Coronavirus pandemic: After returning to Doordarshan, B.R. Chopra's epic TV show, Mahabharat, to now be available at the click of a button anytime, anywhere

BR Chopra's Mahabharat featured Mukesh Khanna as Bhishma, Pankaj Dheer as Karna, Gajendra Chouhan as Yudhishthir, Arjun as Arjun, Roopa Ganguly as Draupadi, Puneet Issar as Duryodhan and Nitish Bharadwaj as Krishna, among others

With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic keeping us under lockdown in a vice-like grip, Doordarshan has extended a huge boon to the entire country by deciding to rerun so me of its legendary TV shows. The good news was dropped with the announcement of the return of Ramanand Sagar's epic, Ramayan, followed quickly by announcements of Byomkesh Bakshi and Shah Rukh Khan's Circus also making a comeback. And when it was declared that another epic TV show, B.R. Chopra's Mahabharat, was also going to be re-telecast, the golden period of Indian television was truly back.

Doordarshan's idea to re-run these shows needs to be applauded as it not only allows newer generations to reconnect with some of the best of Indian TV, the kind of content which we rarely get to see nowadays, but it also provides a welcome during tense times, amidst a nationwide lockdown. And along with Doordarshan, Pen India Ltd, owned by Dr. Jayantilal Gada, also deserves equal praise for readily agreeing to share the episodes of Mahabharata, whose rights are owned by his production house.

Speaking about Pen's willingness to accommodate Doordarshan's request, a source close to the production house said, "Doordarshan was in talks with PEN India for the last couple of months for the procurement of the rights for the telecast of Mahabharata. But, after the Coronavirus stalled most activities the country, the process got accelerated. The Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javdekar, requested Dr Jayantilal Gada to share the rights as soon as possible and Dr Gada agreed immediately to lend all the support possible to Doordarshan for telecasting Mahabharata. He is also in talks with Renu Chopra for coming up with a new version of the Mahabharat using high-end technology for creating a great quality product.”

The insider source added that Pen studios will also be uploading all the episodes of Mahabharat on their YouTube channel, Pen Bhakti. An epic show available at the click of your finger, anywhere and anytime — now isn't that wonderful?

BR Chopra’s Mahabharat featured Mukesh Khanna as Bhishma, Pankaj Dheer as Karna, Gajendra Chauhan as Yudhishthir, Arjun as Arjun, Roopa Ganguly as Draupadi, Puneet Issar as Duryodhan and Nitish Bharadwaj as Krishna, among others. It had originally run from 1988 to 1990 on Doordarshan. Stay tuned to BollywoodLife for all the latest scoops and updates.

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