An Epic Reimagined

Day 1 | September 30 | 6:00 pm to 9:30 pm (Part 1) :

6:00 pm to 6:15 pm – Context Setting; 6:15 pm to 9:00 pm – Screening; 9:00 pm to 9:30 pm – Discussion

Day 2 | October 1 | 4:00 pm to 8:30 pm (Part 2) :

4:00 pm – 4:15 pm – Recap; 4:15 to 7:00 pm – Screening; 7:00 pm to 8:15 pm – Discussion

The Mahabharata is a 1989 film version of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata directed by the late English director Peter Brook. Brook’s original 1985 stage play in French, based on the script by Jean-Claude Carrière was first staged in a quarry just outside Avignon.

The play, which is nine hours long in performance (eleven with intervals), toured the world for four years. For two years the show was performed both in French and in English (it was translated into English by Brook in 1987). The play is divided into three parts: The Game of Dice, The Exile in the Forest and The War.

In 1989, it was adapted for television as a six hour mini series. Later, it was reduced to about three hours as a film for theatrical and DVD release. The screenplay was the result of eight years’ work by Peter Brook, Jean-Claude Carrière and Marie-Hélène Estienne.

This screening is of the six hour version which will be split over two days.

Writer, translator and most recently, recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar for her Mahabharata for Children, Arshia Sattar will introduce, contextualise and lead a post-screening discussion on both days. On day two, Arshia will be joined by poet – dance producer & curator, Karthika Nair.

Reference texts:

Mahabharata for Children by Arshia Sattar (Juggernaut Books)