After seeing the disastrous ‘first night’ of Ekta Kapoor’s Mahabharat where a horrendous screechy Draupadi throws a bahu tantrum , I resolved never to see another episode.

But (wo)man proposes and weather disposes. It was pouring. Depressing mournful winds were howling and blowing against my tightly shut French windows.

I must have either been very bored or feeling vicious that evening. I was surfing moodily when I chanced on another episode of Mme Ekta’s grand story. The meeting between Shantanu, Devavrat and Ganga, I think. Every two seconds there was lightning flashing on the screen. I started counting. Any guesses as to how many flashes of lightning struck? I counted 28. I don’t know how many I missed before I started counting. Each episode is of approximately 22 minutes. The other 8 minutes is gobbled up by brain- numbing balderdash about mobile phones, sanitary napkins, cornflakes and luxury cars. So that means lightning struck almost at the rate of one a minute and sometimes more.

The visual was the same one. No variations in angles or colours. The vertical zig-zag lightning. The editor must have worked overtime to slip this visual in. The insert of the lightning comes against a background of dark blue and the rest of the episode is shot in brilliant sunshine reflecting off the Rajasthan’s sandy dunes with scanty green shrubs. So according to Ekta, the sky darkens every time the lightning strikes. Then the sun immediately appears and lights up the sky.

At what earth shattering moments do these lightnings strike? I watched earnestly to find a pattern or gravely significant reason for this fire- and -brimstone act. I could unearth just one, the utter lack of facial expressions in the actor and the expressionless voice in their utterances. So how should one compensate for the emotions that should have rightly been evoked? Insert lightning when eyes meet, when chest heaves, when the bowstring is tightly pulled, when the arrow leaves the bow, when it strikes target, Shantanu’s reaction, Ganga’s reaction, Devavrat’s reaction, when the river rises tsunami-like, when eyes blink, and so on. Surely saves the director that much exertion. And what on earth can he do when given a bunch of hunks (who were probably cast for free just for the break) who have no talent or body language worth the beaded bandana they wear?

Watch any episode of Mahabharat. You will find her fixation with the very same lightning appearing maniacally like a compulsive disorder syndrome. Maybe her astrologer or numerologist suggested that these lightnings must occur a certain number of times for luck and increase in TRP s. Like her KKK fixation.

http://onepercent.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/07/ekta-kapoor-s-lightning-fixation-mahabharat-review.htm