Bharat Ek Khoj

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Bharat Ek Khoj
Bharat Ek Khoj DVD cover
GenreHistorical fiction
Created byShyam Benegal
Based onThe Discovery of India
by Jawaharlal Nehru
Written byShyam Benegal
Shama Zaidi
Sunil Shanbag
Vasant Dev (dialogues)
StarringRoshan Seth
Om Puri
Tom Alter
Sadashiv Amrapurkar
Naseeruddin Shah
Lucky Ali
Seema Kelkar
Mita Vashisht
Pallavi Joshi
Anjan Srivastav
Sohaila Kapur
Ila Arun
Irrfan Khan
Ravi Jhankal
Piyush Mishra
Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Subrat Bose
Pankaj Berry
Narrated byOm Puri[1]
Opening themeVanraj Bhatia
Country of originIndia
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes53
Production
Executive producerRaj Pius
CinematographyV. K. Murthy
Editors
[2]
Production companiesDoordarshan
Sahyadri Films
Original release
NetworkDD National
Release13 November 1988 (1988-11-13)[1] –
12 November 1989 (1989-11-12)[1]

Bharat Ek Khoj (lit.'India: An Exploration') is a 53-episode Indian historical drama based on the book The Discovery of India (1946) by Jawaharlal Nehru[3] that covers a 5,000-year history of the Indian subcontinent from its beginnings to independence from the British in 1947. The drama was directed, written and produced by Shyam Benegal with cinematographer V. K. Murthy in 1988 for state-owned Doordarshan. Shama Zaidi co-wrote the script.[4] Its cast included Om Puri, Roshan Seth, Tom Alter and Sadashiv Amrapurkar. Jawaharlal Nehru was portrayed by Roshan Seth, the same role he portrayed in the film Gandhi.[5]

Production designer Nitish Roy with assistants Samir Chanda and Nitin Desai built 144 sets.[6]

