Bharat Ek Khoj

Bharat Ek Khoj is a 53-episode Indian historical drama based on the book The Discovery of India (1946) by Jawaharlal Nehru[3] that covers a 5,000-year history of India from its beginnings to independence from the British in 1947. The drama was directed, written and produced by Shyam Benegal with cinematographer V. K. Murthy in 1988 for state-owned Doordarshan. Shama Zaidi co-wrote the script.[4] Its cast included Om Puri, Roshan Seth, Tom Alter and Sadashiv Amrapurkar. Jawaharlal Nehru was portrayed by Roshan Seth, the same role he portrayed in the Oscar-winning film Gandhi.[5]

Bharat Ek Khoj
Bharat Ek Khoj DVD cover
GenreHistorical fiction
Created byShyam Benegal
Based onThe Discovery of India
by Jawaharlal Nehru
Written byShyam Benegal
Shama Zaidi
Sunil Shanbag
Vasant Dev (dialogues)
StarringRoshan Seth
Om Puri
Tom Alter
Sadashiv Amrapurkar
Naseeruddin Shah
Lucky Ali
Seema Kelkar
Mita Vashisht
Pallavi Joshi
Anjan Srivastav
Sohaila Kapur
Ila Arun
Irrfan Khan
Ravi Jhankal
Piyush Mishra
Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Subrat Bose, Pankaj Berry
Narrated byOm Puri[1]
Opening themeVanraj Bhatia
Country of originIndia
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes53
Production
Executive producerRaj Pius
CinematographyV. K. Murthy
Editors
[2]
Production companiesDoordarshan
Sahyadri Films
Release
Original networkDD National
Original release13 November 1988 (1988-11-13)[1] –
12 November 1989 (1989-11-12)[1]

Production designer Nitish Roy with assistants Samir Chanda and Nitin Desai built 144 sets.[6]

