The wait was definitely long, but we were determined to make Mahabharat big: Producer Siddharth Tewary

Wanting to see the epic saga of Mahabharat (Swastik Productions) coming alive on screen was a dream for Producer Siddharth Tewary!! And today the man is relieved and happy to see the show get such a positive response. Tellychakkar.com recently caught up with this proud producer, who also heads the creative department of his dream project, and asked him about the time taken in developing the show, comparison with B. R. Telefilms’ Mahabharat, his actors and a lot more. Questioning him on why he chose a subject like Mahabharat to bring on the small screen, Tewary replied, “It is not a show for me; it was a dream and my chance to learn. I am a person who loves challenges and what better a task than taking up this magnum opus to be made into reality. While making this, I not only got to explore my creativity but also got to know so much by working on this project not just professionally, but also personally. And I am sure the audience will get to learn a lot by watching this show.” Talking about the type of research that went into the project, he averred, “Like every show, we initially thought that we would take around three to six months to build the project. But a project like this takes a lot of time; the perfect detailing of characters, costumes, sets etc were relevant and not worth doing in a hurry. Every layer had to be researched and put together.” “You cannot build such a huge set in a month’s time and sadly our set being close to the sea was damaged by the incessant rains. As a result, we had to build the entire set once again. Though the wait was definitely a hard time for everyone, we were determined to make it big,” he added. Did he at any point of time feel like giving up the project? “Of course, there were umpteen moments when I felt that it wasn’t going right and I should quit making the show. But when something is so close to your heart, you will sacrifice anything to make it work. And so did we,” he smilingly replied. Since the previous Mahabharat was already an epic, what would be difference among the two? “Well, our show is not about proving anyone right or wrong. If you see all the characters in this tale, everyone is right in their own stand. So this Mahabharat is my perspective of each of these characters. The interpretations of the character are different in this show,” he maintained. And was he not scared of his show being compared with the previous one? “The earlier show was a cult and there is no competition with that. And talking about comparison, you cannot help comparing everything these days. You tend to categorise every small thing into bad, better or good. But, I simply believe in learning new things and growing.” And how did he like Ekta Kapoor’s Mahabharat? “Ekta is a friend and her show was good. Nobody makes a show just like that; everyone puts in so much of efforts. Something works; some don’t. Every project does not come with the same task. Some require unusual patience and are difficult to work on. But on the whole, every one of them works hard to build it up,” he answered. Talking about the actors he chose for his show, Tewary informed, “I wanted people who were ready to give their best for the show. Since the show took a long time to get ready, I wanted people who were ready to wait. I wanted a show that was worth remembering and the actors had to work on that. At the very outset, I had told them clearly that I can make a grand show, get all the things set, but when the show gets aired, it will be only them who will be seen and thus it is their duty to play their parts well and not look stupid on-screen.” “We also took a lot of new or lesser-known faces since we did not want them to have a baggage to themselves. I had worked with Shaheer (in Navya) and had seen Arjun in him. I had told him to work on his body, get his hair grow etc. All the actors worked really hard in a given time, they got their ears pierced, worked on their diction, body language and went through a lot of discussions to improve on their characters,” he added. The show has a spectacular feel with some wonderful special effects, as Siddharth quipped, “The show is not built in the usual fiction budget. For me, money and figures do not matter; I am an expensive creative director and thankfully, it’s my own production company. So there’s not much of a tension (laughs). I don’t like it when people look down on TV. Today, this medium is at par with films and we have the capability to make it bigger. I do not want money to be a compromising factor.” Well, Siddharth with such a determined objective, nothing can ever deter your dreams! Keep it up!