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Episode #23 of Hindi TV Serial Bharat Ek Khoj continues exploring time of Raja Raja Chola and Chola Empire in south India. The main focus of this episode is to explore the way Brahmadeya and other such organizations worked in those days and to show some of the attributes of Raja Raja Chola. Of course, it explores the way politics were being played in those days too.
I will suggest that you should read our views and reviews for the previous episode before continuing with this one. You can reach it by following the below-given link:
Chola Empire Part 1 | Bharat Ek Khoj Hindi TV Serial On DVD | Personal Reviews
The importance of building a temple was not only for the religious reasons. Actually, the king should work as the representative of the God and he should treat everyone in just manner. There should be no partiality and justice should be done to all. In addition, he must not ever think that he is the superior authority, but rather, he should rule with the aim to serve. The existence of a temple should remind him constantly of his duties and Dharma.
Book Plot:
This episode explores the incidents where Raja Raja was trying to fulfill his grand mother’s wish to have a remarkable temple. And during his quest, he got a reference to a very good sculptor (architect) who was busy building a small temple in a village. Raja Raja sends his man to call him.
The sculptor and the head of the Brahmadeya explained to the officer that the work of the temple in the village is incomplete yet so how can the sculptor leave without finishing it? And it will take roughly one more year to complete it. Of course, the king couldn’t wait till them. The head of the Brahmadeya tries to confront the officer and even threaten that if Raja Raja or his men try to forcefully take away the sculptor from there, then the will oppose, and they will even stop collecting taxes for the king!
The sculptor, however, suggests him to calm down as he has faith in the king Raja Raja. He insisted to go and meet the king and represent their side. He was sure that some solution will be there. And their meeting was fruitful. A solution was suggested by Raja Raja which was really good.
His grandmother was not happy! The reason was the sculptor she sent and the plan he has suggested was not found interesting by the king. Raja Raja wanted to make something grand and splendid, something unique.
How the incidents took place then after is really explored pretty nicely in this episode.
The conversation between the king’s representative and the head of Brahmadeya and the sculptor is evident that the Gram Sabha and Brahmadeya were an important part of the management systems those days. They can represent their points freely, without any fear, even to the king. And Raja Raja was also not of the dictator, he tried analyzing the situation in front and took decisions accordingly.
Dictatorship or superiority complex is the worst but an easy to adapt thing for the rulers, and wise rulers keep it away from them.
At the same time when you witness Raja Raja’s dialogs about the punishment given to the fellows involved in Uttama Chola’s death, you can see, how determined he was. He believed that as a ruler he cannot leave the culprits unpunished anyway.
It is tough to represent both the sides of a person, but the nicely written and brilliantly executed script made it possible here.
Of course, there is a dramatization of content in this episode. But you can see quite an authentic wardrobe and sets are there. Rather than just showing something splendid and glorious, the makers took care to be as much realistic as much possible. The hairstyles and clothing are evident of the same. Even the throne, the court, various parts of palace etc. will never give you feel of something unrealistic or imaginary. At the same time, you can feel the charm of the wealth and splendor as well.
The dialogs are written nicely. The script is so nicely presented here, that you will love to enjoy each moment. The background music is good too. It takes you to the zone where makers want you to be at, and it is the success of the teamwork.
One other aspect, which is more remarkable is the acting. While there are a few average to below average performances, most of the actors chosen performs really well. Roshan Sheth is really convincing as Pundit Nehru. The episode belongs to Om Puri who plays the narrator and Raja Raja Chola, and he is really irreplaceable here. Lalit Tiwari plays the architect well and same we can say for Shantanu Chapariya who plays Tirumala. Akhilendra Mishra is also there in a small role. Overall, it is a show of some splendid performances.
We found this episode available on YouTube by PublicResourceOrg user:
I will suggest you to rather go for a DVD set. It is worth to have such a remarkable TV Serial in our collection. There are two versions in which the DVD Set is available; 1. Economic and 2. Premium. While the premium version has the really better quality it costs almost double than the Economy version. So I leave it up to you to which one you should go for.
Summary:
Definitely worth to go for episode. Don’t give it a miss.
Did you watch this TV Serial? Are you going to buy it’s DVD Set? (It is available in two versions, economic edition and premium edition)? Do share your thoughts via comments below. And yes, if you like this article, don’t forget to share with your friends and loved ones on various social networks 🙂 And yes, watch out for next episode review for Bharat Ek Khoj.
»Reviews for all the episodes of this TV Serial
