Porus Review: A very promising historical show with captivating visuals

Sony’s much awaited show Porus premiered on 27th November 2017. The show revolves around the life journey of King Porus and the Battle of Hydaspes, fought between King Porus and Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great. Laksh Lalwani, Rati Pandey, Rohit Purohit, Aditya Redij and Praneet Bhat play the lead roles. King Bamni rules over the kingdom of Paurava. King Ambiraj of Takshashila is at loggerheads with King Bamni. They have a constant war since all the passing years. Bamni ultimately defeats Ambiraj. Ambiraj’s sister Anusuya doesn’t want any more clashes. She gets married to Bamni, hoping for a peaceful nation.

Main Characters:

Porus:
Porus is a great warrior. He has immense intelligence, bravery and leadership skills. He was King Bamni and Queen Anusuya’s son. He gets hit by Shivdutt’s conspiracy. He grows up in far away lands in between the pirates. He later rules over and protects the Pauravas clan. He is named Purushottam by his mother. He is destined to rule over people’s hearts and conquer the world. Porus wants to fulfill Anusuya’s dream of a united country. His greatest battle happens with Alexander.

Sikandar/Alexander:
Alexander is born to Queen Olympia of Macedonia. He was a blessing of Lord Zeus for her. The people worship him as Zeus’ child. He is raised by Olympia and Philip. Alexander became the King of Macedonia. He is determined to conquer the world and keep it at Olympia’s feet. Alexander has the best of warrior skills. He is a great ruler and fighter. Alexander is called a conqueror of fate. He loses to Porus in the epic battle of Hydaspes.

King Bamni and Queen Anusuya:
King Bamni ruled over Paurava kingdom, which was a part of Jhelum. He had strong enmity with Anusuya’s brother Ambiraj, who ruled over neighboring province Takshashila. Bamni married Anusuya only to deceive her. He wins her trust by supporting her dream of United India. Post marriage, Bamni takes revenge from Anusuya for his brother Shivdutt’s insult by abandoning her. Anusuya reconciles with Bamni. She gets driven for revenge by Ambiraj, who gets provoked by Darius. However, Anusuya sticks to her ideals of seeing one peaceful country, protected by the evil invaders.

King Philip and Queen Olympia:
Philip and Olympia have a marital discord. She expresses her hatred to him every moment. Phulip wanted to have a heir. She doesn’t wish to bear his child. Olympia hates him from all her heart. Olympia worships Lord Zeus. She seeks a child from him in a miraculous way. Olympia names her child Alexander. She holds Philips responsible for ruining her dignity. She is confident that her son will bring her lost pride back. Olympia conspires to rule over the world.

Darius:

He is a Persian trader. He is a shrewd, wicked, manipulative and selfish person. He is much greedy. He can’t stand any contender. Darius employs the divide and rule policy. He eyes the Jhelum stretch, the land known for his gold heritage. Darius tries to strengthen his roots. He enters Jhelum as a trader, but has a motive to conquer the land. Darius becomes the reason for prolonged enmity between Paurava and Takshashila Rajyas. Darius breaks Anusuya’s United India dreams.

Cast:

Laksh Lalwani as Purushottam/Puru/Porus, King of Pauravas
Rohit Purohit as Alexander the Great
Suhani Dhanki as Queen of Pauravas
Rati Pandey as Queen Anusuya, Porus’ Mother
Aditya Redij as King Bamni, Porus’ Father
Sameksha as Queen Olympias, Alexander The Great’s Mother
Sunny Ghansani as King Philip II, Alexander The Great’s Father
Raviz Thakur as Seleucus I Nicator
Praneet Bhat as Darius III
Gurpreet Singh King Ambiraj, King of Taxila
Hrishikesh Pandey as Senapati Ripudaman Singh, commander of Paurav Army
Mohit Abrol as Prince Hasti
Chirag Jani as Dasyu King
Aman Dhaliwal as Amatya Shivdutt
Vishal Patni as Farus

Story So Far:

The story begins in the land of Jhelum, which holds the marks of the big battle of Hydaspes. Sikandar’s dream to conquer India breaks down. Sikandar was stopped by Purushottam, who was the shield of India. Purushottam was tagged Porus by the defeated king Sikandar/Alexander. An evil minded trader from Persia, Darius targets Jhelum. Darius aims to rob the golden land. Darius seeks help from a man and then gets him off his way. Darius is seen as pitiless and clever man. Darius gets driven to the Jhelum market. He gets interested seeing the raw diamonds and gold. Shivdutt announces the fight with Takshashila province.

Takshashila’s king Ambiraj and his soldiers create a havoc. Ambiraj’s sister Anusuya saves a child and shows much humanity. She believes a child is the key to unlock a good future. Ambiraj and Shivdutt get into a heated argument. Ambiraj gets insulting Shivdutt. Shivdutt asks Bamni to take revenge from Ambiraj and settle scores by their competition. Anusuya feels Ambiraj did wrong to initiate a fight. Anusuya apologizes to Shivdutt on Ambiraj’s behalf. The competition gets ahead. Ambiraj and Bamni have a fight. Bamni overpowers Ambiraj. He angrily tries to harm Ambiraj, but Anusuya raises a voice and stops Bamni.

