Chanakya (TV series)

Encyclopedia

Chanakya also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...

: चाणक्य) is a 47-part Indian television historical drama written and directed by Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi

Chandraprakash Dwivedi

Chandraprakash Dwivedi is an Indian film director and script writer, who is best known for directing the 1991 television epic Chanakya in which he also played the title role of the political strategist Chanakya...

that was originally telecast on DD National

DD National

DD National or DD1 is Doordarshan's flagship channel and the most widely available terrestrial television channel in India.-The Early Years:...

from September 1991 to August 1992. Produced by Prakash Dwivedi, the series is a fictionalized account of the life and times of 4th century BCE India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n economist, strategist and political theorist Chanakya

Chanakya

Chānakya was a teacher to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta , and the first Indian emperor generally considered to be the architect of his rise to power. Traditionally, Chanakya is also identified by the names Kautilya and VishnuGupta, who authored the ancient Indian political treatise...

(aka Vishnugupta) and is based on events occurring between 340 BCE and 321/20 BCE, starting with Vishnugupta's boyhood and culminating in the coronation of Chandragupta Maurya

Chandragupta Maurya

Chandragupta Maurya , was the founder of the Maurya Empire. Chandragupta succeeded in conquering most of the Indian subcontinent. Chandragupta is considered the first unifier of India and its first genuine emperor...

. Chandraprakash Dwivedi played the title role of Chanakya.

The series is divided into three major parts-

The early life of Vishnugupta in the kingdom of Magadha
Magadha
Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas or kingdoms in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganga; its first capital was Rajagriha then Pataliputra...

and the circumstances leading to his self-imposed exile, particularly the persecution (and subsequent death) of his father at the hands of Dhanananda, King of Magadha.
The invasion of north-western India by Alexander, his death and the rebellion led by native Indian kingdoms under the leadership of Chandragupta Maurya against Alexander's successors in India.
The attack on and overthrow of the Nanda rule in Magadha and the crowning of Chandragupta as the King of Magadha.

Within this framework, Dwivedi portrays the politics and backstabbing that governed relations between various kings and officials of that time. He also covers the workings of the early Indian republics and the way of life of ordinary Indians during those times.

Chanakya is critically acclaimed and has been hailed as a "milestone on Indian television." At the same time, it has also been the subject of political controversy. It has been televised in many countries around the world and has won five Uptron Awards.

Development

Dwivedi spent more than nine years researching Chanakya and read over 180 books on the subject including the Arthashastra

Arthashastra

The Arthashastra is an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy which identifies its author by the names Kautilya and , who are traditionally identified with The Arthashastra (IAST: Arthaśāstra) is an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy and...

. For him, Chanakya was "the first man with a national consciousness." And that is what made him take up the project-
Chanakya started out as an idea for a film. But Dwivedi abandoned the plan and decided to make it into a television series because it was not possible to meet "telecast deadlines" if it had been shot as a film. Dwivedi didn't conceive of the series as a "purely factual account" of Chanakya's life and times. But he did want "to present a work of fiction based on historical evidence—unlike the serials Ramayan and Mahabharat which presented history with a touch of masala." He didn't want to "[create] false drama just to appease popular sentiments." Episodes 11, 12 and 14 were based on McCrindle's book The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great as described by Arrian, Q. Curtius, Diodoros, Plutarch and Justin, while the final episodes dealing with Chanakya's scheme to win over Dhanananda's minister, Rakshasa, were based on Vishakhadatta's 4th century CE play, Mudrarakshasa

Mudrarakshasa

The Mudrarakshasa , a historical play in Sanskrit by Vishakhadatta in late 4th or early 5th century narrates the ascent of the king Chandragupta Maurya to power in Northern India.-Origin:...

