Welcome to the Warthog Report, the home for my fiction and non-fiction. This post is part of the regular feature ‘Let Me Talk To You About,’ where I ramble about creative works of any medium that I enjoy. You can adjust which segments you receive here. This is about number three in my list of top three mythological figures.
Even the most well known Indian films are unfortunately unpopular in the United States, and I’ve had an eye on doing my part to experience more of what Indian filmmaking has to offer. So with one of the most well regarded Indian movies featuring one of my favorite mythological figures in a starring role, I knew I had to see it.
Mayabazar is a romantic comedy adaptation of a folktale involving characters from the Mahabharata, one of the great epics of India. Because of that it assumes you already know who everyone in the movie is, a reasonable assumption for an Indian audience. If you’re not familiar with the Mahabharata you’ll likely feel lost due to all the context you’re lacking.
The movie’s premise is that Abhimanyu, son of major Mahabharata character Arjuna, has an arranged marriage to the princess Sasirekha that both look forward to. This gets disrupted by Abhimanyu’s family losing their wealth, which leads to Sasirekha’s family changing her arranged marriage to be with the son of Duryodhana, one of the antagonists of the Mahabharata, who is hoping to use the marriage to prevent Sasirekha’s uncle Krishna from being able to side against him in future conflicts.
The part where things really pick up is when Abhimanyu encounters his half rakshasa (demon) cousin Ghatotkacha, also known as the reason I watched the movie. After an initial fight the two become allies and Krishna reveals his plan to them, have Ghatotkacha impersonate Sasirekha while the real Sasirekha and Abhimanyu get married in secret.
From that point Ghatotkacha essentially takes over as the main character, with the movie following him and his subordinates using their illusion magic to simultaneously set up and sabotage the marriage to Duryodhana’s son. Most of the time Ghatotkacha’s illusion magic has him in Sasirekha’s form, and the actress did an excellent job of portraying both Sasirekha and Ghatotkacha disguised as Sasirekha. Even when special effects aren’t used to show the magic slipping you can tell the difference between the real and fake Sasirekha.
The first act is the romantic part, while the second act after the intermission is the comedy half. An entire subplot is dedicated to Ghatotkacha’s lackeys using their powers to torment some of Duryodhana’s followers with tricks like plates of food that move away when you try to use them. Ghatotkacha himself is also clearly reveling in the chance to cause some mischief.
Like most Indian movies (in my experience at least) there are also musical numbers, which like the plot become more comedic in the second half. My favorite is the one where Ghatotkacha grows to a giant size and eats the entire wedding feast himself.
Originally Mayabazar was filmed in black and white, but there is a colorized version. The colorized version has an important caveat however, the screen is cropped, effectively more zoomed in than the black and white version. Nothing absolutely essential is cut off but it does change the experience in more ways than just adding color, so if you’re particular about this sort of thing try to go for the black and white version.
Regardless of how you watch it, Mayabazar is fun. It takes a bit to get going, but once it does it doesn’t stop.