenced to 13 years in exile, which will be extended by 12 years more if they are discovered during the 13th year. The 13 years pass, Arjun also marries Subhadra and sires a son, Abhimanyu. When the Pandavas return to claim Indraprastha, the Kauravas oppose and challenge them to a war in the Kurkshetra. Duryodhan chooses Lord Krishna's armies, while Arjun chooses Krishna himself, who decides to only be the charioteer for Arjun. And it is here that Lord Krishna who shows his true self to Arjun when he hesitates to kill his relatives, cousins, and gurus. It is here that Gandhari will bless Duryodhan with a body of steel, Kunti will go to plead with Karan to show mercy to her five sons, and Pawanputra Hanuman, the elder brother of Bhima, decides to make an incognito appearance, in this epic battle between Good and Evil.
Mahabharat is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language animated film, directed by Amaan Khan and based on the Hindu epic of the same name.[3][4] The film is produced by Kushal Kantilal Gada and Dhaval Jayantilal Gada.[5] The film was a Christmas release on 27 December 2013.[6] Several actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Sunny Deol, Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor, Manoj Bajpayee, Jackie Shroff, Vidya Balan, Deepti Naval were signed up for the characters in the film.[7][8][9][10][11][12] It is touted as the most expensive animated film in Bollywood.[13][14][15] The movie tells the story of the Indian epic Mahabharata. It received mixed reviews, with praise for its voice acting, but criticism for its animations.
She sings the summary of the war's origins. Sage Durvasa visits Princess Kunti's palace and blesses her that she will obtain sons from the gods. Kunti asks for a son from the sun god but becomes ridiculed for being an unwed mother, so she leaves him in a basket to float away in River Ganga. She marries Pandu and has 3 sons: Yudhishtir, Bheem and Arjun. Pandu's second wife, Madri, gives birth to Nakul and Sahadev. Pandu's sons are known as the Pandavas. Pandu's blind brother, Dhritarashtra, has 100 sons, the Kauravas, with his wife Gandhari. The eldest Kaurava is Duryodhan. The Pandavas and Kauravas learn under Sage Dronacharya and develop animosity between one another, which sparks the Mahabharata.
In Hastinapur, grandsire Bheeshma arrives at the exhibition of the Pandavas' and Kauravas' weapon skills. Karan, Kunti's first son that she gave away, arrives to challenge Arjun as the best archer. He is originally not allowed to participate in the challenge because he is not royalty, but Duryodhan declares him the King of Anga, eager to see Karan defeat Arjuna. Seeing them duel each other, Dronacharya declares Karan and Arjuna as equally skillful warriors. Yudhishtir is declared the King of Hastinapur, which makes Duryodhan jealous. His uncle, Shakuni, helps him devise a plan that will burn the Pandavas to ashes. They plan to burn their palace, but Vidur, another uncle, tells Bheem of the plan beforehand. Everyone believes that the Pandavas and Kunti have been burned alive, but with the help of Vidur, they use an underground escape route to flee the burning palace. Vidur advises them to live undercover in the forest for some time to build their strength and supporters, telling them that Krishna will guide them.
King Draupad holds a competition to find a husband for his daughter, Draupadi. The Pandavas arrive in the disguise of Brahmins to partake, and Arjuna wins the competition. When Arjuna comes to tell Kunti the news, without hearing what happened, Kunti orders Arjuna to share whatever he has won amongst all five brothers. Krishna arrives and explains how in her past life, Draupadi had asked for a husband five times, and Shiva had granted this request.
The Pandavas create a palace of illusions and invite Duryodhan, where Draupadi insults him out of vengeance. Duryodhan leaves feeling humiliated and angry. Duryodhan sets up a gambling match, where Yudhishtir loses his kingdom and all of his possessions. He gambles away Draupadi, who Dushanasha publicly disrobes. Draupadi prays to Krishna, who uses his divine power to protect her dignity. To atone for their sins of gambling and not protecting Draupadi, the Pandavas go into exile again.
Krishna warns the Kauravas against starting war, but they do not pay heed. Arjuna tells Krishna he cannot fight against his family, but Krishna tells him this is a war of right and wrong, and he must fight for the truth. Krishna reminds him that souls are immortal, so he should not worry about killing his family members' bodies. The Pandavas realize that they can't win until Bheeshma is on the battlefield because he has a boon that he cannot die. Arjuna reluctantly shoots him with many arrows to incapacitate him. The Pandavas send Arjuna's son Abhimanyu to the battlefield to break Dronacharya's labyrinth. Duryodhan and Shakuni trap Abhimanyu in the labyrinth formation and stab him from the back.
Kunti visits Karna and tells her that she is his mother, begging him to spare the Pandavas. He promises not to kill any of the Pandava brothers except for Arjuna. On the battlefield, Duryodhan gets angry with Karan for not shooting the Pandavas when they are easy targets. Instead, while Karna is fixing his stuck wheel, Krishna tells Arjuna to shoot him, and Karan sacrifices himself for the sake of his mother. Seeing his army being defeated, Duryodhan sits in the ocean to meditate and Bheem follows him. They engage in a duel until Bheem hits him in the thigh and kills him, ending the war. Kunti reveals to everyone that Karna was her eldest son and that he sacrificed himself for her to remove the stigma against him. Yudhistir is crowned king and the Pandavas rule Hastinapur.
The film received mixed reviews. Subhash K. Jha said, "If you were hoping that animation films would come of age with this purported epic, you are in for a disappointment. Though the characters from the Mahabharat have faces and voices of the biggest stars, the images do not add up to a compelling canvas. Not by a wide margin."[25] India TV said, "The presentation is epic in intent, yes. Alas, the execution, packaging and projection leave the epic undernourished and over-emphasized." and rated it 2 out of 5 stars.[26]
Meena Iyer of The Times of India rated it three and half out of five, saying "Amitabh Bachchan's bartitone is used for the stellar Bheeshma Pitamah. Although the Big B doesn't have muscular arms like his animated counterpart, their faces match. A superlative list of actors like Sunny Deol (Bheem), Ajay Devgn (Arjun), Anil Kapoor (Karan), Jackie Shroff (Duryodhan), Manoj Bajpayee (Yudhisthir), Anupam Kher (Shakuni) and Vidya Balan (Draupadi) have also infused life into the computer generated characters with their inimitable voices." and concluded, "On the flip side, the animation effort itself is immature and several notches below those of Hollywood films. Yet the dub effort by the Bollywood superstars uplifts this epic, making it enjoyable."[27]
Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, saying "The USP of Mahabharat is that the characters in the film bear a strong resemblance to the actors lending them their voices. The film should work for two more reasons: the riveting story and the superior quality animation [a handful of scenes notwithstanding]. Besides, minute detailing has gone into the costumes, effects and the overall look." and concluded, "The one flaw that stands out is the lip sync of the characters with the voiceovers, which seems to go out of place in a few sequences.".[29]
During the promotions of his last film RRR, Rajamouli had said that he will give a spin on the original Mahabharata in his own way and will only come to the casting part after he finishes writing the script.