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.
