Personality Director Chandraprakash Dwivedi reveals the wisdom of Vedanta through his new TV series, ‘Upanishad Ganga.' Anuj Kumar
Past Forward:Chandraprakash Dwivedi and (right) a still from the series.
Past Forward:Chandraprakash Dwivedi and (right) a still from the series.

 

In times of instant gratification, here is a director who thinks of posterity. His filmography may not be daunting, but even cynics will agree that Chandraprakash Dwivedi is a force to reckon with in the entertainment world.
After being away from the limelight for quite a while, Dwivedi returns to the small screen with a big project, which attempts to simplify Upanishads for the layman. Produced by Chinmaya Mission, the 52-episode ‘Upanishad Ganga' will unfold on Doordarshan in March. “The Upanishads deal with the issues we face even today. Questions such as what is happiness or what is true love, still trouble us. We live with all the material trappings and towards the end, ask ourselves: were we loved or not? It is this contemporary appeal that makes them relevant. Also the Upanishads don't belong to one religion. They help in understanding the idea that is India. Like ‘Chanakya,' it is going to have a lasting academic value.”
Dwivedi says the challenge was how to make it visually exciting as the Upanishads deal with concepts. There are no stories to justify the concepts and even if they are, they are too sketchy to make a 22-minute episode. “So initially, I told the producers that this could be a theme for a documentary and not drama. But after long hours of contemplation, I realised that there could be a way out if we use stories from our rich past to explain the thought.” Dwivedi relied on Sanskrit theatre to make the narrative coherent and cohesive. “It is perhaps the first time that somebody is bringing the two mediums together. Every episode opens with a travelling Sanskrit theatre with a sutradhar and a vidushak. They put forward a concept, go back in time to explain it through a story and then return to the present with an inference.” So if the story of Yama and Nachiketa explains the conflict between materialism and knowledge, as Nachiketa asks for enlightenment of soul instead of material goods, the story of Akbar and Birbal is used to elucidate the concept of henotheism.
“After visiting many temples, Akbar asked Birbal why he worships so many gods. Birbal took the help of the Upanishads to explain the idea of one god in different forms. Similarly, the concept of true love is explained through the story of sage Yagnavalkya and his two wives, Katyayani and Maitreyi.”
Next film project
As for films, after the critically acclaimed ‘Pinjar,' Dwivedi has finished ‘Mohalla Assi,' which is based on Kashinath Tripathi's novel, ‘Kashi Ka Assi.' “It is a satire on what tradition means in a globalised world. Benaras is a metaphor for our culture. What happens when a dollar-rich foreigner comes to Benaras in a country which has just opened up its economy?”
A trained doctor, Dwivedi, popularly called Doctor sahib, says he has chosen creativity over medicine but his medical training has helped him look at the world through a microscope. “That's why you find detailing in my work.”