Nagarjun...Ek Yoddha will portray a lesser known episode of the Mahabharat involving the battle between Naag lok and Prithvi lok in the present day. Actors and makers gave Shrabasti Mallik more details
Visual graphics we have seen plenty in television shows but not something quite as realistic as the Naag in life OK’s next Nagarjun...Ek Yoddha. What makes the show a cut above the rest you may askIJ Well, unlike the running trend of mythological tales and epics being recreated for the small screen, this script merges the real world with it.
The story derives its central plot from a chapter of the Mahabharat. Not many know that the Nagas played a very important role at various junctures in the epic. A war started between Prithvi lok and Naag lok when Arjun burnt down the forest of Khandava-prastha and destroyed the snake king Takshaka’s family and kingdom. What ensued was a never ending battle between the two world and the show will portray how is continuing even today.
The directors of the show Glenn Barato and Ankush Mohra seemed pretty confident about the story because it took them and their team of writers and technicians more than a year and a half to piece everything together. “We had to push the envelope here. The idea of bringing the two worlds together first came to Yash Pattanaik, the producer and we just translated what was on paper to the screen. And what’s on paper is very different from how you show it on screen because on paper you can imagine anything but the real challenge is to get that exact visual out on the screen,” said Barato.
Few of the big in the entertainment world has been roped in for this show, slated to be the channel’s magnum opus, along with newbies like Kirti Nagpure, Chetan Hansraj, Manish Wadhwa, Nikitin Dhir, Pooja Banerjee and Anshuman Malhotra, who plays the protagonist, Arjun.
This show comes at a time when TV show content mostly dwells on mythological stories, characters and settings. Is creativity saturating so much that we have to fall back to our basicsIJ “Not at all. This is a great time to be taking this kind of stories forward. Also, the makers conceived the idea about two years ago, it’s just that the execution was delayed because a lot of emphasis was given to getting the visuals correct,”said Kishori Shahane, who plays Mansa Devi (Naag devi and mother of Astika).
As much as we like and admire the heroes in our mythologies and epics, we can never overlook characters like Ravan and Shakuni. In this case, it is Sankhachurna, played by popular TV actor Mrunal Jain.
He does not believe in the concept of a villain. According to him, it is the anti-hero who helps to take the story forward. Without him, there would be no conflict and everything would just be as they are. “The only difference here is that Sankhachurna does not have anything to do with the hero — he has nothing against Arjun. All he wants is the money that is missing from the Naag lok. And nothing is good or bad according to him. He is so focussed that he will not let anything come his way,” he said.
Nawab Shah, who plays a cop, too, feels the same way about an anti-hero, and he justified it. “There is no black and white to any character. It is the way we see them. We see them as gray but they are right in their own rights. In the show, my daughter falls in love with Arjun, who works at a garage. When I tell her that he is not the right guy for her, I become the bad guy, whereas I had said that out of concern for my daughter,” he said.
Even though the gist of the show is about the fight between the two worlds, the makers feel that it is the timeline of the story that will connect with the audience. And it is a good way to involve the youth in mythology and the epics as well. According to Shahane, the show will also pull focus because it picks up from one particular episode of the epic which is not well known.
Excerpts from an interaction with the makers:
What kind of research did the team have to doIJ
Glenn: like any other mythological story, this one, too, has a lot of versions and variations so more than the digging out part what was more important for us to get our hands on the right one. Once that was done, the next challenge was to present it in the contemporary context and make it relatable. That’s why we chose to present it through the character of a boy-next-door and his battle with the Naag lok.
Of late TV content is centered around mythologies and epics with a lot of visual effects. In which ways have you treated this show differentlyIJ
Glenn: A unique aspect about this show is the fact that the battle, that started so many years ago, is being fought in the present — in 2016 — with a real character. That is why the characters from the Naag lok are presented in a modern avatar.
Ankush: The hero here is not presented as a conventional one either. There is a hero in every one of us and a hero does not necessarily have to wear a costume. What you do makes you a hero.
Do you think that exploring the world of mythologies and epics in TV shows is a way to engage the youthIJ
Ankush: With such stories we can definitely pique their (the young generation) interest if not involve them mind, body, and soul. And this is nothing new. We have read about these, heard the stories several times and have also been seeing TV adaptations since Ramanand Sagar’sRamayan and Chopra’s Mahabharat and so many other versions till date, so we are familiar with the story and the characters. But again, the USP of the show is that everything is happening in the present day, the day and age of the Internet. We are a curious generation so we believe it would be exciting to see this side of the story. The young generation will definitely look these up and start interacting with our characters soon.
The quality of visual effects in TV changing drastically...
Glenn: It’s getting better and will continue to do so. But on television, we are in a tight position to maintain consistency for five days straight, day ina nd day out. We forget that something as technical as this takes time and you cannot rush it because if you do, the end product does not believable. There are a lot of factors that you need to keep in mind — lights, 3D image with a 360-degree view and an entire process of execution. It is a complex movement. People are trying but in TV time is a big factor. We have everything — the technology. Technicians and visualisers who are thinking out of the world pictures but not enough time. And that is why we are so late in bringing this content forward. We will show less if we have to but we will make sure it is realistic.