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	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film

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{{About|Peter Brook's 1989 film|the Indian epic|Mahabharata}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Mahabharata
| image = TheMahabarata1989.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = DVD cover
| director = [[Peter Brook]]
| producer =
| writer = Peter Brook [[Jean-Claude Carrière]] [[Marie-Hélène Estienne]]
| narrator = 
| starring = Robert Langton-Lloyd Antonin Stahly-Vishwanadan  [[Bruce Myers (actor)|Bruce Myers]] [[Vittorio Mezzogiorno]] [[Andrzej Seweryn]] [[Georges Corraface]]
| music = [[Tsuchitori Toshiyuki]] [[Rabindranath Tagore]]
| cinematography = [[William Lubtchansky]]
| editing =
| distributor =
| released = 1989
| runtime = 318 minutes
| country = U.K. / Japan / Denmark / France / Belgium / U.S.A. / Australia / Ireland / Iceland / Sweden / Portugal / Norway / Netherlands / Finland
| language = English
| budget = $5 million
}}
'''''The Mahabharata''''' is a 1989 film version of the [[Hindu]] [[epic poetry|epic]] ''[[Mahabharata]]'' directed by [[Peter Brook]]. Brook's [[The Mahabharata (1985 stage play)|original 1985 stage play]] was 9 hours long, and toured around the world for four years. In 1989, it was reduced to under 6 hours for television (TV mini series). Later it was also reduced to about 3 hours for theatrical and DVD release. The screenplay was the result of eight years' work by Peter Brook, [[Jean-Claude Carrière]] and [[Marie-Hélène Estienne]].

==Plot==
{{Main|Mahabharata}}
In general terms, the story involves epic incidents between two warring families, the [[Pandavas]] (representing the good side) and the [[Kauravas]] (representing the evil side). Both sides, being the offspring of kings and gods, fight for dominion. They have both been advised by the god [[Krishna]] to live in harmony and abstain from the bloody lust for power. Yet their fights come to threaten the very order of the Universe. The plot is framed by a dialogue between the Brahmin sage Vyasa and the Hindu deity [[Ganesha]], and directed towards an unnamed Indian boy who comes to him inquiring about the story of the human race.

==Cast==
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
*[[Robert Langdon Lloyd]] as [[Vyasa]]
*{{ill|Antonin Stahly-Vishwanadan|fr|}} as Boy
*[[Jeffrey Kissoon]] as [[Karna]]
*[[Bruce Myers (actor)|Bruce Myers]] as [[Ganesha]]/[[Krishna]]
*[[Andrzej Seweryn]] as [[Yudhishthira]]
*[[Mamadou Dioumé]] as [[Bhima]]
*[[Georges Corraface]] as [[Duryodhana]]
*[[Jean-Paul Denizon]] as [[Nakula]]
*[[Vittorio Mezzogiorno]] as [[Arjuna]]
*{{ill|Mahmoud Tabrizi-Zadeh|fr|}} as [[Sahadeva]]
*[[Mallika Sarabhai]] as [[Draupadi]]
*[[Miriam Goldschmidt]] as [[Kunti]]
*{{ill|Ryszard Cieślak|lt=Ryszard Cieslak|fr|3=Ryszard Cieslak}} as [[Dhritarashtra]]
*[[Hélène Patarot]] as [[Gandhari (character)|Gandhari]]
*[[Myriam Tadesse]] as Gandhari's servant
*[[Urs Bihler]] as [[Dushasana]]
*[[Lou Elias Bihler]] as Young [[Karna]]
*[[Maurice Bénichou]] as [[Kitchaka]]
*{{ill|Yoshi Oida|fr|}} as [[Drona]]
*[[Sotigui Kouyaté]] as [[Parashurama]] / [[Bhishma]]
*[[Tuncel Kurtiz]] as [[Shakuni]]
*[[Ciarán Hinds]] as [[Ashwatthama]]
*[[Erika Alexander]] as [[Madri]] / [[Hidimbi]]
*{{ill|Bakary Sangaré|fr|}} as The Sun / [[Rakshasa]] / [[Ghatotkacha]]
*[[Tapa Sudana]] as [[Pandu]]/[[Shiva]]
*[[Akram Khan (dancer)|Akram Khan]] as [[Ekalavya]]
*[[Nolan Hemmings]] as [[Abhimanyu]]
*[[Hapsari Hardjito]] as Utari (Abhimanyu's wife)
*[[Mas Soegeng]] as [[Virata]]
*[[Yumi Nara]] as Virata's wife
*[[Amba Bihler]] as Virata's daughter
*[[Tamsir Niane]] as [[Urvasi]]
*[[Lutfi Jakfar]] as [[Uttarā (Mahabharata)|Uttara]]
*[[Gisèle Hogard]] as 1st princess
*[[Julie Romanus]] as 2nd princess
*{{ill|Abbi Patrix|fr|}} as Salvi
*[[Ken Higelin]] as Deathless boy
*{{ill|Corinne Jaber|fr|}} as [[Amba (Mahabharata)|Amba]] / [[Sikhandin]]
*[[Joseph Kurian]] as [[Dhristadyumna]]
*[[Clément Masdongar]] as Gazelle
*[[Leela Mayor]] as [[Satyavati]]
*[[Velu Vishwananan]] as The hermit
{{div col end}}