.
Initially, Dwivedi was associated with the project only in his capacity as writer while his brother, Prakash Dwivedi, was the producer. Dwivedi decided to direct the series after continued differences of opinion with the original director, Rajiv Singh, who later filed a case against the producers. Dwivedi submitted his script to Doordarshan in April 1986, and shot the pilot after receiving the approval sometime in 1988. He submitted it to the channel in December 1988 and got the final approval by the end of the year. BR Chopra, the producer of Mahabharat

Mahabharat (TV series)

Mahabharat is a successful Indian television series based on the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata. The 94-episode series originally ran from 2 October 1988 to 24 June 1990. It was produced by B. R. Chopra and directed by his son, Ravi Chopra. The music was composed by critically acclaimed music...

had also been interested in the series and had submitted a proposal of his own to Doordarshan. However,Doordarshan preferred Dwivedi's project to Chopra's proposal which had been "found wanting."

Filming

The pilot was shot at a cost of INR

Indian rupee

The Indian rupee is the official currency of the Republic of India. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India....

18 lakhs (1.5 crore

Crore

A crore is a unit in the Indian number system equal to ten million , or 100 lakhs. It is widely used in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan....

in 2009, as estimated by Dwivedi). Doordarshan initially allotted 26 episodes for the series and an extension was promised if "the quality was up to the mark." In early 1992, a further 21 episodes were sanctioned as against the 26 demanded, after the extension was initially (controversially) revoked, for a total of 47 episodes. The first 17 episodes were shot over a period of nine months at an estimated average cost of INR 9 lakhs per episode. A huge cast of about 300 actors were involved with the production.

The production team included well known technicians such as art director Nitish Roy

Nitish Roy

Nitish Roy is an Indian film art director, production designer, and costume designer in Hindi cinema, who is known for his work with art cinema directors, Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen and Govind Nihlani, Hindi mainstream cinema, directors like Rajkumar Santoshi, as well as international directors...

and costume designer Salim Arif who had previously been involved with Shyam Benegal

Shyam Benegal

Shyam Benegal is a prolific Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films Ankur , Nishant Manthan and Bhumika he created a new genre, which has now come to be called the "middle cinema" in India although he himself has expressed dislike in the term preferring his work to...

's Bharat Ek Khoj

Bharat Ek Khoj

Bharat Ek Khoj is a 53-episode television series that dramatically unfolds the 5000 year history of India from its beginnings to the coming of independence in 1947...

. Arif was also part of the cast, as narrator and as the character Sidhartak. Roy remained art director for the first 25 episodes, and Nitin Chandrakant Desai

Nitin Chandrakant Desai

Nitin Chandrakant Desai, is a noted Indian art director and production designer of Indian cinema turned film and television producer, most known for his work in films like, Lagaan , Jodhaa Akbar , Devdas and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam...

, who was assisting him, took over episode 26 onwards. "Magnificent sets" were erected at Film City

Film City

Film City is an integrated film studio complex situated near Sanjay Gandhi National Park at Goregaon, Mumbai in India. It has several recording rooms, gardens, lakes, theatres and grounds that serve as the venue of many Bollywood film shootings. It was built by the state government to provide...

, Bombay (now Mumbai) for the series and an amount of INR 70 lakhs was budgeted to build three cities including Pataliputra and Takshashila. Chanakya was Desai's first independent project and "[he] had to recreate the ancient grandeur of Pataliputra" for the series. Desai spent weeks at the Asiatic Library and Bombay University researching the period. The university librarian even had a separate desk installed for him in the arts and culture section after noting his "constant presence at the library, even during lunch hour, for weeks at an end." The result was a town with "26 structures, four main lanes and six bylanes," all part of a single set.

Close attention was paid to detail when it came to costumes and weaponry, so much so that a piece of armor worn by Chandragupta was procured for over INR 8,000. According to Muneesh Sappel, associate costume designer, the costumes used in the series "were based on books by Alkazi Raushan (costume advisor for the serial Mullah Nasruddin), Dr. Moti Chandra (former director of the Prince of Wales Museum

Prince of Wales Museum

The Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, officially Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya ), Mumbai, India was founded in the early years of the 20th century by some prominent citizens of Bombay, with the help of the government, to commemorate the visit of the then Prince of Wales. It...

), N. P. Joshi (author of Life in Ancient Pataliputra) and K. Krishnamurthy’s Early Indian Archaeology." Terracotta sculptures from the 1st century CE, the museums at Sarnath, Patna and Lucknow, and the caves at the Borivali National Park were other sources of inspiration. In a 2009 interview, Salim Arif considered his work on Chanakya to be better than that on Bharat Ek Khoj
Bharat Ek Khoj
Bharat Ek Khoj is a 53-episode television series that dramatically unfolds the 5000 year history of India from its beginnings to the coming of independence in 1947...

