23-05-2025
India's first TV show to be made on budget of Rs 100 crore, name is..., Not Ramayana, Naagin, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi
India's first TV show to be made on budget of Rs 100 crore, name is..., Not Ramayana, Naagin, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi
Mythological shows have always been loved and highly-watched by Indian masses. Especially during the lockdown, some of these shows were re-released and brought back that nostalgic flavour. One of them was Siddharth Kumar Tewary's Mahabharat which garnered not just good ratings but became India's first TV show to be made on a hefty budget of Rs 100 crore.
The epic mythological show featured Saurabh Raj Jain as Shri Krishna, Shaheer Sheikh as Arjuna, Pooja Sharma as Draupadi, Aham Sharma as Karna, Arav Chowdhary as Bhishma, Arpit Ranka as Duryodhana. The channel Star Plus invested a staggering Rs 100 crore on the show. Mahabharat had some incredible talents to work on it, including Salim Khan as the creative consultant, Bhanu Athaiya for costume, Ajay Atul and Ismail Darbar for music.
Omung Kumar as the production designer, built one of India's most expensive sets ever. The outdoor sequences of Mahabharat were shot in some of the most picturesque locations like Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, among others. Moreover, Rs 20 crore was spent additionally on promotions and marketing of the epic show.
In 2013, Star Plus had set up Mahabharat museums in eight cities of India, for people to catch the glimpse of the jewellery, weapons and attires used by the characters on the show. The museums situated in smaller towns, had everything setup on wheels.
During lockdown, Mahabharat's re-run began on Star Plus from May 30 and became a leading television program across India.