Episodes

No.TitleCastRoleOriginal air date
1"Bharat Mata Ki Jai"[7]Roshan SethJawaharlal Nehru[1]TBA
2"The Beginnings"Harish Patel, Lalit Mohan Tiwari, Pallavi JoshiDraha, Shulgi, AtriTBA
A street play based on the Epic of Gilgamesh is also depicted in the episode.[8]
3"The Arrival of the Vedic People"Anang Desai, K K Raina, Ravi JhankalSardar, Suteja, BajbandhaTBA
4"Caste Formation"Anang Desai, Salim Ghouse, K K Raina, Lalit Mohan Tiwari, Inayatullah Kantroo, Anuradha Tarafdar, Ila ArunChandraprabha, Rama, Narada, Arjuna, Dhanpal, Dhanvati, SheelvatiTBA
Story of Shambuka from Ramayana and Ekalavya from Mahabharata were also part of this episode.
5–6"Mahabharata"Teejan Bai, Salim Ghouse, Om Puri, Sujata Mehta, Pankaj Berry, Ila Arun, Salim Ghouse, Sulakshana KhatriTBATBA
7–8"Ramayana"[1]Om Puri, Pallavi Joshi, Salim Ghouse[1] , Pankaj Berry, Ravi JhankalSita, Rama, Bharata, LakshmanaTBA
9"Republics and Kingdoms"Virendra Saxena, K K RainaMahaanaman, VirudhakaTBA
10"Negation and Acceptance of Life"Dhruv Ghanekar, Aanjjan Srivastav, Om Puri, Ashutosh GowarikerNachiketa, Yamaraja, Angulimaal, Gautam BuddhaTBA
11–12"Chanakya and Chandragupta"Satyadev Dubey, Ravi Jhankal, Mita Vashisht, Aanjjan SrivastavRowspan="2"TBA
13–14"Ashoka"Om Puri, K.K.Raina, Ila Arun, Lucky Ali (credited as Maqsoom Ali)Ashoka, Radhagupta, Asandhimitra, Prince TissaTBA
15–16"The Sangam Period: Silapaddikaram"Pallavi Joshi, Sulabha Deshpande, Virendra Saxena Rakesh DharKannaki, Kovalan, Kavundi, PanditTBA
17"The Classical Age"Anjan Srivastav, Harish Patel, Aparjita KrishnaSansthanaka, Nai, VasantsenaTBA
18–19"Kalidas and Shakuntala"Ravi Jhankal, Pallavi Joshi, Virendra SaxenaKalidas, Mallika, MatulTBA
20"Harshavardhana"Pankaj Berry, K Makhija, AparajitaHarshavardhana, Prabhakar Vardhana, QueenTBA
21"Bhakti"Vijay Kashyap, Rajesh Vivek, Mita Vashisht, Harish PatelMahendravarman I, Kapalin, Devasoma, Buddhist MonkTBA
22"The Chola Empire"Om Puri, Devendre Malhotra, Sunila Pradhan, Shantanu ChapariaRaja Raja Chola, Ishanashiva, Mahadevi, TirumalaTBA
23"The Chola Empire"Om Puri, Devendre Malhotra, Sunila Pradhan, Shantanu ChapariaRaja Raja Chola, Ishanashiva, Mahadevi, TirumalaTBA
24"The Delhi Sultanate. Part 1: The Arrival of Turk-Afghans and Prithviraj Rasoe"K.K. Raina, Vijay Kashyap, Ravi Jhankal, Ahmed Khan, Irrfan Khan, Achyut Potdar, Vijay KashyapMuhammad Ghori, Chand Bardai, Prithviraj Chauhan, Mahmud Ghazni, Ferdowsi, Al-BiruniTBA
25"The Delhi Sultanate. Part 2: Prithviraj Raso and Alauddin Khilji"K.K. Raina, Vijay Kashyap, Ravi Jhankal, Achyut Potdar, Om Puri, Rajendra Gupta, Seema KelkarMuhammad Ghori, Chand Bardai, Makwana, Alauddin Khilji, Ratan Singh, PadmavatiTBA
26"The Delhi Sultanate. Part 3: Padmavat and Tughlaq dynasty"[9]Om Puri, Rajendra Gupta, Seema Kelkar,Alauddin Khalji, Ratan Singh, PadmavatiTBA
27"Synthesis"Pankaj BerryLorik, [Lubna salim] chanda, [Maina], AparajitaTBA
28"The Vijayanagar Empire"Om Puri, Salim Ghouse, Aanjjan Srivastav, Fr. TassoKrishna Deva Raya, Aliya Rama Raya, Appaji, Domingo PaesTBA
29"Feudalism"[10]Salim Ghouse, Ila Arun, Pallavi Joshi, Siraj Khan, Ajay KumarAliya Rama Raya, Heggaditi, Mallige, Saguna, Achyuta Deva RayaTBA
30"The Fall of the Vijayanagar Empire"Salim Ghouse, Anang Desai, Pankaj Berry, Ahmed Khan, Arjun RainaAliya Rama Raya, Effendi Aslam Bain, Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali, Hussain Nizam Shah I, Ali Adil Shah ITBA
31"Rana Sanga, Ibrahim Lodi and Babur"Ravi Jhankal, Anang Desai, Lalit Mohan Tiwari, Mushtaq Khan, Vishal SinghRana Sanga, Ibrahim Lodi, BaburTBA
32–33"Akbar"Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Ila Arun, Aparajita Bhushan, Puneet Issar, Surendra Pal, Harish Patel, Irrfan Khan, Rajesh Vivek, Pankaj Berry, Vijay Arora, Virendra Saxena, Arun Bakshi, Deepraj RanaAkbar, Jahangir, Jodhabai, Maharana Pratap, Man Singh ITBA
34"Golden Hind"Sudhir Kulkarni, Vijay Arora, Ajit Vachhani, Mushtaq KhanJahangir, Shah Jahan, Thomas RoeTBA
35–36"Aurangzeb"Om Puri, Sudhir Dalvi, Surendra Pal, Surekha Sikri, Navtej Hundal, Dharmesh TiwariAurangzeb, Dara Shikoh, Murad Bakhsh, Shah Shuja, Jahanara Begum, Shah JahanTBA
37–38"Shivaji"Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Anang Desai, Achyut Potdar, Vishwajeet Pradhan[11] Ahmed KhanShivaji, Jijabai, Dadoji Kondadev, Chandrarao More, Afzal Khan, Aurangzeb,TBA
39"Company Bahadur (East India Company)"Amrish Puri, Rajendra, Jalal Agha, Tom Alter, Vishal Singh, John HolyerRobert Clive, Najimuddin Ali Khan, Shuja-ud-Daula, Maharaja Nandakumar, Shah Alam II, Diwani RightsTBA
40"Tipu Sultan"Salim Ghouse, Vijay Kashyap, Ravi Jhankal, Shreechand Makhija, Tom Alter, John HolyerTipu Sultan, Purnaiah, Mir Sadiq, Mahadji Scindia, Nana PhadnavisTBA
41"The Bengal Renaissance and Raja Ram Mohan Roy"Anang Desai, Urmila Bhatt, Ravi Jhankal, Tom Alter, John HolyerRaja Ram Mohan Roy, Lord William Bentinck, Bann on Sati (practice)TBA
42–43"1857"Om Puri, Ravi Jhankal, Piyush Mishra, Mohan Gokhale, Anang Desai, Ratna Pathak Shah, Aanjjan Srivastav, Pankaj Berry, Virendra Razdan, Tom Alter, John Holyer, Bob ChristoBahadur Shah Zafar, Nanasaheb Peshwa, Wajid Ali Shah, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Tantia Tope, Rani Lakshmibai, Azimullah Khan, Bakht Khan, Mangal Pandey, Lord DalhousieTBA
44"Indigo Revolt"Virendra Saxena, Tom Alter, Vijay KashyapMadhavTBA
45"Mahatma Phule"Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Mohan Gokhale, Shubhangi Gokhale, Achyut Potdar, Ashok BanthiaMahatma Phule, Savitribai Phule, Satyashodak SamajTBA
46"Sir Syed Ahmed Khan"Mohan Maharishi, Irrfan KhanTBATBA
47"Vivekananda"Alok NathSwami VivekanandaTBA
48"Extremists and Moderates"Sudhir Kulkarni, Mohan Gokhale, Tom Alter, Achyut Potdar, Kishor KadamGopal Krishna Gokhale, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Chapekar brothers, Murder of Walter Charles RandTBA
49–50"And Gandhi Came"Om Puri, Ila Arun, Piyush Mishra, Shabana Azmi, Pallavi Joshi, Akhilendra MishraTBATBA
51"Separatism"S M Zaheer, K K Raina, Harish Patel, Irrfan KhanTBATBA
52"Do or Die"Pankaj Berry, Om Puri, Lucky AliQuit India MovementTBA
53"Epilogue"TBATBATBA

