ALTBalaji is always coming up with shows that are compelling and binge-worthy. And their latest release, the royal magnum-opus, Paurashpur, is no different. This show takes us into the very gritty and larger-than-life world of the Kingdom of Paurashpur which is intoxicated with gender struggles, betrayal and vendetta.
These bold and brutal tales of the Paurashpur kingdom highlights the gender politics and power dynamics that the society deals with then and surprisingly, at times, it is all valid even today. If you were a fan of the series, Game Of Thrones, this feels like an Indian take on it that you might equally enjoy!
One of India’s first fictional epic fantasy drama on OTT, ‘Paurashpur’ features some renowned names from the film and television industries with actors like Annu Kapoor, Shilpa Shinde, Milind Soman, Shaheer Sheikh, Sahil Salathia, Anantvijay Joshi, Poulomi Das, Aditya Lal, Ashmita Bakshi, Kashish Rai, and Flora Saini among others.
Well, if you still haven’t binged on it, here are 5 reasons you should totally catch the show:
The grand sets
Undoubtedly, the world of Paurashpur is all things beautiful, artistic, and regal. Speaking about the SheeshMahal scene, art director Nitin Desai says, “I created the Sheesh Mahal out of more than one crore pieces of glass. A crew of 250 people took almost 6 months to create this Sheesh Mahal. We have worked on various camera angles and experimented a lot as to how it would look eventually in terms of lighting, how would the actors look in those frames.”. And honestly, it looks splendid, don’t you guys think?
The Costumes
The larger-than-life costumes not only complement the larger-than-life narrative, they tell a story of their own – an account of the robust heritage of Indian fabrics and textiles. Right from when the trailer and posters were out, one thing that caught all our eyes was how lavish and colourful each frame and each actor in the series looked! This was the late National award-winning costume designer Leena Daru‘s last project and she lent her magic to it and how! This certainly is special for this reason and worth a watch just for the costumes!
Dialogues:
Each character in the story is layered and strong and has a standing of their own. Shilpa Shinde as Queen Meerawati especially is a woman who doesn’t mince her words even though she is surrounded by chauvinistic men. Her dialogues such as “Jin aurato pe tune atyachar kiye hai, wo auratein tere naash ka kaaran banegi Bhadrapratap’” and “In aansuon ko apne aanchal mein sambhalke rakho, baad mein aag laganeke kaam aayegi” are surely ones that will stay with you.
Milind Soman as the transgender character ‘Boris’
Milind Soman is one person in the series who catches our attention for how flawlessly he has portrayed his role as the transgender character ‘Boris’. Speaking about it, he says, “We didn’t want to dwell on the stereotypes and rather show his human side. All his life, Boris has been struggling to be accepted in society as an individual. While he is doing that, he also realises that the practice of discrimination against women exists in the kingdom of Paurashpur. So Boris fights against that and wants women to be treated as humans, to start with.” The actor was originally set to play the King in the series, but chose to portray this character and honestly, we are so glad he did because he has done a great job at it!
It’s take on gender politics and chauvinism
Speaking about the series, actor Annu Kapoor says, “This web series represents male chauvinism right from the beginning of the title of the show Paurashpur (the literal meaning is the domain of male).” And it is this male dominance that is challenged and discussed in this series. Milind Soman, who plays the transgender Boris in the series also adds to the layers of the story as we see them tackling the various stigmas that the community has to face. Shilpa Shinde and Paulomi Das’ characters are what ground this story as it is them who fight for their voice to be heard in the kingdom and to stand up for their rights. This makes it relevant to today’s times as well when women are standing up for themselves and demanding what they deserve.
Catch Paurashpur streaming now on ALTBalaji and enjoy this grand and royal saga!