Below is a movie presentation of the MAHABHARATA, staged as a Play by young Indian students. It was dramatized on an outdoor stage on

August 26, 2011, by High School Students in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, India.

 

   I was asked to be involved because of my decades-long study and knowledge of the Mahabharata. I considered and coached the students on the subtler, interconnecting aspects, issues, dilemmas, and paradoxes of this vast story. We explored the different characters together and focused on their particular struggles and interrelationships. It was particularly fascinating to see how effortlessly the students took to the story as if they had been born to it . . . and they had.

 

   Seeing the ancient Purana-Itihasa brought to life outside was thrilling, filling a warm South Indian evening on a small stage with local artists creating beautiful costumes and live music. The Play was performed on a stage in front of hundreds of appreciative parents and people, nearly all of whom knew the story. The pictures are full of color and beauty. The story is ancient and full of meaning. It helped me to appreciate again the saying: 'If it isn’t in the Mahabharata, it isn’t.’ 

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MAHABHARATA

Music: Hey Krishna Gopala Hari, by Jagjjit Singh 

 

Photographs: Govinda Raj