==Production==
The French and eventual English version of the ''Mahabharata'' took several years for Brook and Carrière to write and bring to the stage. Three years before the film version was made, Peter Brook staged their adaptation in [[French language|French]] at a quarry in [[Avignon, France]]. This and the eventual filmed version were the first time that the entire (albeit abridged) story of the ''Mahabharata'' was brought to the stage and made into a feature film.<ref name="race">{{cite web|url=https://scroll.in/magazine/881133/mahabharata-doesnt-belong-to-one-country-or-race-peter-brooks-nine-hour-play-is-proof-of-that|title='Mahabharata' doesn't belong to one country or race – Peter Brook's nine-hour play is proof of that
|website=scroll.in|access-date=21 October 2019 |first=Sanjukta |last=Sharma |date=14 June 2018}}</ref> In his book ''In Search of the Mahabharata: Notes of Travels in India with Peter Brook 1982-1985'', Carrière speaks about the difficulty of adapting the [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] into the European languages, particularly in regards to choosing the right words for certain terms. An example of this is [[Ātman (Hinduism)|atman]], which is translated in the adaptation as ''depth of one’s being''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carriére |first=Jean-Claude|date=2001|title=In Search of the Mahabharata: Notes of Travels in India with Peter Brook|location=New Delhi|publisher=Laxmi Publications|isbn=0333937201}}
</ref>

{{quote box
| quote = "It’s quite impossible to ‘forget’ the ''Mahabharata''. The poem says it itself: ‘Everything which is in the ''Mahabharata'' is elsewhere; which is not in the ''Mahabharata'' is nowhere.'"
| author = [[Jean-Claude Carrière]], co-writer
| align = left
| width = 28%
}}

Using an [[epic theatre|elaborate-yet-minimal]] set and multi-racial cast from 16 different countries for the film, Brook's ''Mahabharata'' stood in contrast with the “opulently religious melodrama” of the 94-episode [[Mahabharat (1988 TV series)|BR Chopra version of the ''Mahabharata'']] which aired a year before the Brook-Carrière adaptation appeared on TV. Along with one Indian actress, other actors of Caucasian, African, Asian ancestry filled the cast of Brook's version, including [[Vittorio Mezzogiorno]] as [[Arjuna]], [[Sotigui Kouyaté]] as [[Bhishma]], and Tapa Sudana as both [[Pandu]] and [[Lord Shiva]].<ref name="race"/>

While working on the adaptation, [[Marie-Hélène Estienne]] travelled across Nepal and India, journeying from [[Manipur]] to [[Kanchipuram]], in order to learn of the many different forms of the ancient epic from “Brahmins and writers and dancers and theatre people” across the subcontinent. Music composer Tsuchitori Toshiyuki remained in India for months on request from Brook make sure the play would "not use the music which everybody knows". Musicians from [[Iran]], [[Turkey]], and [[Denmark]] joined the production in order to score musical elements discovered by Tsuchitori, who was particularly influenced by [[Rabindra Sangeet]].<ref name="notes">{{cite web|url=https://scroll.in/article/803515/the-mahabharata-does-not-leave-you-notes-from-peter-brooks-third-play-about-the-epic|title='The Mahabharata does not leave you': Notes from Peter Brook's third play about the epic|website=scroll.in|access-date=21 October 2019 |first=Saumya |last=Ancheri |date=15 February 2016}}</ref>

==Reception==
The film version of the ''Mahabharata'' received a 20-minute standing ovation at the [[Venice Film Festival|1989 Venice Film Festival]] and received an [[Emmy Award]] after the film was aired on TV.<ref name="notes"/> The production's use of an international cast caused heated intercultural debate.{{Citation needed|date=December 2018}} On the topic of the multi-racial cast, Mumbai-based writer and critic Sanjukta Sharma writes: “The epic becomes intelligible and universal – and tells us why something as captivatingly human as the ''Mahabharata'' should not belong just to one nation or race.”<ref name="race"/>

==Awards==
In 1990, the film won the award for [[List of International Emmy Award winners#Performing Arts|Performing Arts]] of the [[International Emmy Awards]] and the Audience Award for Best Feature at the [[São Paulo International Film Festival]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0097810|title=The Mahabharata}}
*{{Amg movie|30862|The Mahabharata}}
*[http://www.miracosta.cc.ca.us/home/gfloren/mahabfilm.htm The Mahabharata at miracosta.cc.ca.us]
*[http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum210/coursepack/mahabharata.htm Mahabharata film notes at web.cocc.edu]
*[http://www.caravanmagazine.in/arts/mahabharata-our-times Review of Brook's Mahabharata in Caravan Magazine]
* {{Discogs master|179875}}

{{Peter Brook}}
{{Works based on the Mahabharata |state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahabharata, The (1989 Film)}}
[[Category:1989 films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:Indian historical drama films]]
[[Category:Religious epic films]]
[[Category:Films based on the Mahabharata]]
[[Category:Hindu mythological films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Peter Brook]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Jean-Claude Carrière]]
[[Category:Films set in India]]
[[Category:Historical epic films]]
[[Category:1980s historical drama films]]
[[Category:Indian epic films]]

The Mahabharata (1989 film) - Revision history

Tjackson: minor adjusted content for clarity and improved wording for consistency

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ImportMaster at 14:17, 30 January 2022