.

Casting

Dwivedi chose stage actors to play the various parts in the series. Pramod Moutho, Suraj Chaddha, Ragini Shah, Ajay Dubey, Arun Bali

Arun Bali

Arun Bali is an Indian actor who has worked in numerous films and television series. He played the part of King Porus in the 1991 period drama Chanakya, Kunwar Singh in the Doordarshan soap opera Swabhimaan and the Chief Minister of undivided Bengal, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, in the controversial...

, and Himanshu Gokani were among the first to be selected. While Dwivedi played the central role of Chanakya, he faced a problem when he looked for someone to play the adolescent Vishnugupta. It was then that his friend Akshay Vyas introduced him to Mitesh Safari. "One look at Mitesh and [Dwivedi] knew he had found his Chanakya. [He] did not even take Mitesh's screen test and told him to report directly for the shooting."

Crew

Mohan Kaul - Editing
Rajeev Khandelwal - Re-Editing/Editing
Rajan Kothari - Cinematography
Subhash Agarwal - Audiography
Ashit Desai - Music
Nitish Roy
Nitish Roy
Nitish Roy is an Indian film art director, production designer, and costume designer in Hindi cinema, who is known for his work with art cinema directors, Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen and Govind Nihlani, Hindi mainstream cinema, directors like Rajkumar Santoshi, as well as international directors...

- Art Director
Nitin Chandrakant Desai
Nitin Chandrakant Desai
Nitin Chandrakant Desai, is a noted Indian art director and production designer of Indian cinema turned film and television producer, most known for his work in films like, Lagaan , Jodhaa Akbar , Devdas and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam...

- Associate Art Director
Salim Arif - Costume Designer
Muneesh Sappel - Assistant Costume Designer

Cast

Chanakya and his coterie

Chandraprakash Dwivedi
Chandraprakash Dwivedi
Chandraprakash Dwivedi is an Indian film director and script writer, who is best known for directing the 1991 television epic Chanakya in which he also played the title role of the political strategist Chanakya...

- Chanakya
Chanakya
Chānakya was a teacher to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta , and the first Indian emperor generally considered to be the architect of his rise to power. Traditionally, Chanakya is also identified by the names Kautilya and VishnuGupta, who authored the ancient Indian political treatise...

aka Vishnugupta aka Kautilya
Mitesh Safari - Young Chanakya
Dinesh Shakul - Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya , was the founder of the Maurya Empire. Chandragupta succeeded in conquering most of the Indian subcontinent. Chandragupta is considered the first unifier of India and its first genuine emperor...
Abhishek Dwivedi - Young Chandragupta
Sanjeev Puri - Senapati Sinharan (of Taxila)
Deepraj Rana
Deepraj Rana
Deepraj Rana is an Indian film and television actor.-Personal Details:He was born and brought up in Allahabad....

- Akshay
Bakul Thacker - Sharangdev
Sanjay Mishra
Sanjay Mishra (actor)
Sanjay Mishra is an Indian actor and comedian who is best known for his character of Apple Singh, an "icon" used by ESPN Star Sports during the 1999 Cricket World Cup and also for his comedic act in the film All The Best. He made his film debut in the 1995 Indian musical film Oh Darling! Yeh Hai...

- Nipunak
Navneet Nishan
Navneet Nishan
Navneet Nishan is an Indian Bollywood actress. She makes her debue in Bollywood with the movie waaris released in 1988. She is best known for her role as Tara in the soap opera, Tara, Kavyanjali, Kasautii Zindagii Kay...

- Shaunotra

The Greeks

Shahrukh Irani - Alakshendra aka Alexander the Great
Nileish Malhotra - Satrap Philip
Philip (son of Machatas)
Philip , son of Machatas, was an officer in the service of Alexander the Great, who was appointed by him in 327 BC satrap of India, including the provinces westward of the Hydaspes, as far south as the junction of the Indus with the Acesines...
Kurush Deboo
Kurush Deboo
Kurush Deboo is an Indian film actor. He was first noticed as Shah Rukh Khans loyal friend in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa. He is most famous for his role as Dr...

