Bharat Ek Khoj

This Bharat ki Khoj is based on Book "The Discovery of India" written by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

It is fabulously crafted edited and directed. It gives us a true picture of rural midas and countryside life. The series is purest in its depiction of Indian History. Their is not a single instance of adulteration and an attempt to rewrite history from Hypernationalists and radicalists point of view.

In this today's India when Hypernationalists Warmongers are creating a atmosphere conducive to rewrite history Bharat Ki Khoj is true to its title and a must be watched by every Indian, it also gives a honest outlook about our PM Nehru whose achievements are being belittled by these rightist goons.

This is a series that is very close to my heart. This series takes us back 5000 Years back on a journey of discovering India. Inspired from the Great work Discovery of India by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru this work is a marvel. Great actors like Om Puri, Kulbhushan Khalabanda, Irfan Khan and obviously Roshan Seth adorn the masterpiece with their brilliant performance. History can never be so interesting as this. This is a must watch for everyone, particularly Indians.

I lived with every character as I went through the episodes. I mourned with Babur on the death of his young son. I celebrated with Akbar when the Mughals won Gujrat. I felt Shivaji's humiliation in the court of Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan's misfortune when French betrayed him.

The actors are amazing. No one could have played their parts better than Om Puri (as Aurangzeb), Kulbhushan Kharbanda (as Akbar), Vijay Arora (as Jahangir), Naseeruddin Shah (as Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj) and one and only Roshan Seth (as Nehru).

I could not complete without praising the wonderful music compositions. Not only the background scores and the title song but also the in- between folk songs that played the most important role in connecting with the viewers.

Hats off to Shyam Benegal for giving us this master piece.

A must watch to all the students and admirers of Indian history.

This is a landmark series from Doordarshan. I am looking for a VCD/DVD set of the entire series. Please help me locate it.

The series contains memorable performances by people like Salim Ghouse (both Rama and Krishna), Om Puri (several), and several others on screen. Off-screen, Vanaraj Bhatia and Vasant Dev together produced some excellent music/lyric combinations. The sign-on and sign-off titles were a treat to the ears. Hats off to Shyam Benegal for producing such an excellent masterpiece. His no-nonsense, non melodramatic style really had us cynical friends (3 of us) nearly worshipping him.

Thanks

Written by the first Prime Minister of India(Jawaharlal Nehru), directed by the finest of Directors in India(Shyam Benegal), and played by a wonderful cast, this series is definitely a masterpiece,with simple and non-glamorous filming and direction.

The opening song of the series is actually a timeless hymn called Nasadiya Sukta from RigVeda, which talks about the origin of the universe, and ponders about existence/non-existence of God. The uttering of this hymn in chorus along with Vanraj Bhatia's magical music has this strange, almost hypnotic effect.

Also, the wonderful narration by Roshan Seth and Om Puri always keeps you captivated. Though describing 5000 years of rich and complex history of such a large sub-continent in 53 episodes seems impossible, Shyam Benegal has done an excellent job at giving an insight into the history of ancient and modern India through fabulous storytelling and direction.

I strongly recommend this series to anyone interested in Indian History/Religion/Philosophy.