Mahabharat series returns in AI format on Doordarshan
After the most popular television series based on the ancient Sanskrit epic Mahabharata and the telecast of another part on untold stories of the same epic in the latter years, the epic Mahabharat is returning to national television Doordarshan in a new AI-led format on every Sunday morning from November 2.
The state-owned public broadcaster Prasar Bharati and Collective Media Network have come together to produce the reimagined Mahabharat for today’s generation, in a new IT-led format.
Announcing the start of a ground-breaking AI-led re-imagination of India’s most celebrated epic — Mahabharat, the Collective Media Network said on Friday that after an exclusive digital premiere on WAVES OTT on October 25, the new Mahabharat would be telecast Doordarshan every Sunday at 11 am starting November 2, 2025.
The series will be simultaneously available for digital audiences across India and worldwide via WAVES OTT, which is Prasar Bharati’s official OTT platform.
“This first-of-its-kind collaboration pairs the legacy and nationwide reach of India’s public broadcaster with the creative innovation of a next-generation media network,” an official release put out by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said.
Leveraging advanced AI tools, the series rebuilds the vast Mahabharat universe, its characters, battlefields, emotions, and moral dilemmas with cinematic scale and striking realism. The project embodies the spirit of Make in India and Digital India, showcasing how heritage and innovation can move forward together.
Speaking on the collaboration, Gaurav Dwivedi, CEO, Prasar Bharati said: “Prasar Bharati has always brought stories of national and cultural significance to every Indian home. The re-telecast of the original Mahabharat during the lockdown reminded us how deeply these narratives bind families and generations together. Partnering on this AI-led reimagining allows audiences to experience one of India’s greatest epics anew, honouring tradition while embracing cutting-edge technology in storytelling. It is an expression of Vikas and Virasat coming together in modern broadcasting”.
Reflecting on the partnership, Vijay Subramaniam, Founder & Group CEO of Collective Artists Network remarked: “Like millions of Indians, I grew up watching the classic Mahabharat on television every Sunday. It was an experience that shaped my imagination and my connection to our culture. With Mahabharat, our hope is to give today’s generation a similar touchstone that feels as immersive and unifying as it did for us, but told through the possibilities of today’s technology.
“This is about bhakti and pragati walking together to create something that is both deeply rooted in tradition and boldly forward-looking,” Subramaniam said.
It may be recalled that the 94 episodes of the original Mahabharat, an Indian Hindi-language epic television series based on the ancient Sanskrit epic Mahabharata were broadcast on Doordarshan from October 2 1988 to June 24 1990. The series was produced by B. R. Chopra and directed by his son, Ravi Chopra. The music was composed by Raj Kamal. The script was written by Pandit Narendra Sharma and the Hindi/Urdu poet Rahi Masoom Raza, based on the epic by Vyasa.
The serial claimed to have used the Critical Edition of Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute as its basic source with Vishnu Sitaram Sukthankar and Shripad Krishna Belwalkar as its primary editor.
Each episode is 40–46 minutes long and began with a title song that comprised lyrical content and two verses from the Bhagavad Gita. The title song was sung and the verses rendered by singer Mahendra Kapoor. The title song is followed by a narration by Indian voice-artist Harish Bhimani as a personification of Time, detailing the current circumstances and highlighting the spiritual significance of the content of the episodes.
The episodes of orIginal “Mahabharat” were re-telecast on Doordarshan during the lockdown period.
Another part of the serial Mahabharat Katha was aired on 1997 which covered all the untold stories about Karna’s marriage with Padmavati, Arjuna’s marriage with Chitrangada and Ulupi, and stories about Ghatotkacha, Barbarika, Vrishaketu, Babruvahana, conspiracies of Viprachitti, Ashwamedha Yajna, Dushala’s story and aftermath of the Kurukshetra War, which are not covered in the original series.
