Review of Mahabharat (5 Disc Box Set)

Introduction

There`s something about religious stories relayed on the big or small screen that I find intriguing. Having sat through the decidedly average The Greatest Story Ever Told, and better films such as The Message and The Ten Commandments, it was about time that the Hindu epic, Mahabharat, landed on my mat.

The Mahabharata is an epic Hindu story of a great war, which probably took place around 1500 B.C.E. It`s estimated to be about eight times as long as the Iliad and the Odyssey put together and it`s not just filler either. Content counts for something and in translating this for television it became the one show that would bring virtually every Hindu in India to a standstill. This story is considered scripture because it illustrates how Hindus should live hence the huge interest. Characters face tough moral issues and have to make some hard choices, which makes it perfect for spiritual mentors to impart Hindu ethics and spirituality. There`s plenty of cause and effect in play with people having to deal with the consequences of their actions.

The story, in a nutshell, is a battle between light and darkness. Skip ahead to the next section if you don`t want to know the story in a slightly larger nutshell.

There are two sets of brothers who are each other`s cousins, the Pandevas (the good guys) and the 100 Kauravas (the bad guys). The Pandevas are brought up in a forest where they learn virtue and respect, while their cousins the Kauravas are raised at court becoming cynical and corrupt. The eldest of the Pandevas, Yudhisthira, is due to be king when he comes of age. Unfortunately the acting king`s eldest son, Duryodhana, the eldest of the 100 Kauravas, feels he ought to be king by default since his father was the ruling legal king after he took over from Yudhisthira`s dad when he died.

The scheming Duryodhana takes the throne and refuses to give it up. He starts to experiment with ways to get rid of Yudhisthira and his brothers. Unfortunately for him, none of his nefarious plans succeed. After trying to resolve the dispute peacefully, Yudhisthira feels that ACAS won`t help, so he goes to war instead. It`s a difficult and painful choice seeing that lots of innocent people are likely to be killed. Duryodhana is truly evil and must be stopped.

The Pandavas and Kauravas prep for battle calling in all their allies. The Kauravas have been in power for years so they have a massive army. Yudhisthira (Pandava) sends his younger brother Arjuna to ask Krishna if he can help them out. (Incidentally, Arjuna is the main hero of the Mahabharata and is a good guy). Sadly when he turns up at Krishna`s place, he spots his opponent, Duryodhana, trying to curry (sorry) favour. Crafty so and so! Krishna has a massive army of his own and plenty of gold treasure. Krishna is no ordinary fella, the long and the short of it is that he`s God in human form on Earth. He`s a divine incarnation! Duryodhana can`t see this because he`s clouded by greed and hatred.

Krishna can`t pick sides as both are his cousins so he comes up with this plan: He`ll give all his soldiers, horses, elephants, artillery and gold to one of them. The other will have Krishna along as an advisor and he himself won`t fight. Whoever shows up first in the morning gets to choose which option he prefers. Can`t say any fairer than that.

Duryodhana came rushing in the next morning before dawn and sat anxiously at the head of Krishna`s bed. Arjuna woke up at his usual time, bathed and meditated before heading over to Krishna`s house. There he stood humbly by the foot of Krishna`s bed. Krishna woke up and the first person he laid eyes on was Arjuna, standing respectfully at the end of his bed, so he was given the choice, "My army or Me?".

"I choose You, Lord." was Arjuna`s famous reply.

Duryodhana walked away a very happy chap thinking that he had all the military power at Krishna`s command. Arjuna, with a much smaller army, was able to outwit Duryodhana and his army and win back the kingdom for his brother. The point being that if we choose God over all the strengths and all the temptations of the world, we have made the right decision.

There is more to this story but it would take up pages more! The DVD here is 15-hours of drama giving you the essence of the war and the lessons to be learned.

Video

The 4:3 fullframe video transfer is barely average at best and resembles a worn VHS tape. Either my memory is playing tricks by making me think it was sharper when first broadcast on BBC2 or this is a poor copy of the master tapes. Either way, this transfer doesn`t do the lush costumes justice with a lot of scenes looking somewhat soft. There`s also a problem with colours in the transfer as it seems to flicker between dark and light as well as go `off` completely in some scenes. This is definitely VHS territory here. The burned in subtitles are clear and easy to read and it`s a shame that these can`t be turned off and player generated instead.

Audio

The original mono soundtrack is preserved and sounds, for the most part, clear. There are occasions however where you can distinctly hear a low buzzing in the background, this being the limitations of tape used in the production. There are also some other strange technical faults like pops and even a whining noise! This is not what I wanted to hear.

Features

Mahabharat comes nicely packaged in a 5-disc digipack with a summary of the story under each disc. Menus are static and easy to navigate with each disc featuring just a chapter selection. The English subtitles are not optional and are burned in. Within the stylish digipack is a 4-page colour booklet. That`s your lot. There are no bios or production notes, which is a shame seeing as this is an Indian epic of a production! The booklet does have the cast list and features the essence of what the Mahabharata is all about. It makes for interesting reading if you don`t already know the background.

Conclusion

While I enjoy reading books about Hindu spirituality, watching the Mahabharata as a television drama takes away from ones imagination in re-enacting the stories. Add to this the slightly hammed up acting performances and poor quality video transfer and Mahabharat`s DVD debut is a bit limp. Not to be too disparaging, but it`s a soap opera and it doesn`t disguise the fact. The storylines are woven and the characters go through life with their moral dilemma`s figuring out what to do whilst living with the consequences.

The Mahabharata is ancient Hindu scripture so there are always lessons to be learned from the text and it`s quite clear in the video too. It doesn`t harp on the way some people might with other faiths, but instead seeks to broaden ones mind.

This is not a bad production, but for me the books have always held more allure. Does it work purely as entertainment despite personal beliefs? Yes and no. If you`re already familiar with the book, this abridged version will only serve to visualise what you know. The agnostic or atheist might have a harder time with Mahabharat however.

Anyone looking for a quick guide to the Mahabharata, albeit 15-hours, could do worse than check out this DVD box set. The audio and video quality is just about passable, and as long as you can take away something positive from the stories then I think you`ll find some enjoyment in it. I know my Mother loves this so who am I to argue?