The Mastermind Behind Mahabharat: Siddharth Kumar Tewary Speaks
Siddharth Kumar Tewary sheds light on why Ramayana and Mahabharata, despite being Indian cinema's cultural pillars, have eluded the big-screen treatment.
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00:00I think that these stories are such that they need people's thoughts to attempt them, but they need years of perseverance and I'm sure, you know, a lot of storytellers are thinking about it or trying to work on it, to what extent they have reached, and definitely these stories should come day after tomorrow, and I think they will definitely come.
00:31I think that actors, if they are very good actors, they can do anything very beautifully, but the core of it is how you see Arjun as a character on the film front.
00:45For me, Shaheer was somebody as an Arjun because, you know, the kind of Arjun character we wrote, my thought on him was that even after being such a great warrior, he is very pure in his heart, his emotions are very real.
01:02Because, you see, at the time of Geeta, I used to think that there was going to be a war and just before that, we have written Geeta Gyaan.
01:13So, I feel that when you are going to fight a war as a character, but you are still thinking about your personal emotions, then that kind of sensitivity should be there in that character.
01:24So, I feel that casting is always done on the basis of the character. This is the space where if your writing and casting matches correctly, then people will like it.
01:35So, as in name wise, I love a lot of film actors, you know, a lot of them, I really have a lot of respect for them.
01:41I have always seen sorrows for Krishan, as a grown-up, but I feel there are lots of, I think Vicky Kaushal, you know, I think very beautiful for Krishan, if you say like that.
01:53You are off the head, so definitely, if you think about it, you know, I feel he is in the correct space.
02:04Somewhere, I feel that both things are very mixed. It's not like anything happens because of one thing.
02:09When a lot of things come together, then one thing happens.
02:13So, after COVID, I think the digital consumption, because audiences had exposure to these certain things till now.
02:20Now, after COVID, due to OTT, what did that technology do?
02:25Now, the exposure of the whole world is click of the button.
02:28So, your content, the standard of stories, that standard has gone up for everyone, you know.
02:34So, now, either we say stories of a certain level, which is something new for the audience, you know.
02:42So, where it doesn't happen, the patience of the audience has also reduced. Similarly, the patience of the channel has also reduced, you know.
02:47So, it's all connected. But I also believe at the same time, if you say a good story,
02:53like if I am saying the story of Srimad Ramayan on television today, it is coming on Sony Live,
02:58or it is coming on Mahabharat, Star Plus, and now it is coming on Hotstar.
03:02Similarly, audiences, there was a time when we used to listen to music on a transistor,
03:08and you must have also done it to save the battery by rotating it, by putting a pen and rotating it, you know.
03:14By putting a tape recorder. So, a person used to get that much time,
03:18that when you are sitting in front of it, you can only listen for that much time.
03:22Then the battery will go, or electricity will go, or something will happen.
03:25But today, if you tell Alexa, it will play the song.
03:28So, what technology has done, your entire consumption pattern has multiplied.
03:34Today, it is not that you will come home at 7 in the evening, only after that you can watch till 10 o'clock.
03:38You can watch in the day, in the afternoon, in the morning, whenever you feel like watching something,
03:43that power has come to the consumer, you know.
03:46So, I think consumption is multiplying.
03:49Because you are watching when you are sitting in the shop, you are watching when you are sitting on the railway platform.
03:54Earlier it was not like this, that there used to be one TV on the railway platform,
03:57which used to show something, I don't know, you know, nothing is coming.
04:01So, what has happened now, every individual has a phone, so our reach has increased so much.
04:06Today, our country is multiplying, growing in this space.
04:10So, I think good stories, whether it is long format or short format,
04:15it is not that the person who watches a story every day,
04:19they will stop from tomorrow and say, no, no, I want to watch it in 3 episodes.
04:23I don't think this is going to happen.
04:25I think there are certain consumers, even today we can listen to the same songs on Alexa, which we like.
04:31So, it is not that we have also changed.
04:33The medium is different, the consumption pattern has changed.
04:34So, the consumption pattern is evolving.
04:37Today, people are getting more exposure from digital, so the quality of the story is needed.
04:42Today, they have less patience, so those never-ending stories,
04:47they want to get a dose of entertainment at a certain time.
