CERTAIN
things are eternal. Like the Indian epics the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata. These ancient tracts have wielded immense civilisational
influence since times immemorial.

Yet, even in the post-modern
world, with outer space very nearly conquered by man, the two epics
continue to hold in thrall tens of millions of Indians.

Cutting
across differences of caste, creed, region, and even religion, the
intricate tales of deceit and low cunning pitted against high moral
principles and good conduct have never failed to engage generations of
Indians. For, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata constitute the very
life-blood of Indian civilisation.

And, ironically, nobody seems
to be more aware of the perpetual appeal of these great epics than the
burgeoning television industry. That would explain why when the myriad
entertainment channels run out of story ideas for holding the attention
of viewers, they inevitably turn to the Ramayana and the Mahabharata
for sustenance.

And their faith in these epic tales of good
versus evil, with good eventually emerging victorious against all odds,
never lets them down. Because even if the motive of television channels
is purely commercial, their viewers lap up the serialised depictions of
these godly tales as only the devout could be expected to do.

Given
the recent super-duper success of the re-make of the Ramayana on a
newly-launched entertainment channel, the producers of content for
various television channels – at the last count there were some 200-odd
such channels in Hindi and various other Indian languages – were now
dipping into the ancient Hindu epics for winning the war for television
ratings on the small screen.

The newly-made Ramayana serial
shown nightly on a private television channel has registered a very
high viewership across the country, even though the language it is made
in is Hindi.

The evocative story of Lord Rama and his banishment
from his kingdom, Ayodhya, with his loyal wife, Sita, and younger
brother Lakshmana in tow, has never failed to fascinate.

The
abduction of Sita by Ravana, the king of Lanka in the epic, and the
latter’s humiliating defeat in a war with Rama’s forces holds an
abiding moral for humankind, that evil can never triumph over good.

This
simple but profound truth is conveyed in a story full of twists and
turns and which can make fifty-two 26-minute television episodes look
wholly inadequate. For such is the depth and variety of characters in
the Ramayana.

It was over two decades ago that Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi commissioned well-known Bollywood film-makers Ramanand
Sagar and B.R. Chopra to depict the two epics for state-owned
television Doordarshan. At the time, there were no private TV channels.

Barring
the weekly half-an-hour film-based song-and-dance programme, the fare
dished out by Doordarshan was as dull as dishwater.

But then the
Ramayana happened. Every Sunday morning when the slickly-told story of
ancient India’s greatest son was told on the small screen, it seemed
that the entire nation had come to a standstill.

Overnight,
Doordarshan had hit upon a successful formula. It had advertisers
queuing up before it, keen to buy precious commercial slots during the
telecast of the serial.

Sagar, known earlier for Bollywood
feature films, had meticulously followed the written text to depict an
ancient tale but through a modern medium with the use of the latest in
cinematographic technology.

(A tale which had survived for millennia, and which is enacted annually in Ramleelas
in tens of thousands of amateur performances across the land at the
time of Dussehra and Diwali festivals, was now being beamed nightly
into countless homes thanks to its serialisation by reputed television
companies.

Doordarshan soon followed up with another old epic,
the Mahabharata. This time the task to depict the epic war between the
two sets of cousins, that is, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, went to
Bollywood’s most respected film-maker B.R. Chopra.

And the
latter did a commendable job re-creating the period atmosphere with all
the props of the pre-historic times in place in the monumental serial.
Again, Doordarshan won over the entire nation, with its viewership
reaching record highs during the telecast of the Mahabharata.

Some
20 years later, the late Ramanand Sagar’s son, Prem Sagar, was
commissioned by the country’s largest and most successful private
television company to re-make the Ramayana.

Given that the basic
story remains unchanged, its depiction with new actors has proved a
clever idea. The latest version has proved a runaway hit on the small
screen. The newly-launched entertainment channel has seen its ratings
zoom after it began serialising the Ramayana.

Whether it is the
lack of creativity or the realisation that faith sells with audiences,
the success of the latest version of the Ramayana has caused other
channels to commission the filming of several more old epics.

India’s
soap queen par excellence, Ekta Kapoor, has now undertaken one of the
biggest challenges in her professional life to recreate the Mahabharata.

Kapoor, known for her obsession with the letter K, with all her saas-bahu
(mother-in-law versus daughter-in-law) serials beginning with that
letter, will re-tell the ancient tale – but not without prefixing the
self-same 'K' to its name.

For, instead of plain Mahabharata, the new version for a private television channel will be called Kahani Hamaari Mahabharat Ki (Story of Our Mahabharata).

Interestingly,
some of the actors in the earlier serials on the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata had parlayed their popularity to become successful stars in
regional cinema or in politics.

For instance, Nitish Bhardwaj,
who played Lord Krishna in the original Chopra-made Mahabharata became
an MP, though he failed to get re-elected in the subsequent poll.

And the actress who had played Sita in the Ramanand Sagar-made Ramayana won a seat in parliament from her home state of Gujarat.

http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?file=/2008/7/7/columnists/ind...