- Cliturcus/ Kritorus

Magadha

Suraj Chaddha - King Dhanananda

Pre-self-exile period

Pramod Moutho - Maha Mantri Shaktar
Shaktar
Shaktar was the Prime minister of Dhanananda- the last Nanda king. He was imprisoned by the king on false accounts but was set free by Chandragupta Maurya, when he captured Magadha in 322 BC....
Himanshu Gokani - Maha Amatya Vakranas
Surendra Sharma - Shishupal (Shaktar's spy)
Vimal Verma - Paur Milind
Ragini Shah - Chanakya's mother
Ajay Dubey - Acharya Chanak (Chanakya's father)
S.P. Dubey - Acharya Abhinavgupta (Chanakya's guru)
Meenakshi Thakur - Bhamini (Shaktar's wife)
Mahendra Raghuvanshi - Kaaljayi (Dhanananda's spy)
Ankur Merchant - Young Ajeya
Punit Shukla - Young Kartikeya
Utkarsha Naik - Chandragupta's mother
Laxmikant Karpe - Chandragupta's uncle
Mihir Bhuta - Young Katyayan
Susheel Parashar - Crematorium grounds keeper
Shikha Diwan - Angad's mother

Post-self-exile period

Surendra Pal
Surendra Pal
Surendra Pal is an Indian film and television character actor who is best known for his television roles of Dronacharya in Mahabharat, Amatya Rakshas in Chanakya and Tamraj Kilvish in Shaktiman.Surendra Pal was born in 1953....

- Katyayan aka Amatya Rakshas
Irrfan Khan - Senapati Bhadrashaal
Ashok Lokhande
Ashok Lokhande
-Career:Lokhande has appeared in small parts in television series including Chanakya , Just Mohabbat and Saans . He has also acted in films including Khamoshi: The Musical and Sarfarosh ....

- Ashwadhyaksha Purushdutt
Naresh Suri - Senadhyaksha Balgupta
Ishan Trivedi - Acharya Ajeya
Renuka Israni - Maitree (Ajeya's wife)
Manoj Joshi
Manoj Joshi (actor)
Manoj Joshi is an India film and television actor. Joshi began his career in Marathi theatre, also putting up performances in Gujarati and Hindi theatre...

as Mantri Shriyak (Shaktar's son)
Vipin Sharma - Maha Mantri Varruchi
Chand Dhar - Acharya Rudradev
Trilok Malhotra - Bhagurayan
Jairoop Jeevan - Susidhartak
Salim Arif - Sidhartak / Narrator
Neena Gupta
Neena Gupta
Neena Gupta is an Indian film and television actress and director-producer. She won the 1994 National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for Woh Chokri. She is a popular actress in Indian commercial cinema, but it is her work with art filmmakers of India, like Shyam Benegal that got her...

- Raj Nartaki Shweta
Prakash Dwivedi - Monk Jeevasiddhi

Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...

/ Takshashila / Taxila
Taxila
Taxila is a Tehsil in the Rawalpindi District of Punjab province of Pakistan. It is an important archaeological site.Taxila is situated about northwest of Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi in Panjab; just off the Grand Trunk Road...

Sudhir Dalvi
Sudhir Dalvi
Sudhir Dalvi is an Indian actor. He first came to prominence for portraying Guru Vashishta in Ramanand Sagar's TV series Ramayan, but is also well known for his role as Sai Baba in the eponymous TV series, also created by Sagar...

- Ambhiraj, King of Taxila
Adarsh Gautam - Ambhikumar aka Ambhi, Prince of Taxila
Chandramohan Bounthiyal - Anujdev
Brij Mohan Vyas - Kulpati Acharya Taponidhi
Siraj Syed - Maha Mantri Sushen
Namrata Sahani - Princess Alka (Ambhiraj's daughter)

Kekaya
Kekeya Kingdom
Kekeya is a kingdom grouped among the western kingdoms in the epic Mahabharata. The epic Ramayana also mentions Kekeya as a western kingdom. One of the wives of Dasaratha, the king of Kosala and father of Raghava Rama, was from Kekeya kingdom and was known as Kaikeyi...

