Buddha: Rajaon Ka Raja

I have never taken any time to write about a TV show before but the quality of this program compelled me to write a review. I stumbled across this program on Netflix and watched the first episode out of curiosity. After that, I cannot stop and my whole family was completely hooked. Unfortunately, there are not many television programs on the life of Buddha, his struggles, teachings and the life around him at the time. But this series is class apart. All the cast members have acted really well. Writing and screenplay just blow you away. Really well made high-quality series. I find its one of the few programs which you can watch with whole family. Himanshu Soni has played fantastic a role and has really bought Buddha alive on the screen. It's a must watch if you are interested in understanding Buddhism and the true meaning of Buddha's message.

I like to express my gratitude and best wishes to the team. I hope BK Modi can continue to make such programs in future.

It has to be good to compel me to view the whole series more than once and this beautiful series succeeds to do it. There is extravaganza throughout the whole series and a grandeur in its presentation. The actors bring an endearment that adds to the desire to continue with the show. The women are gorgeous to such degree that you can't think of many movies that would out class such beauty. The look and the tenure is what make them so strikingly beautiful. Buddha being played by such an endearing individual is testament to the man in charge of this epic production. It surpasses most of anything cinematographic that I have viewed in all those years.

This show should win an Oscar!! I'm British Indian and can't even speak Hindi. But I was hooked on this after my mum told me about it. I never thought I could watch an Indian tv series ever. This changed my life. The guy who plays Buddha and mangala act so well

I'll keep it simple and short _()_ As it is, I wouldn't rate it more than 6/10, but the way I watched it deserves a 9/10.

The good:

• This show really teaches you something. It depicts Buddha's life with enough accuracy to be considered as a material for your development.
• The sutras are well introduced and the show find a very good balance between realism, respect to the Dhamma and entertainment and thrills. It makes compassion epic.
• It grows your devotion and will to practice the noble path. I'm a young adult and every time I watched an episode of the second half I felt more peaceful and confident in my spirituality.
• The soundtrack is great
• Costumes, stages, etc. are gorgeous
• Photography is good, almost fairy-like
• Globally, once Siddhartha leaves the palace, the show really take off and I wouldn't change much to the second half. But...

The less good:

• Generally, the first half
• Mandala and Devdutt characters. Passed the first quarter of the show, I couldn't handle it anymore and I decided to fast forward every time the character would show on screen. First, I found that her play was way too dramatic and that she was over-acting, which is subjective because I'm not used to the way Indian people express themselves in daily life (I'm French). Secondly, the screen writing puts way too much emphasis on Mangala's and Devdut's plots. Which brings me to...
• The show could be cut down to 40 episodes, seriously. Almost half of the episodes of the first half of the show are talks revolving about plots that aren't really interesting nor entertaining.
• The dialogs' writing is to my sense generally too pushy. The bad people are depicted as ultra bad and they take a very scary face looking at the camera every 5 minutes while talking.
• The cut. You can feel that the budget was a bit tight and that they had to reuse some average shots several times to fill the void. Which keeps me thinking that 40 episodes would have been enough.

Finally, I'd say: watch it, you must see it. But don't feel guilty to just pass the long talks in the palace in the first part of the show once you get bored, because the second half deserves you watch it.

If I had the time and skills, I'd definitely try to do a fan cut of the show, removing half of the pushy face-shot and half of the palace plot's talks, because there is much goodness in what the director achieved with this show.

I started watching this on Netflix and didn't realize there were 55 episodes. There is some overacting,l by the characters mangla and devdutt. The show really got interesting for me in once siddarth started on the path to become Buddha. I kept wondering how much of these events were true and kept googling as watching the events. I have found it to be educative about Buddhism. I highly recommend it. Buddham sharnam Gacchami!