The race to heaven

The channel war hots up and how. Earlier channels were fighting each other over saas bahu serials. Then came the comedy brigade. After which it was reality shows, which will predictably still continue in 08. And as the new channels spring up by the day on unsuspecting audiences programming heads pull out all the stops to leverage their channel. One such valiant effort to resurrect old channels and infuse new blood in recently launched channels is through mythologicals. When NDTV Imagine offered Ramayan as a daily, it was a calculated risk which paid off. The show is doing wonders for the channel. And hence now you have every other channel worth its own God giving you a mytho. If Ramayan comes in Mahabharat cannot be far behind. And that indeed is a double whammy for television viewers. 9X has begun work on their very own Mahabharat made by soap queen Ekta Kapoor and starring all her golden bachchas from her soaps. The mytho fever also hit Star Plus and they announced their magnum opus, Mahabharata. This one comes with an additional 'a' and will be made by an eclectic bunch of people- Chandraprakash Dwivedi, Bobby Bedi, Barrie Osborne, Farrukh Dhondy. It also promises a 360 degree approach which will include TV, animation, feature film, stage plays, merchandising, gaming, et al. all in the next five years. In a bid to appease their own God, Sony too began to telecast Jai Hanuman in the evening slot. Gods are being wowed like never before. Speaking at the Mahabharata launch Dwivedi said, "The relevance of Mahabharata goes beyond mere words, one can associate with it to date. In the supremely competing world of globalisation the importance of Mahabharata is heightened." Bedi said, "There is a Mahabharata in every individual's life today. Everybody is struggling with issues related to money, relationships and property. The subject of Mahabharata hence continues to hold relevance even today. It will be important for the next generation as well." Commenting on how different his version will be as against the earlier B.R.Chopra one or the one which Ekta is working on he says, "I cannot compete with sage Vyas as his is the ultimate truth. But the way I look at it will be different from any other version as my perspective will differ. I will look for 'life' in this story. Our Mahabharata will be a picture of our times. Also I don't believe that my victory lies in someone's failure." It is heard that this Mahabharata will not have any known faces as actors. "I feel that all the characters are created by Vyas and they are meant to be remembered. We have cast new actors so that people identify with characters not faces," informs Bedi. As the serial is being made at a huge spend which includes lavish sets, design and costumes can TV contain such a magnum opus? Bedi says he does not think screen size matters. Dwivedi adds that ultimately all films that are made get screened on TV. 20 years back this may have been relevant but now the canvas is changing and one need not cut costs on TV. The show is being will be shot in Hastinapur where most of the incidents in the saga took place. Sets which have been designed by Amar Deb will be erected on a huge plot in Hastinapur. The show is expected to go on air in August. It's a matter of a few months when we will know who wins the race to heaven.