Arun Bali
Arun Bali
Arun Bali is an Indian actor who has worked in numerous films and television series. He played the part of King Porus in the 1991 period drama Chanakya, Kunwar Singh in the Doordarshan soap opera Swabhimaan and the Chief Minister of undivided Bengal, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, in the controversial...

- Parvateshwar aka Porus, King of Kekaya
Ashok Banthia - Maha Mantri Indradutt
Malvika Tiwari - Kalyani (Porus' daughter)
Kirti Azad - Ashtavakra (Spy in Taxila)
Kumar Ram Pravesh - Chakravak (Spy in Taxila)
Anita Kanwal
Anita Kanwal
Anita Kanwal is an Indian television actress and producer who has acted in television serials such as Chanakya, Shanti and Sonpari. But she is best known for her negative role of Mrs. Seth, the mother who gets her own son killed, in the 1990s Zee TV soap opera Banegi Apni Baat.Kanwal started her...

- Subhada (Spy in Taxila)
Kamal Chaturvedi - Mrityunjay (Spy in Taxila)
Chandrakant Beloskar - Minister Pishuna

Paurava
Pauravas
The Pauravas was the name given to the many small kingdoms and tribes of ancient India in the 5th and 4th centuries BC.The Pauravas had also existed before then in the Vedic Ages led by King Sudas, who fought off the Iranian invaders at the Battle of the Ten Kings. The Pauravas were all situated...

Prakash Dwivedi - Laghu Pauravraj
JD Majethia - Malayketu
Malayketu
Malayaketu was the king of a kingdom in Punjab located between the Jhelum and the Chenab and dominions extending to Hyphasis. Its capital may have been near the current city of Lahore . He was the son of Porus, the king who confronted Alexander the Great in the Battle of the Hydaspes.-External...

, son of Pauravraj

Others

Malayraj, King of Malva
Malava Kingdom
Malava kingdom was one among the many kingdoms ruled by the Yadava kings in the central and western India, corresponding to the Malwa region. Sometimes Avanti and Malava were described to be the same country. They were originally a western tribe, in Punjab province of Pakistan. Later they migrated...

Terminology

Acharya
Acharya
In Indian religions and society, an acharya is a guide or instructor in religious matters; founder, or leader of a sect; or a highly learned man or a title affixed to the names of learned men...

- Teacher
Amatya - Councilor
Ashwadhyaksha - Chief Commander of Cavalry
Laghu - Small quantity , little
Maha Mantri - Prime Minister
Mantri
Mantri
Mantri is a word of Sanskrit origin , used in Asian cultures with a Hindu tradition . It is used for a variety of public offices, from fairly humble to ministerial in rank. The term also forms part of a number of compounds...

- Minister
Raj Nartaki - Court Dancer
Senadhyaksha - Army Chief
Senapati - Chief of Defense

Reception

The series gathered much praise for its authenticity, particularly the way it used costumes and similar artistic devices. Journalist and media critic Sevanti Ninan, bemoaning the lack of attention paid to authenticity and aesthetics in Indian mythological serials, wrote in a 2000 column in The Hindu—"'Chanakya' still stands out in one's memory for its period authenticity."

The series was commercially successful for Doordarshan, bringing in INR 18 crores in advertising revenues. While thinking about opening up the organization's second channel, DD Metro, to private producers in lieu of license fees, it took the Chanakya experience into consideration with a Doordarshan official commenting that "quality programmes can attract enough advertising support to sustain even small producers who could be bidding for time slots on the metro channel."

Chanakya brought instant and lasting recognition to the director and chief protagonist, Dwivedi, who is often referred to as "Dr. Chandraprakash 'Chanakya' Dwivedi."

Criticism

The series faced criticism for having a pro-Hindutva

Hindutva

Hindutva is the term used to describe movements advocating Hindu nationalism. Members of the movement are called Hindutvavādis.In India, an umbrella organization called the Sangh Parivar champions the concept of Hindutva...

subtext and a nationalist agenda, something that Dwivedi strongly denied. Questions were raised about the "liberal use of saffron and 'Har Har Mahadev' slogans" in the series and Dwivedi's links to the Bharatiya Janata Party

Bharatiya Janata Party

The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...

