Dear friends, I realize that this is a 'Kalki' site, but would it interest anyone to 'cast' the Mahabharata with International actors/actresses?
I'm sure that the Peter Brook version is extremely controversial, but I found it fascinating: all the various ethnic groups he included to make it a truly global Epic.
He had an Israeli play Krishna; an African American: Karna; Spaniard: Yudhishthara; a Japanese actress for Gandhari; forget who played the twins. Anyway, I was really absorbed, tho some were not the way my imagination had pictured them. I'm pretty old so have seen lots of Western actors over the years.
How's this [I'm sure you won't have heard of all of these. . .] Karna = Richard Burton Yudhisthira = Max von Sydow Bhima = Toshiro Mifune Nakula & Sahadeva = Oscar Werner, twice Duryodhana = Laurence Olivier [when under 50] Dhritarashtra = Paul Schofield Gandhari = Helen Mirren Krishna = Terence Stamp, at 25 Arjuna = Robert Redford Dushasena = Conrad Veidt {or he could be Sakuni} Bhishma = Alec Guinness Kripa = Clint Eastwood Drona = Jean Gabin Kunti = Simone Signoret Draupadi = Nargis in her heyday Abhimanyu = Leonardo di Caprio
Dear Kathi, I have seen the Brook version. I didn't think it was controversial as much it was ..er.. boring. I mean perhaps i have to read his lyrics and then see the drama. But by itself I didn't find it very absorbing that is all.
I like your casting experiment :)) Right on with Burton, Redford and Alec Guinness. Dont' know some of the other names. And not sure at all about Nargis..to me Draupadi will always be the great actress Savitri (she didn 't play any Draupadis in tamil but twice and very memorable in Telugu). One of her 'Draupadi's is the great movie Narthanashala - on the Virata Parva of the Mahabharat. It is used in University of Wisconsin for studies in Indian mythology. I have a copy subttiled in English, if you like, one other thing to trade :))
BTW did you get to see Malgudi Days and did you like it?
Dear Malathi, Yes, I'd love to see Savitri as Draupadi. Don't know anything about her.
I have been watching 'Malgudi Days', but not all of it, yet. I'm finding the subtitles not a very good translation, I don't think. Very awkward English, feel like I'm missing a lot of the nuances.
Yes, I read Madhuri Jaffrey's book. She's really appealing. Her talk about food makes my mouth water.
What really bothered me about the Brook MBh. was how old the heroes were. But of course they had grown sons, so they couldn't be very young. I must admit I was wracking my brain for heavy warriors for Bhim & Duryodhana.
Talking of Malgudi days, I was lucky enough to find 18 episodes of malgudi days for a steal 198 Rs. at Landmark here in Chennai. Anybody interested, I could try to get more copies - am sure its selling like hotcakes...
Kathie, if you are worried about the subtitiles, you should stick to the original english version of the books. As usual, the book is better than the videos. But I should admit malgudi days is one of the few dramatizations that succeed in being close to the book as possible (the video has most of the dialogues word for word from the book) - but that may also be because I saw the videos first ;)
Dear Kathie, RKN himself was a very modest man and actually a champion of simplicity and modesty. Did your video not have subtitles, am surprised because mine did and I bought it on Amazon too.
Actually RKN had a very bad experience selling his Guide to movie makers up north and he refused to part with the rights of Malgudi Days for a very long time. Finally he said he would watch one episode pilot and go with the rest if he was happy. He ended up being really happy and satisfied with the result. There is only a short two disc version available on video (as far as I know). Swami and Friends and Vendor of Sweets are not yet released and they are really good too.
This link provides a overview of the chronology of Mahabaratha. Not sure about its authenticity. Just look at the count of Army participated in the war. this is what I mentioned in one of my earlier threads that the population was too much and war was the only way for krishna to control the population, though everyone said he could have prevented the war.
A few months back I watched a couple of episodes of Malgudi daysin youtube. I was so thrilled and jumping in joy that my wife was taken aback and asked me why do you get so excited. I told her such things cannot be explained but you have to experience it. :)
I think RKN and malgudi days are everyone favorite.
Kalki was one of the earliest to recognize the genius of narayan they both were under the employ of vasan . rkn in gemini and kalki in ananda vikadan. tamil versions of rkns books were published , during kalki's tenure as editor i guess. and there was this advice kalki gave rkn on writing in his mother tougue. we have something in the archieves about this
Absolutely..RKN writes of it in his My Days, when flamboyant Dev Anand walked into his home in Mysore and gave him a blank cheque in return for story rights of Guide. RKN refused saying his only request was that the story be made as is with no alterations - which of course was not respected. He took a paltry sum of 2000/- in return for the rights of the movie. Dev Anand later even said in his bio that he had never seen anyone refuse a blank cheque like that before.
More news on the malgudi days videos available at landmark:
Theres two volume dvd sets of all the epsodes available at landmark now - costing ~600 bucks each. (1200 bucks total) WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES (chandramouli esp for you)
and the remaining 6 volumes of the vcd version is also available (no english subtitles).....
Malathi: I have bought the first two volumes of the vcd version (swami and friends and vendor of sweets) for you... so do not buy it yourself... let me know if you want me to ship it to you or keep it till you visit India next... btw, do you also want the other 6 volumes of the vcd?
Hi Madan, thanks so very much but unfortunately a relative gifted the same set to me a week ago which I could not refuse. Is there any way you can sell it to someone else? Please accept my sincere apologies in this regard.