- A dynastic struggle between the collateral branches of the Kuru clan, the Kauravas and Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapur leads to the Kurukshetra War.
- Mahabharat is considered as the greatest and the longest epic in world literature It has all the possible elements that a story could have - conflict, duty, sacrifice, heroism, truth, justice, romance, adventure, fantasy and relationships - making it truly an all-encompassing fascinating saga.—Anonymous
- Mahabharat is considered as the greatest and the longest epic in world literature It has all the possible elements that a story could have - conflict, duty, sacrifice, heroism, truth, justice, romance, adventure, fantasy and relationships - making it truly an all-encompassing fascinating saga.
Kunti (Deepti Naval) got a secret mantra to invoke sons from Gods from sage Durvasa by serving him relentlessly. She used the mantra as a test and got Sun God's son Karna (Anil Kapoor). But she was unmarried and sent Karna down the Ganga river. Then she married Pandu and bore then 3 god sons (Yudhisthir (Manoj Bajpayee), Bheem (Sunny Deol) and Arjun (Ajay Devgn)). She gave the mantra to Pandu's 2nd wife Madri who bore Nakul and Sahdev. Pandu's elder brother Dhritarashtra (Dhyaan JN) is blind and married to Gandhari. They have 100 sons, Duryodhan (Jackie Shroff) is eldest. All royal sons are trained by Dronacharya (Ashutosh Rana).
Yrs later, Pandu is dead and Dhritarashtra is King. A royal competition is organized to introduce the princes to their masses under the watchful eyes of Bhishma (Amitabh Bachchan). Drona introduces Arjun as the best archer in land, after the fight between Bheem and Duryodhan is a draw. Karna challenges Arjun. Shakuni (Anupam Kher) is Duryodhan's maternal uncle and Dushasana (Vrajesh Hirjee) is his younger bro.. Arjun refuses to fight Karna when Bheem points out that he is the son of a charioteer. Kunti recognizes Karna as her son but keeps quiet. Shakuni finds an opportunity and Duryodhan anoints Karna as the King of Anga to enable him to fight Arjun. The fight is called a draw eventually..
Lastly Bhishma and Vidur announce Yudhisthir as the crown prince in the assembly. Duryodhana feels cheated of his birthright and Shakuni prompts him to burn the Pandav brothers alive in a specially constructed palace built from combustible materials. With the help from Vidur, the Pandavas knew about his scheme and are able to escape alive. They are met by Vidur who helps them cross the river. Vidur advises Pandavas to gather allies during their tour away from Hastinapur, incognito. Bheem protects the Pandavas in the forest. Himdimba is a rakshasa who falls in love with Bheem. Bheem is attacked by her brother Hidimb and Hidimba helps Bheem defeat her own brother, who kills Hidimb. Kunti asks Hidimba to ask for a boon and she wishes to marry Bheem.
King Drupad announces the swayamvar of his daughter princess Draupadi. All the kings arrive, including Karna and Duryodhan. Arjun arrives as a sage. Duryodhan misses and Draupadi refuses to marry the son of a charioteer. Arjun approaches as a Brahman. Duryodhan objects and wants to kidnap Draupadi, when Krishna (Shatrughan Sinha) intervenes and reveals Arjun's true identity. Arjun wins the Swayamvar and takes Draupadi home, where Kunti tells the boys to share whatever they got, without realizing they were talking about a woman. Krishna again explains that Draupadi had asked Shiva for a boon for a husband in her previous life, but asked for it 5 times. So Shiva gave her a boon of 5 husbands in the next life. With this Krishna asks Pandavas to return to Hastinapur after 5 yrs. Bhishma asks Dritrashtra to divide the kingdom into 2 parts, but Shakuni plays a dirty game by allocating the desert and rocky Khandavprastha to Pandavas. Kunti asks Arjun to pray to Indra, who assigns Vishwakarma to construct a majestic palace and a city, Indraprastha Then Bheem kills Jarasandha who had captured 100 kings for sacrifice. The 100 kings are released and they side with Yudhisthira, who becomes a king of kings. Arjun marries Krishna's sister Subhadra, who Balram wanted to marry off to Duryodhana. Subhadra gives birth to Abhimanyu.
Duryodhan comes to visit the magical palace and is insulted by Draupadi when he falls into a moat of water. Arjun and Yudhisthir tell Draupadi that the enmity between the Kauravas and Pandavas was over, but this insult will stoke the fires of revenge once more. Duryodhan invites Pandavas to Hastinapur for a gambling match. Gambling is Yudhisthir's weakness. He loses his kingdom, then his brothers, then himself and lastly his wife. Finally he gambles away a 12 yr forest stay + 1 yr of hidden stay. Dushana drags Draupadi to the court and Duryodhan orders to disrobe her in public. Bheem vows to break Duryodhan's thigh and Draupadi vows not to tie her hair till she washes them with Dushana's blood. Krishna stops the disrobing. Dhritrashtra gets afraid of Krishna and re-instates the kingdom back to Pandavas, but they still decide to go for their forest stay, and Draupadi wants to go with them to remind them of her insult.
The Pandavas go back to the jungle. Bheem meets Hanuman and gains the strength of a 100 elephants. Arjun gets powerful bows and missiles from Shiv and Parvathi. After 12 yrs, for their hidden stay yr, Pandavas chose the Virat kingdom. Bheem works as a cook, Draupadi as maid, Arjun as dance master, Nakul as weapons carer, Sahdev as stable boy, Yudhisthir as King's courtesan. After the yr is complete Krishna goes to Hastinapur to ask for Pandavas share of the Kingdom. Duryodhan refuses to part even with the 5 villages that Krishna proposes as a compromise. Duryodhan moves to capture Krishna, but he shows his Vishnu form and walks away. War prep starts and Bhishma is appointed commander in chief. He says he will not allow Karna to fight in the war. Armies gather for the war. Arjun has the last minute doubts and Krishna gives him the Gita summary and shows him his eternal view and dispel his doubts and convince him to fight the war. To defeat Bhishma, Krishna puts Shikhandi in front of Arjun. Shikhandi is a man, but Bhishma recognizes him as a woman he had wronged in her previous life. Arjun fires a volley of hundreds of arrows into Bhishma and he finally falls on a bed of arrows.
Dronacharya is the next commander and he launches the Chakravyuh when Arjun is away for battle, to capture Yudhisthir. Abhimanyu steps up, but he only knows how to enter and not exit. As Abhimanyu destroys the formations, Shakuni steps off his chariot to hug Abhimanyu as a great warrior of the clan. Then all the kaurav warrior stab him one by one and he dies. Karna is appointed CIC once Drona dies. Kunti approaches him and tells him that she is his mother. She begs for the lives of her 5 sons. Karna promises to spare everyone but Arjun, to keep her sons count to 5. He also says that he already gave away his solar defensive skins to Indra, when he came under the disguise of a beggar. After a fierce battle, Karna dies when his chariot gets stuck in the mud and Arjun fires an arrow upon Krishna's insistence since Karna also killed Abhimanyu when he was defenseless. Shakuni is killed by Sahdev. Duryodhan runs from the battlefield while Bheem kills Dushasan after yanking his arms. He takes the blood to Draupadi for her to wash her hair and tie them again. Pandavas track Duryodhan to a pond, where Bheem kills him after breaking his thigh. Yudhisthir is crowned the king of Hastinapur. Kunti publicly acknowledges Karna as her son. Yudhisthir promises to keep Karna's tradition alive by donating 50 kgs of gold daily.
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