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Thread: Movies based on the Hindu epics and stories?

  1. #11
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    Re: Movies based on the Hindu epics and stories?

    Namaste Indraneela et al.

    Budget is definitely a concern, though digital graphics are becoming easier and cheaper to produce. On the other hand, how much of a scriptural epic do we want to be digitized?

    If this entire series is anything like the episode I watched http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHYcj...0D4E4&index=74 mentioned above, I can't believe the effort and cost that must have gone into the production.

    In this series's episode 74, the only part that was digitized was Sri Krishna showing His Universal Form. It would be great if a movie were produced with this quality. The producers, B.R. and Ravi Chopra either had deep pockets or very willing investors.

    TTA says
    I will make these movies one day.
    I'll be waiting.

    Btw, this is only a small shot I captured. YT vids are sometimes hard to nail right down to one frame.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    śivasya hridayam viṣṇur viṣṇoscha hridayam śivaḥ

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    Re: Movies based on the Hindu epics and stories?

    Quote Originally Posted by TouchedbytheLord View Post
    Namaste Indraneela et al.

    Budget is definitely a concern, though digital graphics are becoming easier and cheaper to produce. On the other hand, how much of a scriptural epic do we want to be digitized?
    That's something I've thought about as well. Since we have mega-movies like Avatar that combine real-life actors with CG and incredible graphics, I think that would be the best method for these stories; since there is a lot more we can do with CG than with real-life "effects" (BrahmAstrA etc.).

    King Kong by Peter Jackson (of LoTR fame) also did excellent work in that movie (the 2 T-Rex vs. King Kong was awesome).

    Ramayana and Mahabharatha along those lines would just be epic, pun intended!

    Quote Originally Posted by TouchedbytheLord View Post
    If this entire series is anything like the episode I watched http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHYcj...0D4E4&index=74 mentioned above, I can't believe the effort and cost that must have gone into the production.
    Yes, that is one of the greatest moments of Indian television. I remember my father telling me that in the 1980s, when that aired, the entire country would pause to watch it! Even Parliamentary sessions were postponed to watch the Mahabharath on TV as it was so well done (for that time). It is unfortunate they didn't record statistics of how many people watched/heard that show as that would trump everything in the history of television viewership (several hundred million people watching = $$$$$).

    Any director/producer in India who does a large scale production of these epics nowadays would be branded as "communal" and "Hindutva". The current government in India is the most anti-Hindu government ever to have been elected to office. If you haven't noticed, Hindus like being spat upon and kicked when down. It is a civilizational cuckolding of mega proportions and Hindus themselves don't see it! Ah, the irony. And so, Hindus abroad will have to take up the mantle and make these movies and show it to the world. Now, to find that $300+ million funding for the movies... hmm..

    Quote Originally Posted by TouchedbytheLord View Post
    In this series's episode 74, the only part that was digitized was Sri Krishna showing His Universal Form. It would be great if a movie were produced with this quality. The producers, B.R. and Ravi Chopra either had deep pockets or very willing investors.
    Yes, the quality was indeed great for that time but you also have to keep in mind that Indian society, at least the urban middle class, has changed drastically in the last ~25 years. You can clearly tell by comparing the Bollywood movies from the 1980s to the ones now. There is a serious decline in Indian cultural values displayed on-screen. There needs to be some ingenious method of attracting the youth of today to watch these movies and the only way to do that, I think, is to start the initiative outside of India and have such high production quality (like King Kong/Avatar) with graphics/special effects that it would attract even the most disinterested person (in religion) to watch them!

    Here is a good example of Indian/Hollywood collaboration of a modern movie:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcGgMCFmDIo

    One of these epics in authentic Sanskrit would be entertaining, educational, and just inspirational for millions of Hindus around the world!

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    Re: Movies based on the Hindu epics and stories?