(BJP). Then BJP chief LK Advani had visited the series' Film City sets in 1991, and journalist Madhavi Irani noticed in Dwivedi's office, during an interview with him, "a large laminated photograph of the BJP supremo ... posing with doctor sahib and his brother, serial producer Prakash Dwivedi."

Critic Maithili Rao, while accepting the "tasteful and authentic" nature of the series, termed as unhistorical the story arc dealing with "akhand Bharat" (undivided India). "In the fourth century B.C., people did not have to unite against a foreign force. [Dwivedi] is trying to create a Pan-Indian identity at a time when there was none," she said.

Another critic, Iqbal Masud, took aim at Kautilya and his magnum opus, the Arthashastra

Arthashastra

, and questioned the "amoral treatise's" relevance in the present time and age. "[The serial] is the spiritual justification of the BJP's forthcoming rath yatra from Srinagar to Kanyakumari. In the existing cauldron of hatred, the serial's image of shaven heads and Vedic mantras is only bound to ignite passions.... [There is no] beating around the bush that the ideology Chanakya preaches is the ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the BJP,” he said.

V. Geetha, in an editorial in the Deccan Herald, wrote-
Other critics referred to some other (non-political) inaccuracies. Script writer Govind. P. Deshpande (who scripted the episodes on Chanakya, Shivaji and Mahatma Phule for Bharat Ek Khoj) thought that the series had failed to "correctly identify and interpret the concepts of dharma and rashtra as they existed from the Vedic to the Mauryan times," and that the philosophies of the time, both Vedic and otherwise, had not received in-depth treatment. Dwivedi did receive support from veteran actor Dr. Sriram Lagoo who said that "[the series] portrays the period of Vedic culture quite accurately and one imagines there was quite a bit of saffron going around even then."

The controversies, including "accusations of religious propaganda," resulted in Doordarshan pulling the serial off air, but only after the series completed the allotted number of episodes thanks to legal action by the producers. “I still feel that people didn’t understand the kind of work I did in Chanakya. Nobody saw the pains behind making a serial set in a period about which there was practically nothing on record. But controversies were raised, so people didn’t watch it seriously," Dwivedi said in an interview years later (1996).

Awards

6th Uptron Awards, 1992 (for 1991)

Best Director - Chandraprakash Dwivedi
Chandraprakash Dwivedi
Chandraprakash Dwivedi is an Indian film director and script writer, who is best known for directing the 1991 television epic Chanakya in which he also played the title role of the political strategist Chanakya...
Best Actor - Chandraprakash Dwivedi
Best Art Direction - Nitin Chandrakant Desai
Nitin Chandrakant Desai
Nitin Chandrakant Desai, is a noted Indian art director and production designer of Indian cinema turned film and television producer, most known for his work in films like, Lagaan , Jodhaa Akbar , Devdas and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam...

7th Uptron Awards, 1993 (for 1992)

Best Serial
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Surendra Pal
Surendra Pal
Surendra Pal is an Indian film and television character actor who is best known for his television roles of Dronacharya in Mahabharat, Amatya Rakshas in Chanakya and Tamraj Kilvish in Shaktiman.Surendra Pal was born in 1953....

Distribution

Chanakya premiered on Doordarshan

DoorDarshan

Doordarshan is an Indian public service broadcaster, a division of Prasar Bharati. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in India in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters. On September 15, 2009,...

's main channel, DD National

DD National

DD National or DD1 is Doordarshan's flagship channel and the most widely available terrestrial television channel in India.-The Early Years:...

