Chandrakanta (TV series)
| Chandrakanta | |
|---|---|
 The main lead of Chandrakanta: Shahbaz Khan as Prince Virendra Singh & Shikha Swaroop as Princess Chandrakanta. | |
| Written by | Nirja Guleri |
| Story by | Nirja Guleri |
| Directed by | Nirja Guleri |
| Creative director(s) | Sunil Verma |
| Starring | Cast and characters |
| Narrated by | Harish Bhimani |
| Theme music composer | Usha Khanna |
| Opening theme | "Chandrakanta" by Sonu Nigam |
| Country of origin | India |
| Original language(s) | Hindi |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 130 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Shrey Guleri & Sahil Guleri |
| Producer(s) | Nirja Guleri |
| Location(s) | Film City Mumbai |
| Cinematography | Nadeem Khan & Manoj Soni |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 52 minutes |
| Production company(s) | M/s Prime Channel |
| Release | |
| Original network |
DD National (Original); Star Plus (Syndicated) Sony TV (Syndicated) |
| Picture format | 480i |
| Original release | 1994 – 1996 |
Chandrakanta is a mega-budget Indian fantasy television series partly based on Devaki Nandan Khatri's novel of the same name and is one of the biggest-ever blockbusters in the history of Indian television. It was originally telecast on Doordarshan's DD National between 1994 and 1996, and was created, written, produced, and directed by Nirja Guleri, the first woman in India to direct an epic film or television series on such a grand scale.
The serial was controversially pulled off air by Doordarshan in 1996 and the producers had to file a suit in court for reinstatement.[1] In accordance with the Order of the Supreme Court of India, Chandrakanta was reinstated and restarted by Doordarshan in 1999. It later enjoyed hugely successful prime time reruns on Star Plus and Sony Entertainment Television.[2]
Cast and characters
- Kausambi Ganguly as Devshena
- Mamik Singh as Surya/Deva
- Shahbaz Khan as Kunwar Virendra Vikram Singh
- Shikha Swaroop as Princess Chandrakantaa
- Javed Khan as Tej Singh
- Mukesh Khanna as Janbaaz and Meghavat
- Vijayendra Ghatge as Sumer Singh
- Parikshit Sahni as Maharaja Surendra Singh (King of Naugarh)
- Pankaj Dheer as Shiv Dutt, who is the King of Chunargarh, as well as a Vish Purush
- Durga Jasraj as Rani Kalawati
- Rajendra Gupta as Pandit Jagannath/Shani (his twin brother, a villain)
- Akhilendra Mishra as Kroor Singh, also known as Yakoooo
- Irrfan Khan as twin brothers Badrinath and Somnath
- Krutika Desai Khan as twin sisters Sabhya and Ramya, Amba (Vish Kanya), and Jwala the dacoit
- Sonika Gill as Amrapali, Amba's mother
- Anu Dhawan as Tara (Vish Kanya)
- Kalpana Iyer as Dum Dumi Maai. Iyer also plays Sultana, an ally of Tara
- Roopal Patel as Jamuna, who is a cousin sister of Roopmati, a villain
- Vinod Kapoor as Amarjeet Singh/Barkat Khan
- Brownie as Ajgar
- Aashif Sheikh 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 Satyavati, Shivdutt's mother
- Bhushan Jeevan as Dalpati Devata
- Roopa Ganguly as Daamini, Vishvajeet Singh's mother
- Waqar Sheikh as Vishvajeet Singh, the illegal 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
- Shakaalpati
- Mahakaal
- Kesar
- Kalyani Devi
- Pannalal
- Chunnilal
- Ramnarayan
- Bhagwandutt
- Ghasita Singh
- Vijay Bahadur
- Badal
- Jungi
- Toofan
- Pawanhans
- Arjun (Firoz Khan) as the magician mentor of Vishvajeet Singh
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 them as "jaado-tona" (sorcery), as well as criticising the characters and the sequences in the Chunar fort for being overly exaggerated, and how far into the show the Chandrakanta appeared.[3]