Hindu mythology empowers Indian television

Indian entertainment television channels have always had a great audience for their tele-serials. These are predominantly complex family sagas with weeping women and conniving mothers-in-law plotting against daughters-in-law. But now the gods are back in the 21st century to break the stranglehold of soaps on Indian TV. Tele-serials based on Hindu mythology with their many gods have stormed television gaining a loyal audience. Mahabharata, the grand epic where women, wars and villains are in plenty and life’s lessons are uttered through the mouths of the gods themselves. Mahabharata, the Hindi language serial which is aired on Star Plus since mid-September at prime time - 8:30pm - five days a week, is having a successful run with new age techniques and fresh acting giving new blood to an ancient epic. I had no clue during my childhood that the stories which we heard would be characterized and depicted in such a great manner on our tv sets. In 1988, at 10am every Sunday, India came to a virtual standstill when Mahabharata that was produced by BR Chopra was aired, but even a quarter of a century later, the story is not very different. Hindu nationalist parties cashed in on the success of these Hindu epics among people. The BJP’s grand tour in 1991 was in imitation of the chariot wheeled in by the god Krishna to war in the Mahabharata epic. The appeal of mythology also increases at a time of social stress, of footlessness. People want to reconnect with their culture when they are in a flux, and the age old stories in the epics are comforting and help them solve their problems. Non-believers, who felt the Indian youth of the 21st century would not relish these Hindu epics on TV, have been proven wrong. The new Mahabharata has made a conscious effort to grab the eyeballs of a younger generation growing up with the technological gizmos of the 21st century. Special effects make the war scenes truly epic. Mahabharata is the grand old epic story of warring cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, who fought a deadly war. It Appeals to the regional audiences and even adds Glamorous to the budgets. Thus characters playing the role of god are given good status in the society by the viewers themselves.