Broadcast

The 53 episodes series was launched in November 1988 which coincided with the birth centenary of Nehru.[1] The series was re-telecasted on DD Bharati from 27 May 2013 on the occasion of 49th death anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Jain, Madhu (20 November 2013). "Bharat Ek Khoj: The making of most extravagant serial ever". India Today.
  2. ^ "Shyam Benegal on watching Padmaavat: I want to see what all the fuss is about". Mumbai Mirror.
  3. ^ "What makes Shyam special..." The Hindu. 17 January 2003. Archived from the original on 27 June 2003. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  4. ^ "Music in her lines Makeup artist Vivek Nayak". The Hindu. 1 October 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  5. ^ "Roshan Seth waits for right role". The Hindu. 19 November 2001. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  6. ^ "Samir Chanda's death was devastating: Shyam Benegal". The Times of India. 20 August 2011. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  7. ^ "In this first episode of 'Bharat Ek Khoj', Nehru's character quizzes those chanting 'Bharat Mata ki jai' on what the phrase means". Scroll.in. 18 March 2016.
  8. ^ "Bharat Ek Khoj, Episode 02". 1988.
  9. ^ "Om Puri had played Alauddin Khilji much before Ranveer Singh". in.com. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017.
  10. ^ "How India Became a Republic - Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com.
  11. ^ Chari, Mridula (20 August 2017). "The DD Files: When Shyam Benegal brought India's entire history to TV screens in 'Bharat Ek Khoj'". Scroll.in.
  12. ^ "DD to commence repeat telecast of 'Bharat Ek Khoj' to mark Nehru's death anniversary". Indian Television Dot Com. 25 May 2013.