Mahabharat [DVD]

This is a classic. It creaks, the acting is wooden and the English voice overs are hilarious. But it is a massive 94 part epic unparallelled in it's breath and scope. A real marathon of colour, action and visuals of India's main epic tale of the God's, their offspring and the effect of their doings on the human race. Awesome and thoroughly recommended. They don't make them like this any more!!

Great! This was a gift for my dad Really good price as it has 16 disks and there is a description on each episode

........the subtitles are terrible I find it hard work concentrating on the action and subtitles on this one....(I'm a huge 'fan' of subtitles, but I've never had this prob before) It's SO out of sync........ Otherwise, I'm enjoying it... By the end I guess I'll be used to the dreadful spelling, timing and other subtitle probs. But from what I've seen, it's worth the effort (I hope)

The epic Mahabharat series was broadcast here in the UK on BBC2 in the early 90s; Saturday afternoons if I remember correctly and I was captivated by the story, the costumes and of course the special effects! It's great to have the complete series released on DVD, I also own the 15 disc abridged version, but the full series is a must. Only problem with this release is the subtitle issue pointed out by others. There are too many instances where the English subtitles don't effectively translate the original Hindi. The worst thing is the out of sync subtitles - why was no one able to rectify this issue before the release? Another thing I was really looking forward to when I bought this set was the special features and behind the scenes stuff. Although it's insightful it would've been good if these features could be subtitled too. So unless you speak Hindi you won't get much out of it. Having said that there are a few instances where cast and production team talk in English.

Sorry, but this is a joke. Got this for my mum and have just found out that audio is missing in large parts from more than 1 disc. Do yourself a favour and avoid this seller! I'm not happy about this and the fact that my mum lives quite far from me, makes it bit of a mission to deal with hassle of a refund! I have seen other not-so-happy customers, so I think that should help you decide, thanks.

Having purchased this DVD I was very disappointed to find that the stated running time of approximately 126 minutes was incorrect. The correct running time is 42 minutes. Had I known this I would not have purchased this DVD at the current asking price. The actual film itself is what you would expect from Bollywood. That is it is embarrassingly bad. However the costumes worn by the actors are very interesting. Also given the nature of the Gita I think it would take a genius to give this an acceptable rendition on film. It is after all a very long dialogue between two persons. The above version stops very suddenly after two chapters of the Gita. There are eighteen chapters altogether.

Excellent product.Brought this for my parents to replace the numerous VHS copies they had done over the TV.My dad couldn't believe all episodes covered in just 5 DVDs!Very pleased.

Good quality

There is no doubt that Mahabharat is the greatest epic full of knowledge and this serial from B.R. Chopra successfully brings up the core values out of it. It is one of the best series ever made on the epic with great attention to dharma (righteous duty) and karma (action). This series brings out much of the important philosophical and devotional content of the epic with practical depiction of human relationships and its complexities in various dimensions which can be applied even in this modern society and can be learned from. Performance of each character is par excellence. Language is pure and beautiful. Dialogues are exceptional, the best, and are always meaningful. Narration by Samay (time) is excellent. The music is very good, you will love some of the songs. In total, all fields and areas of Film/TV Series making, make this product a wonderful and an excellent one. The series is contained in a good quality set of 16 DVDs. Subtitles are also available in English but, are sometimes not in synch with the video. It is more than worth a buy.

Bild- und tonqualität: für 25 jahre alte röhrenfernseher optimiert, geht so. Der inhalt macht das alles wett! Sprache: Hindi mit englischen/französischen untertiteln. Ich verstehe es nicht ganz, wieso es keine englische synchronisation gibt. Von der Odyssee würde man eine griechische fernsehserie doch auch synchronisieren, wenn sie 5 millionen zuseher_innen erreicht. Ich hoffe ja, dass die aktuell (seit herbst 2013) laufende serie auf Star Plus auch noch - zumindest untertitelt - auf dvd erscheint. Aber das ist zukunfktsmusik. (Ich hab nur einen untertitelten trailer gesehen, für den rest muss man Hindi verstehen.) Die vorliegende dvd box enthält die komplette serie von Baldev Raj Chopra von 1988-1990. Die untertitel könnten besser sein: Ab und zu erscheinen sie etwas zu kurz am bildschirm, im großen und ganzen aber in ordnung. [Dafür einen ganzen stern abzuziehen erscheint mir kleinlich.] Die Zeit höchstpersönlich erzählt als stimme aus dem off (und manchmal symbolisiert durch eine anthropomorphe silhouette, das sich endlos drehende rad des entstehens und der vernichtung, sterne und planeten... ach ja, die stehenden töne der sitar nicht zu vergessen und ab und zu ein feines "klingeling"), und die Zeit nimmt sich zeit: 94 episoden à ca. 45 minuten. Trotzdem kann natürlich nicht alles erzählt werden. Das komplette epos Mahabharata ist (laut Amartya Sen) 10 mal länger als Ilias und Odysse zusammengenommen. Wer ins original hineinlesen will (d.h. "nur" übersetzt, nicht gleich umgestaltet und nacherzählt), dem lege ich diese ausgabe ans herz: Mahabharata - Die Große Erzählung von den Bharatas: In Auszügen aus dem Sanskrit übersetzt, zusammengefaßt und kommentiert von Georg von Simson (keine nachdichtung, versgruppen prosa übertragen) Kitschig find ich die verfilmung schon, kostümfilme neigen ja gern dazu. Aber es ist definitiv kein so scheußlich süßlicher musical-kitsch wie die bollywoodfilme mit Shah Rukh Khan [geschmackssache, ich mags halt nicht]. Mahabharat ist da weniger perfektionistisch: Die special effects sind teilweise mehr lustig als wirklich gut (z.B. wenn die flussgöttin Ganga ihre kinder ertränkt, sieht man deutlich, dass sie aus plastik sind - 1. folge), aber für eine fernsehproduktion vor 25 jahren ist der aufwand für die ausstaffierung der schauspieler und schauplätze unglaublich.

On the whole ok Some of the video quality was very poor! Disappointed!!!

Die Bestellung bei Amazon wird erheblich erschwert, weil das Produkt aus unerfindlichen Gründen keine Altersfreigabe hat, so dass man recht umständlich mit Personalausweisvorlage vorgehen muss. Der berufstätige Mensch wird hierdurch erheblich genervt!!

Those of you looking to buy this product know what Mahabharat is and its cultural and social importance in the life of Indians. I however bought for nostalgic reasons. I still remember those days growing up in Delhi, when Doordarshan was the only state channel to watch. How everyone waited for Sunday 9:00 AM for this epic to be aired, how the streets across the country went deserted with not a soul in sight 'cause everyone is watching Mahabharat, how buses and train schedules were changed so that people could watch this epic and how those miserable power cuts a stark reality those days would never *dare* to switch off electricity during its air time lest they had a death wish an wanted the local distribution center completely gutted :) Coming back to the product, the packaging is decent. The video quality is fine. But don't expect HD quality 'cause it is not. The discs also have the entire making of Mahabharat which itself makes this a worthwhile buy. The only gripe I have with the making is that instead of it being a single DVD, is distributed over 8 DVDs :( Other than the above, it is a series which redefined television and in a sense redefined India. A must watch!