, in September 1991. In 1993, it was picked up by the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

and telecast in the UK on BBC2 as part of the Saturday morning Asia Two slot. Zee TV

Zee TV

Zee TV is an India-based satellite television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, which broadcasts various programmes in Hindi and other regional languages of India. Broadcasting is also present in various nations of South Asia, Europe, the Middle East,...

re-ran

Rerun

A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. There are two types of reruns—those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Reruns can also be, as the...

it in 1997 when Dwivedi was the channel's programming head, and 9X

9X is an Indian Hindi general entertainment channel based in Mumbai. It is owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. The channel was launched on November 12, 2007 in India...

in 2007-08. Since 2008, Amrita TV

Amrita TV

Amrita TV, launched in 2005, as a 24-hour Malayalam, general entertainment & news satellite channel with a global footprint, has been honoured with 54 State Awards for Excellence in Television—the only channel in India to be bestowed with such a recognition in just two years since inception...

runs a dubbed (into Malayalam

Malayalam language

Malayalam , is one of the four major Dravidian languages of southern India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India with official language status in the state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry. It is spoken by 35.9 million people...

) version entitled Chanakya Tantram. The series has also been broadcast in the USA, Canada, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Nepal.

Since 1993, the complete series has been available on home video

Home video

Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...

in various formats including a set of 16 VHS video cassettes, 47 VCDs, and 8 DVDs.

Episodes

The series consists of 47 episodes, and all of them were written and directed by Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi.

Ep. 1

King Dhanananda's charioteer, Angad, has been missing for over 7 days, and his worried mother searches for him. None of the high officials in Pataliputra, including chief minister Vakranas, have responded to her pleas. Councilor Milind approaches Vakranas about the subject but is told that he need not worry about it. He then questions the king himself and is told to stay within his limits.

Prime minister Shaktar has been out of the city for sometime, and sees Angad's mother on the streets on his return. She tells him her tale, and so does Milind. Shaktar meets his spy, Shishupal, who has been hiding from the king's spies all this while. Shishupal tells him that the king, having used Angad and a few trusted servants to steal millions of gold coins from the royal treasury and hide the loot, has murdered them. Shaktar conveys the news to Milind.

The cabinet, on finding that the monthly allowances of all ministers and members of the king's household are short by one coin, summons the royal treasurer for questioning. He pleads ignorance and claims that only Shaktar knows the culprit. Shaktar reaches the palace and has a huge row with the cabinet and the king over making a mountain out of a molehill while ignoring the far bigger theft from the treasury. He charges the king with the theft and, before leaving, returns the coins "stolen" from the allowances.

Ep. 2

Dhanananda's spies are out to kill Shishupal, who escapes and takes refuge with Shaktar. He requests Shaktar to arrange for his safe passage out of the kingdom. Shaktar advices him against the move, telling him that Magadha needed patriots like him.

The king has imposed new taxes on items such as wood, stone, gum and leather, without Shaktar's knowledge. Shishupal leads Shaktar to the crematorium where a corpse has been left uncremated on account of such unpaid taxes. A dejected Shaktar pays the taxes so that the last rites could be performed. While he's thinking about the newly imposed taxes, he receives a message from the king ordering him to appoint new officials to collect the taxes. An enraged Shaktar refuses to do so.

Shaktar returns home only to find his family all packed up and ready to leave (the kingdom). His wife and son tell him that his feud with the king and the cabinet is both futile and dangerous. But he is optimistic about the future, and tells his family that they could leave if they wished, but he won't. The family cancels their plans, albeit unwillingly.

The cabinet has assembled, and Vakranas asks Shaktar if the new tax officials have been appointed. Shaktar tells him that only a dacoit could impose taxes on items such as wood and stone, and that he is not sure if the kingdom isn't being ruled by dacoits. Shaktar meets the king and tells him to withdraw the new taxes, but his plea is rejected.

Shaktar meets his old friend, acharya Chanak, and explains the situation to him. Chanak tells him to continue his fight for the truth. While leaving, Shaktar runs into Chanak's son, the young Vishnugupta, who tells him that a king should collect taxes just like a bee collects nectar without harming the flowers. Chanak calls a meeting of prominent acharyas in Pataliputra about leading a delegation to the king, but none of them are willing to stick their necks out. Chanak vows to continue the campaign of dissent on his own.

At night, Shaktar returns home and finds Shishupal dead, murdered, at his doorstep.

