‘Mahabharata’ from the view point of Duryodhana

Thirty years ago, Puneet Issar portrayed Duryodhana in epic ‘Mahabharat’ on television. Exactly three decades later, he returns as Duryodhana. This time, on stage and tells the story of the epic battle from the point of view of its greatest villain. The play was staged at Mankapur Indoor Stadium on Sunday evening. It was a never-seen-before version of ‘Mahabharata’ which was explained through the drama. Dharti Mata’s words “no matter what the reason for conflict may have been, the end result has always been destructive” were the curtain raiser of the drama.

The play revolves around three characters Duryodhana, Karna and Draupadi. The arrogance of Draupadi (Harleen Kaur), the shrewdness of Shakuni Mama (Gufi Paintal), and the stubbornness of Duryodhana may have caused the conflict but Puneet Issar explained the forgotten story of true friendship, unconditional love and selfless sacrifice ever witnessed by mankind. Drama portrayed the dilemma of Pandavas, helplessness of Gandhari and Lord Krishna’s guidance that became lesson for all.

Renowned theatre production company Felicity Theatre had staged the play, which was written and directed by Puneet Issar himself. The new version of Mahabharat was successful in attracting young audience as the finely scripted play brought to the fore an entirely different point of view that led to the epic war. The drama had a galaxy of iconic stars from the world of film, television, and theatre that includes Gufi Paintal, Yashodhan Rana, Rahul Bhuchar, Meghna Malik, Urvashi Dholakia, Surendra Pal, Aarti Nagpal, Vijayta Bhardwaj, Danish Akhtar, Karan Sharma, Siddhant Issar and Rakshit Bhuchar.

It was evident from the script of the play that Puneet Issar has done a lot of research work while writing the drama. Puneet Issar’s son Siddhant also had a major role in the script as he acted the young Duryodhana. The drama received tremendous response from Nagpurians. The 4D background screen that was displaying the set of Mahabharata was the another attraction of the drama along with beautiful lighting and sound. Jam packed stadium told the success story of the epic drama in Nagpur. The Hitavada Twinkle Club members also had the rare experience as they attended the play along with their parents with a special benefit of 50% discount on tickets.