Another Mahabharata your way…
by Meenakshi Shankar
May 19, 2008, Mumbai

"We ought to have a special set of Awards only for Mahabharat, says Bobby Bedi"

Yes! That's coming from Bobby Bedi who's making his dream project - Mahabharat for Star Plus. But the reason, Bobby Bedi went on record and said the same to us was because just about every channel is riding the mytho wave. Be it Jai Maa Vaishno Devi, Ramayan or Mahabharat, every channel's trying to link its TRP's with the mythos! And the latest baby on the block is Colors, which is coming up with its own Mahabharat!

OMG! How many Mahabharatas are the viewers going to be subjected to? How many twists and turns to the same story are the creative geniuses going to give to the Mahabharatha? Sure does look like that Bobby Bedi wasn't half joking when he said that there should be an awards night dedicated to all the Mahabharats!

And the award for essaying the best Draupadi goes to…!And the award for essaying the best Krishna goes to…! Ok! We love mythologies because our Indian tradition's based on them! We've grown up listening to the yarns woven around the demons and demi gods of our Indian mythos! And it was definitely good news when the trend was revived.

We said, "Finally, a break from the saas-bahu saga!" But looks like our channels decided to cash in on our prayers and decided to give us more than we bargained. Why is it about trends - when it catches on, it's across channels! Why can't our channels be unique in their own offering? The trend revived by NDTV Imagine's Ramayana set the ball rolling. We gave a nod to that! Star Plus announced Bobby Bedi's magnum opus – Mahabharatha! But, when the same Mahabharatha is stretched across channels - Balaji's Mahabharatha and now, Colors showcase is a bit too much! We love mythos, but a staple diet is a big no-no!