    It ain't only Bollywood that's cranking out "garbage" movies. If you compare the quality of Hollywood movies from the 1940s and 1950s, and the caliber of movie stars today, there is no comparison. Suer, the major HW studios of the day were out to make money, but film making was an art form. I can see it no different in India. Crank out the movies, put them on Blu-Ray, and follow the money.

    I agree about attracting a new audience. It would be secondary that people come to realize these are religious works. If there's any element of "fantasy" or "mythology" (I hate to use those words, but you get the idea) and digital spectacle, people are hooked. Clash of the Titans!? It wasn't even fun... at least Avatar was fun.

    I think if Mahabharat was dubbed into English and presented to the American market, it may have done very well. OK, it ran some 71 hours, but minseries like Shogun, North & South, Roots, Centennial, How the West Was Won, et al. had audiences riveted.

    And I think there would be the chance to show how opulent and grand Indian history is, that it's not just snake charmers and Hindu rope climbers.
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    Re: Movies based on the Hindu epics and stories?

    Namast,

    Peter Brooks' adaptation of Mahābhārata was discussed above in this thread. I forgot to mention one small detail in my earlier post: the cast for that film was deliberately taken from many countries. Brooks hoped to illustrate that this epic was for all the world, for all time, and thought that having a multi-national ensemble would help make that point.

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    Re: Movies based on the Hindu epics and stories?

    Quote Originally Posted by TatTvamAsi View Post
    Yes, that is one of the greatest moments of Indian television. I remember my father telling me that in the 1980s, when that aired, the entire country would pause to watch it! Even Parliamentary sessions were postponed to watch the Mahabharath on TV as it was so well done (for that time). It is unfortunate they didn't record statistics of how many people watched/heard that show as that would trump everything in the history of television viewership (several hundred million people watching = $$$$$).

    Any director/producer in India who does a large scale production of these epics nowadays would be branded as "communal" and "Hindutva". The current government in India is the most anti-Hindu government ever to have been elected to office. If you haven't noticed, Hindus like being spat upon and kicked when down. It is a civilizational cuckolding of mega proportions and Hindus themselves don't see it! Ah, the irony. And so, Hindus abroad will have to take up the mantle and make these movies and show it to the world. Now, to find that $300+ million funding for the movies... hmm..
    TTA, you can count me in on that initiative, the financial side of things is not my specialty but I'm using my time to specialize on the artistic aspect of filmmaking that I chersih so much.

    Bear in mind that CGI heavy films are being done with budgets as low as $30 million dollars (District 9), imagine 10 years from now, perhaps $30 million dollars would be enough for an epic!

    I have this desire deep inside of me whenever I read the richness (spiritual and philosophical) of the Hindu lore, I can immediately picture it being represented in its deserved glory. Well, if we consider the big picture of the entertainment industry as of now, big CGI intensive movies are suffering greatly from very poor stories, perhaps it's still not the time for a complex and expensive art such as cinema to pay homage to the devas.

    A possible start would be the exploring of the key aspects of the Hindu lore (cosmology, view of subtle life, devas, philosophical observations) by creative young writers in order to introduce these elements even on present time narrative, c'mon, we have chiranjivis, shambhala, inner and outer planes, siddhis, astras and list goes on. It's awesome!
    Last edited by Adhvagat; 22 September 2011 at 02:04 AM.

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    Re: Movies based on the Hindu epics and stories?

    Namaste,

    Excellent points have been made in here. A proper modern adaptation of these epics with state-of-the-art CGI would real dream come true for me too. But the important thing is that the filmmakers should also know about the source material deeply and be passionate about it, not just another cash-cow with flashy effects to churn out during the summer (*cough* Michael Bay *cough*). I think that's what made a major difference between the LoTR and Harry Potter movies - even though both had awesome visual effects, in case of the former the entire crew was composed of die-hard fans of Tolkien's novels and that's why despite the changes during the adaptation from book to screen, the movies retained many rich details of the story that the HP movies often lacked.

