Chandrakanta (TV series)
Chandrakanta is an Indian fantasy television series partly based on Devaki Nandan Khatri's 1888 novel of the same name.[1] It was originally telecast on DD National between 1994 and 1996 and was created, written, produced, and directed by Nirja Guleri. The serial was pulled off air by Doordarshan in 1996 and the producers had to file a suit in court for reinstatement.[2] Reruns of the show also aired on Star Plus and Sony Entertainment Television.[3]
| Chandrakanta | |
|---|---|
 The main cast of Chandrakanta: Shahbaz Khan as Prince Virendra Singh and Shikha Swaroop as Princess Chandrakanta. | |
| Based on | Chandrakanta by Devaki Nandan Khatri |
| Written by | Devaki Nandan Khatri Kamleshwar (writer) Ranbir Pushp |
| Story by | Nirja Guleri |
| Directed by | Nirja Guleri |
| Creative director | Sunil Verma |
| Starring | Cast and characters |
| Narrated by | Harish Bhimani |
| Theme music composer | Usha Khanna |
| Opening theme | "Chandrakanta" by Sonu Nigam And Vinod Rathod |
| Country of origin | India |
| Original language | Hindi |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 133 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Shrey Guleri Sahil Guleri |
| Producer | Nirja Guleri |
| Production location | Film City Mumbai |
| Cinematography | Nadeem Khan |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 52 minutes |
| Production company | M/s Prime Channel |
| Release | |
| Original network | DD National |
| Picture format | 480i |
| Original release | 1994 – 1996 |
Cast and characters
- Shahbaz Khan as Kunwar Virendra Vikram Singh
- Shikha Swaroop as Princess Chandrakanta
- Javed Khan as Tej Singh
- Mukesh Khanna as Janbaaz and Meghavat
- Pankaj Dheer as Shiv Dutt- King of Chunargarh
- Irrfan Khan as Badrinath/Somnath (twin brothers)
- Akhilendra Mishra as Kroor Singh, popularly known as Yakkoo
- Kausambi Ganguly as Devshena
- Mamik Singh as Surya/Deva
- Nimai Bali as Surya (original)
- Vijayendra Ghatge as Sumer Singh
- Parikshit Sahni as Maharaja Surendra Singh (King of Naugarh)
- Durga Jasraj as Rani Kalawati
- Rajendra Gupta as Pandit Jagannath/Shani (twin brothers)
- Krutika Desai Khan as twin sisters Sabhya and Ramya, Amba (Vish Kanya), and Jwala the dacoit
- Sonika Gill as Amrapali, Amba's mother
- Anu Dhawan as Tara (Vish Kanya)
- Kalpana Iyer as Dum Dumi Maai. Iyer also plays Sultana, an ally of Tara
- Roopal Patel as Jamuna, who is a cousin sister of Roopmati, a villain
- Vinod Kapoor as Amarjeet Singh/Barkat Khan
- Brownie as Ajgar
- Aasif Sheikh as Naagmani Devata (Snake King)
- Surendra Pal as King of Vijaygarh
- Pradeep Rawat as Himmat Singh
- Arun Mathur as Vaidh Baba, Damini's father
- Deepak Parashar as Devdutt, Shivdutt's father
- Sudha Chandran as Satyavati, Shivdutt's mother
- Bhushan Jeevan as Dalpati Devata
- Roopa Ganguly as Damini, Vishvajeet Singh's mother
- Waqar Sheikh as Vishvajeet Singh, the illegal son of Raja Surendra Singh and Damini.
- Brahmachari as Nazim Aiyyar
- Arjun (Firoz Khan) as the magician mentor of Vishvajeet Singh
- Syed Badr-ul Hasan Khan Bahadur
- Varsha Usgaonkar as Roopmati naagraani.
Criticism
Kamlapati Khatri, the grandson of the novel's author, has said that the producer "had not done justice to the soul of Khatri's Chandrakanta". He has also accused the producers of willfully misrepresenting certain concepts from the novel, such as "tilism" (kind of a maze) and "ayyari" (spying), and showing them as "jadu-tona" (sorcery), as well as criticizing the characters and the sequences in the Chunar fort for being overly exaggerated, and how far into the show the Chandrakanta appeared.[4]
References
- "Chandrakanta, the show in which Irrfan won hearts four lines at a time".
- "Latest News, India News, Breaking News, Live News Online, Today Headline's". The Indian Express. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
- http://www.indiantelevision.com/Guestbook/headlines/y2k4/feb/feb205.htm
- "Don't follow Neerja Guleri's tele-serial | Lucknow News - Times of India". The Times of India.