Chanakya

Chanakya describes the exploits of a clever and farsighted Brahmin to unify all of India under one ruler and his gentle persuasion of Minister of current largest kingdom i.e. Magda named "mudrarakshas".Second half of series is loosely based on this ancient Sanskrit text which details all political moves of Chanakya to win loyalty of people of Magda without much bloodshed. This ie really strange that Indian records don't mention invasion of Alexander and all information we have is from Greek sources.Similarly Chanakya the first patriot of India who succeeded and whose vision is relevant even today is not a person who is accorded his due honor and attention in history. Especially good in series are costumes and sets of those times.But physique of soldiers is somewhat less than required.e.g. Army of Porus and other republics roughly correspond to present day Pathans and Punjabis but all extras in movie are north Indian people .This was the only eye sore and in innumerable dance sequences in courts dancers were not that beautiful as they should have been or would have been.Some people may laugh at my objections but Dr Dwivedi while paying attention to small details like what a particular official was called in NW India and in eastern India in those days has not paid attention to these small things. A must watch for all history students and also political science students and in today's troubled times for all Indians

Discovery of India

This series has been telecast-ed many times on Doordarshan and is a must for any student of Indain History. It has a characteristic Shyam benegal style of concentrating on mental conflicts rather than showing war details or opulence of courts. Title song are a simple version of verses of Rigveda and anyone who keeps on branding Veda communal will have an idea of deep philosophy inherent in them by listening to these samples. Costumes of all the ages have been captured very efficiently and some of the episodes are my favorite like one on civil disobedience in 1930, quit India in 1942 , Shivaji one ( It is the only televised account of Shivaji in which his conflicts with local Hindu chieftains are shown). There were some episodes with more philosophical value rather than historical like one in which India law on parentage is illustrated by a boy being branded shudra though his mother was a vaisya, his biological father a Brahman and his adopted father was a kshatriya king or the one involving Ashoka's brother and how he turns to become a Buddhist monk. It is evident that more emphasis is placed on social and economic moorings. Now this may be depiction of Portuguese Mughal conflict for trade interests or an episode where small songs for each of six seasons were sung in traditional tones. Music of Vanraj Bhatia gave whole production cinematic value rather than being a mere documentary series