Ep. 3

Late at night, Shaktar digs out the gold coins buried by the king. Bhamini, not finding her husband by her side, asks Milind to look for him. Milind follows a trail of gold coins on the streets of Pataliputra and finds Shaktar (gone berserk in rage) at the head of the trail, scattering coins all around the place. Later, Milind warns Shaktar against taking on the king, telling him that it is only because of his position of prime minister that he dares to do what he did. If he were dismissed from the post, he would become an ordinary man, and ordinary men could not fight against kings.

Vakranas orders Milind to arrest Shaktar on charges of stealing millions of gold coins from the treasury and scattering them on the streets of Pataliputra. Arrest warrants have also been issued against his sons, Shriyak and Sthoolbhadra. On the way to the palace, the boys make a failed attempt to escape from the carriage. Vishnugupta witnesses this and conveys the news of their arrest to his father.

Chanak begins his campaign of dissent, giving incendiary speeches against the king at street corners, criticizing the government for its treatment of Shaktar and his family, and even the citizenry for remaining mute spectators in the face of injustice. During one such speech, Dhanananda and Chanak come face-to-face. Chanak is assaulted and dragged away to prison, as Vishnugupta watches on.

Vishnugupta tells his mother to forget about Chanak and consider him as good as dead. He extracts a promise from her to refrain from approaching Dhanananda or any citizen of Magadha with a plea to spare Chanak's life, in the unlikely case of him being alive.

Ep. 4

Vishnugupta goes on his daily morning round of collecting alms, but this time, no one is willing to offer alms to a "traitor's son" and thereby invite the king's wrath. Unwilling to return to the gurukul empty handed, Vishnugupta collects alms from his own mother. At the gurukul, his acharya tells him to go home and look after his mother. On being prodded, the acharya tells him that Vishnugupta's continued presence in the gurukul might not go down too well with his fellow students.

While Vishnugupta sits alone, contemplating his future, Ajeya informs him of his mother's death. He rushes home to find preparations being made for her funeral. Unwilling to pay taxes on the wood required for the funeral pyre, he tears down a shed in the backyard and uses the wood for the last rites. The next day, he leaves for Taxila.

In prison, the guards discover Chanak's dead body; he has starved himself to death. They convey the news to Vakranas, who tells them to keep the news under wraps. Everyone else will be told that Chanak has been banished from the kingdom that very night.

A few days later, Shaktar and his sons are released. Vakranas meets Shaktar and informs him of the king's offer to reinstate him to the post of prime minister. Shaktar spurns the offer.

Ep. 5

Vishnugupta joins a caravan heading towards Taxila and reaches his destination a few months later. He gains admission at the Taxila gurukul after meeting the chancellor, acharya Taponidhi. He graduates from the gurukul after eight years and is immediately appointed as an acharya of political science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

.

Over the years, Kekaya's spies have managed to set up a base within Taxila and have used the services of patriotic courtesan

Courtesan

A courtesan was originally a female courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...

s to charm high officials. The general, Sinharan, and the crown prince, Ambhi, have fallen victim to one such woman, Subadha.

Kekaya's messenger, Chandvarma, arrives in Taxila to meet king Ambhi. He conveys a message from king Parvateshvar complaining about the activities of Taxila's army including unwarranted attacks on Kekaya and attempts at infiltration. If Taxila continues with its current policy, Parvateshvar writes, Keyaka will take remedial action. Ambhi sends his apologies and pleads ignorance of the matter. Such actions will cease with immediate effect, he promises.

Prince Ambhi overrules minister Sushen and orders Sinharan to attack Kekaya and cause havoc on its borders. Sinharan complies. The two Ambhis, king and prince, have a row over the latter's actions.

Ep. 6

Parvateshvar's cabinet discusses the Taxila problem and decides to teach prince Ambhi a lesson. Parvateshvar orders it to plan for an attack in ten days time.

Spy Mrityunjay reaches Kekaya and meets his colleagues Ashtavakra and Chakravak. Playing upon the feelings of Sushen's wife, they manage to create doubts in prince Ambhi's mind about Sushen being involved with Kekaya. While Sushen is distracted, worried about his future, the courtesans manage to neutralize the state's high officials by plying them with alcohol.

While Sushen tells his wife to get ready to leave Taxila surreptitiously, Kekaya's army approaches Taxila.