At a get-together at our place, one of our friends was of the opinion that if Hollywood made the Mahabharat it would be a master piece yet again (undoutedly!). Back in the days when our (extended) family members from 'America' gifted us video tapes of Bill Cosby show (we felt pampered when they got us such gifts!) I remember one of the videos we received along with it was the 'Western Mahabharat'. The one thing I clearly remember about the western made Indian epic is that Mallika Sarabhai played Draupadi, (and now when I google it I see it was directed by Peter Brook and is approximately a six hours duration DVD).
Anyway this led to the discussion on: if Hollywood were to make the Mahabharat who would play the main roles as of today? Surprisingly without any debates or much deliberations this is what we decided on the casting, (some of the main characters only) quite easily:
Shree Krishna - George Clooney
Bheeshma Pitama - Morgan Freeman (Amitabh Bachchan if we could allow one Bollywood hero)
Balram - Denzel Washington
Yudhistir -Bruce Willis
Arjun - Brad Pitt
Bheem - Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
Draupadi - Angelina Jolie
Dhritarashtra - Tommy Lee Jones
Shakuni - Dustin Hoffman or how about Al Pacino)
Duryodhan - Samuel L Jackson
Karna - Hmmm! dont remember what we discussed..any thoughts?
Abhimanyu -Matt Damon
When I rememberd Jim Carrey and wanted to fit him in too, it was suggested if at all he has to be part of Mahabharata he would play 'Lakshman Kumar' son of Duryodhan (if you have seen old Telugu Mayabazar you will remember the Relangi character) probably he would suit that role but I think he could be Dushasan or some such character.
Mahabharat is a great Indian epic and a Hollywood version of it I personally think will be very interesting to watch. But of course simply cannot forget to mention our good old Mahabharat that used to play every Sunday on Doordarshan - thats' simply the best. I remember 'Samay' the narrator of the tele-series (still remember the voice so clearly!). And end of every episode it would end with 'moral of the episode' recited as a poem which I loved to hear. And the characterization was simply awesome - each of the actors was so apt for the role, they just fit in so perfectly. Hats-off to the whole tele-serial production!
Mahabharat is a great Indian epic and a Hollywood version of it I personally think will be very interesting to watch. But of course simply cannot forget to mention our good old Mahabharat that used to play every Sunday on Doordarshan - thats' simply the best. I remember 'Samay' the narrator of the tele-series (still remember the voice so clearly!). And end of every episode it would end with 'moral of the episode' recited as a poem which I loved to hear. And the characterization was simply awesome - each of the actors was so apt for the role, they just fit in so perfectly. Hats-off to the whole tele-serial production!
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