Cast and episode list
EpisodeTitleCastRoleNotes
1 Bharat Mata Ki Jai[7] Roshan Seth Jawaharlal Nehru[1]
2 The Beginnings (Indus Valley Civilization) Harish Patel, Lalit Mohan Tiwari, Pallavi Joshi Draha, Shulgi, Atri A street play based on the Epic of Gilgamesh is also depicted in the episode.[8]
3 The Arrival of the Vedic People (the Rigveda) Anang Desai, K K Raina, Ravi Jhankal Sardar, Suteja, Bajbandha
4 Caste Formation Anang Desai, Salim Ghouse, K K Raina, Lalit Mohan Tiwari, Inayatullah Kantroo, Anuradha Tarafdar, Ila Arun Chandraprabha, Rama, Narada, Arjuna, Dhanpal,Dhanvati, Sheelvati Story of Shambuka from Ramayana and Ekalavya from Mahabharata were also part of this episode.
5,6 Mahabharata Part 1 Teejan Bai, Salim Ghouse, Om Puri, Sujata Mehta, Pankaj Berry, Ila Arun, Salim Ghouse Krishna, Duryodhana, Draupadi, Shakuni,Aswatthama, Gandhari
Mahabharata Part 2
7,8 Ramayana Part 1[1] Om Puri, Pallavi Joshi, Salim Ghouse [1] , Pankaj Berry, Ravi Jhankal Sita, Rama, Bharata , Lakshmana
Ramayana Part 2
9 Republics and Kingdoms Virendra Saxena, K K Raina Mahaanaman, Virudhaka
10 Negation and Acceptance of Life Dhruv Ghanekar, Aanjjan Srivastav, Om Puri, Ashutosh Gowariker Nachiketa, Yamaraja, Angulimaal, Gautam Buddha
11 Chanakya and Chandragupta Part 1 Satyadev Dubey, Ravi Jhankal, Mita Vashisht Chanakya, Chanragupta, Suhasini
12 Chanakya and Chandragupta Part 2 Satyadev Dubey, Ravi Jhankal, Aanjjan Srivastav Chanakya, Chanragupta, Dhana Nanda
13 Ashoka Part 1 Om Puri, K.K.Raina, Ila Arun Ashoka, Radhagupta, Asandhimitra
14 Ashoka Part 2 Om Puri, K.K.Raina, Ila Arun, Lucky Ali (credited as Maqsoom Ali) Ashoka, Radhagupta, Asandhimitra, Prince Tissa
15 The Sangam Period: Silapaddirakam Part 1 Pallavi Joshi, Rakesh Dhar Kannaki, Kovalan
16 The Sangam Period: Silapaddirakam Part 2 Pallavi Joshi, Rakesh Dhar, Sulabha Deshpande, Virendra Saxena Kannaki, Kovalan, Kavundi, Pandit
17 The Classical Age Anjan Srivastav, Harish Patel, Aparjita Krishna Sansthanaka, Nai, Vasantsena
18 Kalidas and Shakuntala Part 1 Ravi Jhankal, Pallavi Joshi, Virendra Saxena Kalidas, Mallika, Matul Excerpts from plays Ashadh Ka Ek Din by Mohan Rakesh and Shakuntala (play) by Kalidasa were used in this episode.
19 Kālidāsa and Shakuntala Part 2 Ravi Jhankal, Pallavi Joshi, Virendra Saxena Kalidas, Mallika, Matul
20 Harshavardhana Pankaj Berry, K Makhija, Aparajita Harshavardhana, Prabhakar Vardhana, Queen
21 Bhakti Vijay Kashyap, Rajesh Vivek, Mita Vashisht, Harish Patel Mahendravarman I, Kapalin, Devasoma, Buddhist Monk
22 The Chola Empire Part 1 Om Puri, Devendre Malhotra, Sunila Pradhan, Shantanu Chaparia Raja Raja Chola, Ishanashiva, Mahadevi, Tirumala
23 The Chola Empire Part 2 Om Puri, Devendre Malhotra, Sunila Pradhan, Shantanu Chaparia Raja Raja Chola, Ishanashiva, Mahadevi, Tirumala
24 The Delhi Sultanate Part 1:The Arrival of Turk-Afghans and Prithviraj Raso K.K. Raina, Vijay Kashyap, Ravi Jhankal, Ahmed Khan Muhammad Ghori, Chand Bardai, Prithviraj Chauhan, Mahmud Ghazni
25 The Delhi Sultanate Part 2: Prithviraj Raso and Alauddin Khilji K.K. Raina, Vijay Kashyap, Ravi Jhankal, Achyut Potdar, Om Puri, Rajendra Gupta, Seema Kelkar Muhammad Ghori, Chand Bardai, Makwana, Alauddin Khilji, Ratan Singh, Padmavati
26 The Delhi Sultanate Part 3: Padmavat and Tughlaq dynasty[9] Om Puri, Rajendra Gupta, Seema Kelkar, Alauddin Khalji, Ratan Singh, Padmavati
27 Synthesis Pankaj Berry Lorik
28 The Vijayanagar Empire Om Puri, Salim Ghouse, Aanjjan Srivastav, Fr. Tasso Krishna Deva Raya, Aliya Rama Raya, Appaji, Domingo Paes
29 Feudalism[10] Salim Ghouse, Ila Arun, Pallavi Joshi, Siraj Khan, Ajay Kumar Aliya Rama Raya, Heggaditi, Mallige, Saguna, Achyuta Deva Raya
30 The Fall of the Vijayanagar Empire Salim Ghouse, Anang Desai, Pankaj Berry, Ahmed Khan, Arjun Raina Aliya Rama Raya, Effendi Aslam Bain, Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali, Hussain Nizam Shah I, Ali Adil Shah I
31 Rana Sanga, Ibrahim Lodi and Babur Ravi Jhankal, Anang Desai, Lalit Mohan Tiwari Rana Sanga, Ibrahim Lodi, Babur
32, 33 Akbar Part 1 (Din-e Ilahi) Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Ila Arun, Aparajita Bhushan, Puneet Issar, Surendra Pal, Harish Patel, Irrfan Khan, Rajesh Vivek,Pankaj Berry, Vijay Arora Akbar, Jahangir, Jodhabai, Maharana Pratap
Akbar Part 2
34 Golden Hind Sudhir Kulkarni, Vijay Arora, Ajit Vachhani Jahangir
35 ,36 Aurangzeb Part 1 Om Puri, Sudhir Dalvi, Surendra Pal Aurangzeb, Dara Shikoh, Murad Bakhsh, Shah Shuja, Jahanara Begum, Shah Jahan
Aurangzeb Part 2
37 ,38 Shivaji Part 1 Naseeruddin Shah,Om Puri, Anang Desai, Achyut Potdar[11] Shivaji, Jijabai, Dadoji Kondadev, Chandrarao More, Afzal Khan, Aurangzeb,
Shivaji Part 2
39 Company Bahadur (East India Company) Amrish Puri, Rajendra, Jalal Agha, Tom Alter, Vishal Singh, John Holyer Robert Clive, Najimuddin Ali Khan, Shuja-ud-Daula, Shah Alam II, Diwani Rights
40 Tipu Sultan Salim Ghouse, Vijay Kashyap, Ravi Jhankal, Shreechand Makhija, Tom Alter, John Holyer Tipu Sultan
41 The Bengal Renaissance and Raja Ram Mohan Roy Anang Desai, Urmila Bhatt, Ravi Jhankal, Tom Alter, John Holyer Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Lord William Bentinck,Bann on Sati (practice)
42, 43 1857 Part 1 Om Puri, Ravi Jhankal, Piyush Mishra, Mohan Gokhale, Anang Desai, Ratna Pathak Shah,Aanjjan Srivastav, Pankaj Berry,Virendra Razdan, Tom Alter, John Holyer, Bob Christo Bahadur Shah Zafar, Nanasaheb Peshwa, Wajid Ali Shah, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Tantia Tope, Rani Lakshmibai, Azimullah Khan, Bakht Khan, Mangal Pandey, Lord Dalhousie
1857 Part 2
44 Indigo Revolt Virendra Saxena, Tom Alter, Vijay Kashyap Madhav
45 Mahatma Phule Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Mohan Gokhale, Shubhangi Gokhale, Achyut Potdar Mahatma Phule
46 Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Mohan Maharishi, Irrfan Khan
47 Vivekananda Alok Nath Swami Vivekananda
48 Extremists and Moderates Sudhir Kulkarni, Mohan Gokhale, Tom Alter, Achyut Potdar Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Bal Gangadhar Tilak
49 And Gandhi Came Part 1 Om Puri, Ila Arun, Shabana Azmi, Pallavi Joshi, Akhilendra Mishra
50 And Gandhi Came Part 2
51 Separatism S M Zaheer, K K Raina, Harish Patel, Irrfan Khan
52 Do or Die Pankaj Berry, Om Puri, Lucky Ali
53 Epilogue

