Narrative Strategies and The Politics Of Scripting: Retelling The Mahabharata Throughb. R. Chopra’s Eponymous T V Serial

Abstract

The Mahabharata, the world’s largest epic, is the narrative that represents the Indian akhyana tradition. This Itihasa-Purana has been living in the Indian consciousness casting its influence on the psyche of the Indian peoples till the present moment.  Drawing inspiration from the epic, creative artists have extended the world of the Mahabharata into the present, from time to time. The epic has infinite possibilities for expansion of our emotions and imagination, that one can easily identify its characters still living around us.  The timeless quality of the epic preserves its relevance in the past and present alike. The epic has been subject to innumerable literary and artistic recreations including film adaptations.