    Given that our Hindu epics go much beyond these examples, I think we need an even more talented team behind their making. I would so LOVE to see the battle of Lanka with dazzling CGI to rival LoTR, or to see Lord Narasimha rendered as majestically as Aslan from the Narnia movies (not just a guy wearing a lion mask! ), but a careful, properly researched adaptation of the source material, keeping the essence of its spiritual message intact, is also equally important. Sadly I don't see such an adaptation coming from Bollywood anytime soon, because even leaving aside all other factors, the chances of any movie without at least 5 sequences of everyone breaking into street dance (coupled with two remixes of each of those) doing well at the box office are pretty slim over here.

    After the success of the animated Hanuman movie over here (a pretty cool one, I think), we've had a plethora of others on either Him or Lord Ganesha, Rama or Krishna, but I don't think they came close. My favourite animated adaptation so far has been the Japanese one of Ramayana, even though it deviated quite a bit from the original epic. I'm much more in favour of an experienced Western, or perhaps Indian-born, director who is genuinely interested in these epics and their underlying spiritual/philosophical base, taking them up with a cast of preferably Indian actors (including new talented ones, not the regular Bolly faces). And rope in experienced people for the additional research, cinematography and score as well.

    I was originally thinking of the Wachowski Brothers (of Matrix fame), but I wasn't too impressed by what they did in the second and third films. I'd probably have considered M Night Shyamalan had it not been for his recent disastrous entries.
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    Re: Movies based on the Hindu epics and stories?

    Namast,

    Obelisk, a Japanese adaptation of Rāmāyaṇa? I don't think I have heard of this; could you give details?

    This thread reminds me of a long-held wish in the "movies based on epics" category: once, just once, I want to see the Indra-Vṛtra battle in film! And preferably not by the sort of Hollywood studio that would make the slaying scene last two minutes, after two hours of romantic drivel and comedic mishaps, with Orlando Bloom cast as Indra.

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    Re: Movies based on the Hindu epics and stories?

    Namaste Indraneela,

    Here it is - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyETrOnLDdU

    It's titled "Ramayana: Legend Of Prince Ram" and was released in 1992. Deviates quite a bit from the original but the animation is superb.
    Last edited by Obelisk; 22 September 2011 at 03:21 AM. Reason: Fixed the link.
    Fully aware of the deficiency of my intelligence, I concentrate my attention on the son of Pavana,
    And humbly ask for strength, intelligence and true knowledge to relieve me of all painful blemishes.

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    Re: Movies based on the Hindu epics and stories?

    After reading the Ramayana one of the first things I did was search for a film version of it. I thought "There's no way this hasn't been done."

    But it hadn't. At least not well.

    Many fine points about the obstacles facing book-to-film adaptations have been made. But it's something I'm hoping for myself.

    But as much as CGI would be needed to complete the Epics, I still hold a special place in my heart for real, crafted effects (Puppets, painted backgrounds, costuming and makup)

    Sometimes CGI just lacks heart. I know it's not there, so it feels less real. A puppet (or animatronic) may not move as seamlessly, but there is a realness to it that I appreciate.

    I'd like to see Guillermo del Toro (of "Pan's Labyrinth" fame) direct one of the Epics. Get the art directors from Lord of the rings and Pan's Labyrinth on it too! It's nice to dream.

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    Re: Movies based on the Hindu epics and stories?

    Namaste

    Not sure if anyone mentioned, but there was an Anime movie joint Japanese and English called The Prince of Light - The Legend of Ramayana (movie).

    The synopsis is Plot Summary: Ravan, the evil king of Lanka, begins a reign of terror, conquering and pillaging the neighboring kingdoms. Desperate to stop Ravan's army, good King Dasharatha sends his eldest sons, Ram and Lakshman, on a mission to face Ravan's forces.

    Here is a link to It's production:
    http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...me.php?id=7792

    That definetly would be the movie I would produce- the Ramayana.

    Om Namah Sivaya



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