04:52So, these are all factors and I think at the core of it,
04:57if you believe in this story, if you want to say something,
05:00then you go and say it, irrespective of the medium.
05:02Now, whether it will work or not, we don't know.
05:07No one knows what you are making, how it will affect the audience,
05:11the audience will like it, they will talk about it after 10 years,
05:15that they will watch it the next day and forget.
05:17So, I think it's all about conviction.
05:19If you have a conviction to say a story, then you say it with conviction.
05:23And if you say it well, then irrespective of any medium, people will watch you.
05:33You know, I feel that if a person wants to say a story,
05:38then he wants to do it with quality.
05:40I am telling you the truth.
05:42Because I am a maker myself, I talk to someone, they are making something.
05:45So, how can you make it dispassionately?
05:48Some people do it, but I think primarily what the storytellers do,
05:51they work hard to say it well.
05:55And somewhere, there is a format that this trend is going on,
05:59so some people follow the trend.
06:00So, I feel that there is a trend of crime that is going on currently.
06:05Till when will this go on, till there is no new path breaking.
06:08So, things keep happening like this.
06:11And I always mean by quality, quality should be of writing.
06:16Quality is not only of production.
06:18Because people don't watch stories for production values.
06:21I think people watch stories for characters.
06:24People watch stories, either they are inspired by them or they relate to them.
06:29Either they are inspired by them.
06:31Or you can be inspired by them and become a character like them.
06:35So, it's not about the quality of only production.
06:39It is about what scale you have made.
06:41The scale of Mahabharata is important for me.
06:43Because I know that for the audience who are watching,
06:47that image of how the world of that time will be,
06:51it is very powerful, it is very big.
06:54It should be a vast canvas, a large canvas.
06:56That's why I presented it like that.
06:58But my main focus will always be the quality of writing.
07:02The quality of casting, the quality of actors, the quality of performances.
07:06And with the music, with the background, all of it put together is a quality product.
07:10So, lot of times, sometimes we focus more on the visuals, we forget the emotions.
07:15Sometimes we are more on emotion, we forget the visuals.
07:17So, for me, a quality is a complete package,
07:20where every department that comes together, adds its own value to the story.
07:29See, I have finished the entire Mahabharata in 10 months.
07:34These 1-2 years of shows on these kind of subjects,
07:38I don't think it should be like that personally.
07:41Because that much story, and in today's time,
07:45we should keep a pace and tell the audience.
07:47So, a limited series should definitely be made.
07:51Because what is this, in Mahabharata, my thought was that
07:56if you see the final war,
07:59when both sides of the family will be standing face to face in the war,
08:04then war is fine, but the dynamics of the family,
08:07which Arjun is feeling after seeing Bheeshma,
08:10and if Kunti is also waiting at home, or Gandhari is also waiting,
08:15then also you should know the personal story of all the characters.
08:20So, in that way, we did its writing.
08:22In the beginning, we started with Satyawati,
08:25then we went to Bheeshma, then we went to Gandhari,
08:28then we came to Kunti, then we came to Pandavas,
08:31then we brought their next generation forward, then we brought Pandavas forward.
08:34We worked on every character in such a way that
08:37when people are standing face to face in the end,
08:40then you know the story from both sides,
08:42and you are completely connected to the characters and their lives.
08:47And the story is so vast, that not only this Draupadi,
08:50but you can also take Choti Shikhandi,
08:53you know, their story of Shikhandi with Amba.
08:56I mean, you can say a good story separately,
09:00you can say at least one Mahabharata,
09:02otherwise there are 50 stories, which you can definitely say in shorter formats.
09:12I was born and brought up in Calcutta.
09:14My father was a teacher in Sindheves College, Calcutta.
09:17So, I am the son of a professor.
09:18So, definitely, I mean,
09:21I have seen Mithunda standing in the line of cinema halls,
09:26standing in the public for the first time in many years.
09:29Then after coming to Bombay, I met my grandfather in some social get-togethers.
09:33So, I think, what an actor, I mean,
09:37what an inspiration Mithunda has been.
09:40The kind of performances he has done, commercial or alternate, I think amazing.
09:44Such a, what a legend, I mean, inspiring story.