Bamni spares Ambiraj’s life. He hoists the flag and makes Pauravas win. Anusuya thanks Bamni for playing a competition fairly and not making it a battlefield. He tells her that he has spared Ambiraj as he liked her voice raised to save her brother. Bamni addresses the Raj Sabha and tells everyone about their victory this year. He hopes Jhelum’s market trade gets prosperous. Darius takes part in the trade. After the trade gets done, Darius interrupts and offers five times more price. Darius tries to get the deal by showing huge profits.

Anusuya feels Darius is having a hidden agenda. She gives her opinion against doing trade with Darius. Bamni takes her advice and refuses to Darius. He asks Darius to win their trust first. Bamni tells him that his trade motive is to build trust and good relations, than greed and profits. Bamni takes the decision to maintain the peace in Jhelum. Darius gets fuming over Bamni’s decision. He hatches a plan. Bamni gifts honey to his enemy Ambiraj. He wants to big farewell in a sweet manner. Anusuya wants the enmity between Jhelum and Takshashila to end. She fears their fight is inviting troubles from outsiders, who aim to invade their country.

Ambiraj sees Anusuya and Bamni bonding. He advises Anusuya not to befriend Bamni. Ambiraj sees a bomb, which explodes in a blink. Many of his soldiers die in the blast. Shivdutt was provoked by Darius to take revenge from Ambiraj. Shivdutt reaches there and attacks Ambiraj’s soldiers. Ambiraj and Shivdutt have a fight. Anusuya supports her brother in the battle. She wanted the enmity to end some how. Bamni arrives there to stop Shivdutt. He fails to stop Shivdutt. Anusuya requests him to stop the fight. Bamni proposes her for marriage to fulfill her dream of one India.

Anusuya accepts his proposal, which infuriates Shivdutt and Ambiraj. Ambiraj disowns Anusuya and leaves for Takshashila. Bamni and Anusuya get married and consummate their relation. Anusuya doesn’t find Bamni around in the morning. Shivdutt and the soldiers attack her. Anusuya manages to save her life. She finds Bamni at the river side. She runs to him to seek help. Bamni protects her from Shivdutt. He reveals his plan of cheating her. Bamni wanted to take revenge from Ambiraj for Shivdutt’s revenge. Bamni abandons Anusuya. He also breaks her dreams of united India.

Anusuya gets shattered by Bamni’s cheat. Darius thinks of using Anusuya’s emotional state. He offers her help to call his army and defeat Pauravas. Anusuya agrees to Darius, in order to take revenge from Bamni. Anusuya meets Bamni. She alerts him about Darius’ evil intentions of attacking Pauravas. Bamni and Shivdutt don’t believe her. She tells them that she is still dreaming for united India. Bamni orders the soldiers to confine her. Anusuya gets insulted, but succeeds to fail Darius’ plans. In Macedonia, King Philip is seen. Queen Olympia is married to King Philip. She refuses to make any relation with him. She is ready to do anything for her self respect. He feels she has insulted him by turning him down. He wants her to bear his child.

Olympia revolts against him. She makes a prayer to Lord Zeus that she needs a son from him, who will be like a storm conquering the world. She wishes her son brings back her lost pride. She gets surrounded by Zeus’ snakes. Anusuya gets a bad dream when she sees herself in danger. Bamni turns surprising. He apologizes to her and decides to make a new start to have united India. Anusuya forgives him and reconciles. Darius tries to brainwash Shivdutt into attacking Takshashila. Bamni and Anusuya unite. They teach a lesson to Darius on knowing his bad intentions. Bamni bids him a farewell. Darius feels humiliated again.

Anusuya meets Rajguru and tries to get an interpretation of her strange dream. Rajguru tells her that its a positive dream which signs she will be giving birth to a great warrior. Anusuya decides to name him Purushottam. Anusuya and Bamni get concerned about the evil outsiders trying to invade Jhelum. Olympia tells Philip that Zeus and her son will conquer the world world, he will be called Alexander. Philips feels furious on hearing her. Bamni and Ambiraj get united for Anusuya’s sake. Bamni wants to fulfill Anusuya’s one nation dream. Ambiraj welcomes them with a big heart. They travel to Takshashila. Anusuya gets happy seeing the enmity ending. Anusuya worries on seeing Darius in her province.

Our Take:

First thing to mention about the show is it’s sheer grandeur and stunning visuals. Every scene is shot with a perfect perception. Its too hard to find any major flaws in the story line or concept execution. Few glitches about much fictional fantasy added to the great history can be overlooked. Fictional touch makes the drama more interesting. But, it should remain reasonable as the story progresses. Second remarkable thing are the performances. Praneet Bhatt as Darius is brilliant as the clever and opportunistic trader. Aditya Redij, Sameksha and Rati Pandey too anchor their natural performances.

The portrayals are made more earthy, convincing and intense, which makes the show stand out. Viewers get believing the scenes of the wars and kingdoms enmities depicted. The story moves at a right pace, making it more intriguing. Lots of detailing is done, which gets well observed. Be it costumes, accessories, locations or character sketching, everything is done by finesse. The show puts more efforts by the best cinematography and special effects. Dialogues are well written and thoughtful. There is high curiosity to know more about the unexplored history of King Porus and Alexander the Great. The entries of actor Laksh Lalwani and Rohit Purohit playing the substantive roles would take the show higher in all aspects.

Overall:

The historic tale is given a good touch by amazing narrative and colourful visuals. Everything about the show can be termed ‘surprising’. It truly deserves to be a must-watch show. Captivating visuals can never make the audience lose interest.

Our Rating:

5 out of 5

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