Broadcast

The 53 episodes series was launched in November 1988 which coincide with the birth centenary of Nehru.[1] The series was re-telecast on DD Bharati from 27 May 2013 on the occasion of 49th death anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru.[12]

See also

References
  1. Jain, Madhu (20 November 2013). "Bharat Ek Khoj: The making of most extravagant serial ever". India Today.
  2. "Shyam Benegal on watching Padmaavat: I want to see what all the fuss is about". Mumbai Mirror.
  3. "What makes Shyam special..." The Hindu. 17 January 2003. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  4. "Music in her lines Makeup artist Vivek Nayak". The Hindu. 1 October 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  5. "Roshan Seth waits for right role". The Hindu. 19 November 2001. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  6. "Samir Chanda's death was devastating: Shyam Benegal". The Times of India. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  7. "In this first episode of 'Bharat Ek Khoj', Nehru's character quizzes those chanting 'Bharat Mata ki jai' on what the phrase means". Scroll.in.
  8. "Bharat Ek Khoj, Episode 02". 1988.
  9. "Om Puri had played Alauddin Khilji much before Ranveer Singh". in.com.
  10. "How India Became a Republic - Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com.
  11. Chari, Mridula. "The DD Files: When Shyam Benegal brought India's entire history to TV screens in 'Bharat Ek Khoj'". Scroll.in.
  12. "DD to commence repeat telecast of 'Bharat Ek Khoj' to mark Nehru's death anniversary". Indian Television Dot Com. 25 May 2013.
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