Lore and order: Deepanjana Pal on the new Mahabharat series, and Lokah Chapter 1
Sitting down to watch the first episode of the new series Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh felt like artistic betrayal. The idea of creative fields being dominated by artificial intelligence (AI) gives me the creeps, and here was a show that proudly proclaims it is “powered by AI”.
In this retelling (helmed by director Lavanya, showrunner Smital Shintre and writers Krishna Omveer Ponia and Savin Shetty), Brahma has been made to look like a version of George Clooney with a Santa Claus beard. Ganga could seamlessly walk off the show and into a present-day jewellery advertisement. Sadly, what she cannot seem to do is blink (something AI characters still struggle with; they simply end up eyes downcast or staring fixedly ahead). AI also appears to have trouble with Hindi dialogue, if the odd lip-syncing is any indication. More distracting than out-of-sync lips are the teeth. Whenever a character speaks or smiles, their teeth disappear or appear unevenly blurred.
The least this retelling could have done is look spectacular, but its imagery is so derivative that those of a certain vintage will find themselves fondly remember the incredibly popular Mahabharat (1988-90) helmed by the father-son duo BR Chopra and Ravi Chopra and broadcast on Doordarshan. Thirty-seven years and countless technical advancements later, it still makes for better viewing than most of the CGI-focused mythological shows on our screens today.
It is apparently now being argued that the new Mahabharat is intended as second-screen entertainment, or content that plays in the background while one focuses on another device. For the epic to be reduced to this feels tragic. In some parts of the country, social convention advises against keeping copies of it at home, for fear the family feuds in it will permeate the air. That is how powerful the tales in Vyasa’s complex saga are thought to be. That the makers would choose to turn this into second-screen viewing is confounding.
By contrast, another new release, the Malayalam film Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra, offers a sense of novelty and inspired storytelling. A clever script and excellent world-building ensure that its 149-minute runtime doesn’t drag.
Directed by Dominic Arun, who wrote the screenplay with Santhy Balachandran, Lokah Chapter 1 introduces a new and distinctively Indian superhero universe. It makes no secret of its inspirations. There are various tips of the hat to films such as Twilight (2008), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) and the Matrix series. Fusing vampire lore with legends of the yakshi, the film gives us a protagonist, Chandra, who feels like a distant supernatural cousin of Jyoti (Rekha) from Khoon Bhari Maang (1988) and Andromache (Charlize Theron) from The Old Guard (2020).
These influences notwithstanding, Lokah is very much its own beast. Chandra (Kalyani Priyadarshan) is the embodiment of the fears misogynists have about empowered women, which also makes her an aspirational ideal. She can fearlessly work night shifts and take on whatever the dimly lit city streets throw at her. Her antagonist is Nachiyappa (Sandy Master), a shiver-inducing villain. He is chilling enough as the disgruntled policeman who resents having a woman officer as his senior. When he morphs into a vampire, he turns out to be more than a match for Chandra.
Holding the film together and providing comic relief is the guy-next-door Sunny (Naslen) who brings to the film something that is central to storytelling and a quality we take for granted: humanity. Take that, AI.
(You can reach Deepanjana Pal @dpanjana on Instagram. The views expressed are personal)
