To strengthen its position as one of the world's fastest-growing entertainment and streaming platforms, Walt Disney is producing a television series based on an ancient Indian poem about a feuding dynasty, as reported first by Bloomberg.
Gaurav Banerjee, head of content at Disney+ Hotstar, recently announced at the Anaheim Convention Center in California that a retelling of the "Mahabharata," a roughly 2,000-year-old Sanskrit poem about two groups of cousins competing for their clan's throne and kingdom with the help and interference of the Gods, will be released in 2024.
South Asian Version of "Game of Thrones"
At Disney's Indian digital platform Disney+ Hotstar's three-day D23 extravaganza event in California, head of content Gaurav Banerjee announced that a retelling of the 2,000-year-old Sanskrit poem "Mahabharata," about two groups of cousins competing for their clan's throne and kingdom would be released in 2024.
Disney is now banking on the longest poem ever written, with 200,000 verses, and making it like the South Asian version of "Game of Thrones."
A surprising TV sensation in India during the Covid-19 outbreak was a rebroadcast of the "Ramayana," an old story that, like the "Mahabharata," is essential to Hinduism.
The "Mahabharata" is nearly ten times longer than both the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" put together, making it a formidable challenge for any filmmaker. 94 episodes of the Mahabharata in the 1980s ran from 1988 to 1990. The shorter version of the two works, "Ramayana," lasted over the course of 78 episodes.
According to media estimates, during India's lockdown, up to 51 million viewers watched each episode of the Mahabharata. The Ramayana currently holds the record for most viewers with 77 million, beating out the 19.3 million who watched the Game of Thrones season finale.
SS Rajamouli, one of India's most prominent filmmakers and a master of action-packed epics, revealed to Bloomberg News earlier this year that he was preparing someday to take on a film adaptation of the "Mahabharata."
The greatest epic ever written- retold at a scale never seen before! Stay tuned for an ethereal spectacle- #Mahabharat, is coming soon.#HotstarSpecials #Mahabharat #MahabharatOnHotstar @alluents
— Disney+ Hotstar (@DisneyPlusHS) September 11, 2022
& @MythoStudios pic.twitter.com/P8cBRWOcLB
Disney+ Hotstar
With slightly under 60 million customers, Disney is the most popular of India's three primary overseas streaming providers.
India's fascination with cricket, which is streamed live, has been a major factor in this growth, even though Disney lost the right to digitally broadcast matches earlier this year to a partnership between Paramount Global and Indian company Reliance Industries, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg further noted that by signing up 260 million subscribers by the fiscal year 2024, Disney set a lofty goal that many analysts now doubt it would be able to achieve.
The company currently anticipates between 135 million and 165 million "core" Disney+ subscribers and as many as 80 million subscribers for Disney+ Hotstar in India, or a maximum of 245 million.
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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla
