Mahabharat Trivia: In 1988, when BR Chopra’s TV show ‘Mahabharat’ went on air on Doordarshan, the roads of the country used to become deserted. Even today it is considered to be the most grand and successful show in the history of Indian television. But have you ever wondered that without today’s modern computer graphics (VFX), high-tech cameras and green screens, how would the makers have captured scenes like the huge battle of Kurukshetra and ‘Vishwaroop Avatar’ of Lord Shri Krishna on screen? To bring this epic saga alive on screen, the makers had to adopt very unique and indigenous tricks amidst technical shortcomings.
BR Chopra’sMahabharataA major part of ‘ was prepared by setting up sets in Mumbai’s Film City itself. But when it came to showing the great war of Kurukshetra, it was impossible to film it in the tight locations of Mumbai. The team was looking for a huge and open field which would feel exactly like the Dwapar era. The biggest challenge during this search was to erase the traces of modern lifestyle from that place. BR Chopra’s daughter-in-law had told in an interview that she wanted a vacant land where there were no electricity poles far and wide, because there was no electricity during the Mahabharata period. After a lot of searching, the team finally found a huge open field near Jaipur in Rajasthan, where all the iconic scenes of the Kurukshetra war were filmed manually.
How was Kurukshetra ground prepared without modern graphics?
In today’s time, to show war scenes, shooting is done on green screen with a few junior artists and the rest of the army is created with computer graphics (VFX). But in 1988 there was no such technical means. Most of the scenes of the Kurukshetra war were shot live manually with a crowd of thousands of people. However, to bring grandeur and magical effect in some special scenes, the makers had resorted to the technology of ‘blue screen’ i.e. chroma, which was a very advanced step according to that era.
How was the ‘Vishwaroop Avatar’ scene of Lord Krishna shot?
The technically most difficult scene of the entire Mahabharata was the one when Lord Krishna shows his ‘Vishwarupa’ to Arjun in the field of Kurukshetra. Seeing this scene on TV, people in those days used to sit with folded hands in reverence. The actor who played the role of Lord Krishna himself Nitish Bhardwaj Had revealed the hard work behind this scene. He told that this scene was recorded through ‘stop block photography’ technique.
In this technique, the camera was completely fixed (locked) at one place and it could not move even a little. After this, different forms and shapes were captured one by one in the same frame, which were later merged together on the editing table.
Why did wood have to be placed under the hands of Nitish Bhardwaj?
To make this special effects scene perfect, Nitish Bhardwaj had to stand in the same position without moving for four hours continuously. Even the slightest movement was in danger of ruining the entire shot and frame.
Nitish Bhardwaj had told that two wooden sticks were placed under his hands to rest his hands in between every shot and to keep them at the same angle. Not only this, to keep his eyeballs stable, he used to keep his eyes fixed on a person standing in front, so that at the time of re-take or next shot, he could come back in the same exact posture and direction. It was this hard work behind the scenes that, even without any modern visual effects, made BR Chopra’s ‘Mahabharata’ a show whose shine has not faded even after almost 4 decades.
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