Dwarakadheesh (NDTV Imagine)

Finally, the long awaited characters from Hastinapur have begun to make their entrance.

First, it was Kunti who wrote to her nephew Krishna about her sons' returning from the Gurukul. I personally feel that the Kunti in Chopra's Mahabharat was a much better actress - she looked pretty formidable. The Kunti in 'Dwarakadhish' looks as if she has watched too many movies in which Nirupa Roy played mother. :-)

Then, Shakuni and Dhrutarashtra came on board. This Shakuni really took me back a few years to B.R. Chopra's Mahabharat - because he is the same actor, Gufi Paintal. :-) The only difference is that in Chopra's Mahabharat, there used to be a sinister background music playing every time Shakuni made an entrance :-)

The Dhrutarashtra in 'Dwarakadhish' seems to have watched the old Mahabharat as well because he acts just like the old Dhrutarashtra (Girija Shankar).

I was eagerly waiting to see who is cast as the Pandavas - especially Yudhishthir, Bheem and Arjun. Hmmm..... Yudhishthir and Bheem are cast fine but Arjun's casting is very disappointing. He looks as if he will lay down his arrows and bow at the drop of a hat :-) It will be interesting to see if they will announce the rest of the 2 Pandavas - Nakul and Sahadev - with the same fanfare that they accorded to the first 3. As far as I know, Nakul and Sahadev didn't have much to do in the epic tale.

It remains to be seen as to who is cast as Bhishma, Gandhari, Duryodhana and of course, Karna.

BTW, I find it very odd that Krishna keeps on showing the events from past and present to his 2 queens. I can understand that he had DivyaDrushti but how can he show the events to others?

Oh, and where exactly in Dwaraka is Rukmini? Haven't seen her since Satyabhama and Jambawanti joined the royal family.

While on one hand, it is sad that the amusing, innocent tales from Krishna's childhood and pre-Hastinapur life have come to an end, it will be interesting to see how the drama unfolds before the final battle.