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While the script was well-researched, casting for the episodes focusing on the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Chanakya, Ashoka, The Chola Empire, the Delhi Sultanate, Akbar, Aurangzeb, Tipu Sultan, the 1857 revolution, Vivekananda and Gandhi, among others, was tough. Read: Karamchand was first of its kind, says Pankaj Kapur Alok Nath played the role of Swami Vivekanand in the show. I worried about what would happen to the show then, and if it would remain incomplete,” he says, laughing. The show, and shooting for it for one and a half year, was an experience of a lifetime for all those involved.”īenegal, an experienced director, wasn’t worried about the scale of the show or the challenges that came with it.
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No one has remade it, and the series is still referred to at various platforms. Even after 25 years, people still talk about the show. Multiple sets were also put up across India. Two floors were booked at Film City, Goregaon, for the shoot of the show for a year. The unit shot at numerous places in the country, from the Taj Mahal and Western Ghats to other historical attractions. Read: Once upon a time, Ramayan attracted more viewers than Game of Thrones Pallavi Joshi and Shabana Azmi were part of the show, which also featured many other popular actors like Om Puri and Naseerudin Shah. After all, we were reliving history through the show,” says Benegal.
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We took everything extremely seriously, and it was worth it. It was a great adventure, and I am glad we could manage it well. We worried about the authenticity of the costumes, jewellery and architecture shown. I was aware that the concept was unlikely to be repeated in the near future, so we wanted to be as accurate as possible while talking about the history of the country. “The one-hour show became hugely successful, and had multiple reruns. Shooting commenced in early 1988, and the show went on air on Nehru’s 99th birth anniversary (November 14, 1988). The 53-episode series, titled Bharat Ek Khoj, was penned by Shama Zaidi and her team, which included 25 writers. My team and I also got 15 historians on board to flesh out the story,” recalls Benegal. It became the basis for what was shown in the series. It was his attempt to understand and discover his country. He agreed, and chose to base it on Pt Jawaharlal Nehru’s book, Discovery Of India. Celebrated film-maker Shyam Benegal was approached for it.
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The success of the shows prompted the government to think of starting a TV series that documented the history of the country. Ramayan and Mahabharat began gaining popularity on the small screen in the mid-1980s.