Chandrakanta (TV series)
| Chandrakanta | |
|---|---|
|
The main lead of Chandrakanta: Shahbaz Khan as Prince Virendra Singh & Shikha Swaroop as Princess Chandrakanta. | |
| Written by | Devaki Nandan Khatri |
| Directed by | Nirja Guleri& [Episode Director [Sunil Agnihotri]] |
| Creative director(s) | Sunil Verma |
| Starring | Refer Cast of Characters |
| Opening theme | "Chandrakanta" by Sonu Nigam |
| Country of origin | India |
| Original language(s) | Hindi |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | Total 130 Watch Chandrakanta Online |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Nirja Guleri |
| Editor(s) | Sunil Verma |
| Location(s) | Film City Mumbai |
| Cinematography | Nadeem Khan & Manoj Soni |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | Approx. 52 minutes |
| Production company(s) | M/s Prime Channel |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel |
DD National (Original); Sony TV (Syndicated) |
| Picture format |
480i (SDTV) Original Run = Season 1(04 March 1994 - April 1996 on DD1) Season 2(1998 - 1999 on STAR PLUS) Repeat Telecast = 23 Feb 2004 - 28 Jun 2004 (Sony Entertainment Television) 01 July 2005 - 28 May 2010 (DD Lucknow) |
Chandrakanta is an Indian fantasy television series partly based on Devaki Nandan Khatri's novel of the same name. It was originally telecast on Doordarshan's DD National between 1994 and 1996 and was produced by Nirja Guleri and directed by Sunil Agnihotri.
The serial was controversially pulled off air by Doordarshan in 1996 and the producers had to file a suit in court for reinstatement.[1] It later enjoyed reruns on Star Plus and Sony Entertainment Television.[2]
Cast of characters
- Shahbaz Khan as Prince Virendra Singh
- Shikha Swaroop as Princess Chandrakanta
- Javed Khan as Tej Singh
- Mukesh Khanna as Janbaaz, Also as Meghavat in later part of the story
- Parikshit Sahni as Maharaja Surendra Singh (King of Naugarh)
- Pankaj Dheer as Shiv Dutt (King of Chunargarh, a Vish Purush)
- Durga Jasraj as Rani Kalawati
- Rajendra Gupta as Pandit Jagannath/Shani (his twin brother, a villain)
- Akhilendra Mishra as Kroor Singh aka Yakoooo
- Irrfan Khan as Badrinath/Somnath (his twin brother)
- Krutika Desai Khan in 4 roles as Sabhya/Ramya (twin sister of Sabya) and Amba (Vish Kanya) and Jwala the dacoit
- Sonika Gill as Amrapali ambas mother.
- Kalpana Iyer as Dum Dumi Maai/Sultana (Ally of Tara)
- Rupa Ganguly as Damini
- Nimai Bali as Surya
- Mamik as Deva, false Surya
- Varsha Usgaonkar as Roopmati (Snake Queen)
- Anu Dhawan as Tara (Vish Kanya)
- Roopal Patel as Jamuna (Cousin sister of Roopmati, a villain)
- Vinod Kapoor as Amarjeet Singh/Barkat Khan
- Brownie as Ajgar
- Asif Shekh as Naagmani Devata (Snake King)
- Surendra Pal as King of Vijaygarh
- Pradeep Rawat as Himmat Singh
- Arun Mathur as Vaidh Baba (Damini's father)
- Deepak Parashar as Devdutt (Shivdutt's father)
- Sudha Chandran as Stayavati(Shivdutt's mother)
- Deep Raaj Rana as Dalpati Devata
- Waqar Sheikh as Vishwajeet Singh (son of Raja Surendra Singh and Damini).
- Brahmachari as Nazim Aiyyar
- Aamir Aiyyar
- Ahamad Aiyyar
- Jeet Singh Aiyyar
- Ajit Singh Aiyyar
- Sumer Singh
- Udai Singh
- Deewan Kupat Singh
- Chapla
- Chandni
- Champa
- Bahar
- Ketaki
- Shaitan Singh
- Zaalim Singh
- Maha Maya Mayawati
- Changeji
- Rustam
- Kanchan
- Shakalpatis
- Kesar
- Kalyani Devi
- Pannalal
- Chunnilal
- Ramnarayan
- Bhagwandutt
- Ghasita Singh
- Vijay Bahadur
- Badal
- Jungi
- Toofan
- Pawanhans
The serial started with story oysters chandrakantas search for her prince but ended up with Sabiyas story. It went on to becoming televisios biggest blockbuster with Sunil Agnihotri at the helm.
Criticism
Kamlapati Khatri, the grandson of the novel's author has said that the producer "had not done justice to the soul of Khatri’s Chandrakanta". He has also accused the producers of willfully misrepresenting certain concepts from the novel such as "tilism" (kind of a maze) and "ayyari" (spying) and showing it as "jaado-tona" (sorcery) plus the characters and the sequences in the Chunar fort were exaggerated beyond requirement while the Chandrakanta appeared after a really long time in the show.[3]