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August 27, 2010 | Hindus urge makers of Hollywood animation film on Mahabharata not to re-imagine the scripture |
Nevada (US):Hindus have urged the makers of under production Hollywood
animation film '18 Days: The Mahabharata Retold' to stay true to the story and the spirit of the timeless epic. Noted Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement
in Nevada (USA) today, said that Mahabharata was highly revered in Hinduism. Hollywood
was welcome to make a movie about Mahabharata but the final product should be
the true depiction of it and not a fantasized or a re-imagined version. Zed, who
is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that changing Mahabharata
to fit the Hollywood machine was likely to hurt the Hindu sentiments. Hinduism
was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion
adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken lightly.
No faith, larger or smaller, should be plundered; Rajan Zed said and added that
pillaging and inappropriate use of Hindu scriptures and serious spiritual doctrines
for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees. Hindus welcomed
Hollywood to immerse in Hinduism but taking it seriously and respectfully and
not refashioning Hinduism concepts and symbols for mercantile greed. Hindus would
gladly provide genuine Hollywood seekers the resources they needed for their study
and research, Zed pointed out. Mahabharata, also known as fifth Veda, contained
about 100000 Sanskrit verses divided into 18 books. Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the
Lord) formed its part. It was a veritable encyclopedia of Hinduism and contained
various philosophical and theological treatises and doctrinal beliefs and was
sacred to Hindus. Lord Krishna, the central figure of Mahabharata, was incarnation
of Lord Vishnu, and was worshipped by Hindus, Rajan Zed stressed. Writing "Concept
Notes" on film's website, its maker Grant Morrison, 50, Scottish comic books writer,
says: This new version of the Mahabharata... This is like a psychedelic The Lord
of the Rings with Star Wars technology... This is not a strictly accurate historical
portrayal of events but a poetic, fantastic interpretation of the original text...
Krishna stops time to deliver the terrible wisdom of the Gita... with super-real
battle scenes, 'Saving Private Ryan'-style... I think this type of 'holographic'
structure allows us to plug new stories into the ongoing 18 DAYS War...I'm setting
the date for this version somewhere around 10, 000 BC...they have better 'computers'...
Elephants in this proposed film wear gas masks as per Morrison's notes. Website
further says that "18 Days" will be available in Full Hi-Def and in a variety
of formats: 2 x 90 minute TV movies, 6 x 30 episodes, extended 200 minute DVD
release and as 18 x 10 minute web episodes. It will be supported by on-line and
console gaming products, mobile content and other L&M licenses. It is reportedly
a joint venture of Perspective Studios and Liquid Comics. Perspective Studios,
with Steven Lehrhoff as Chief Executive Officer, claims to be a leading performance
capture and character animation studio based in Santa Monica ( California , USA
). Liquid Comics, with Sharad Devarajan as the CEO, claims to be an entertainment
company focused on creating original stories and modern myths for worldwide audiences. |
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