Countless directors and creators have dipped into the Mahabharata’s well of drama, bringing its timeless battles and ethical dilemmas to screens big and small. In cinema, the 1965 Hindi film Mahabharat—lavishly costumed and shot in black and white—laid groundwork, while regional takes like the 1977 Telugu Pandava Vanavasam and Tamil’s Karnan offered fresh cultural flavors. Peter Brook’s 1989 international co-production turned heads in Europe, staging all eighteen books in a sprawling nine-hour epic.

Television really struck gold with B.R. Chopra’s 1988–1990 Mahabharat. That series became a fixture in Indian households, its weekly cliffhangers eagerly awaited like festival fireworks. Fast-forward to 2013, when Star Plus rebooted the saga in high-definition splendour, complete with CGI-rendered Kurukshetra and a star-studded ensemble. Across streaming platforms, animated retellings—Green Gold Animation’s 2013 Kurukshetra, for example—appeal to younger audiences, mixing mythic lore with punchy visuals.

In print and graphic form, Amar Chitra Katha comics transformed complex verses into bite-sized adventures for schoolchildren. Graphic novelists such as Devdutt Pattanaik and Siddharth Suchde have since reimagined characters’ inner lives, hitting the nail on the head by spotlighting lesser-told episodes. Podcasts and audio dramas have surged, too, with recent series like Katha’s Mahabharata Podcast weaving philosophy and action into bite-sized episodes—perfect for today’s on-the-go listeners.

On the interactive front, indie game studios in India have begun crafting RPG-style experiences that let players choose Arjuna’s path or strategize like Duryodhana. Virtual reality projects, showcased at events like the Jaipur Literature Festival, immerse visitors in Draupadi’s swayamvara or the Pandavas’ exile camps.

Across these adaptations, certain themes remain steadfast: the clash of dharma and desire, moral ambiguity, and the tragic cost of pride. Each medium fashions its own lens—be it the grainy charm of retro TV, the polish of modern CGI or the intimacy of a narrated podcast—yet the core epic still resonates, centuries after the first verse was ever sung.