Porus (TV series)
Porus is a historical drama television series based on the Battle of the Hydaspes, visualizing the lives of Indian warrior and ruler Porus, King of the Pauravas and Alexander The Great, King of the Macedonian Empire. It premiered on 27 November 2017 on Sony TV. Its last episode was aired on 13 November 2018. Another historical drama Chandragupta Maurya replaced it with seamless continuity of story.
The show is created by Siddharth Kumar Tewary of Swastik Productions. It is the most expensive show on Indian television, having a budget of about INR 500 crores. In Sri Lanka, it airs on Sirasa TV, dubbed into Sinhala under the name Digvijaya. The rights to the drama have also been sold to Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam. It is also dubbed in Tamil as Maaveeran which currently airs on Sun Life channel, Sun TV network from October 2018 onwards.The Malayalam version is titled Porus which currently airs on Surya TV from January 2019.
The show was relaunched on Dangal TV with a new title: Sikandar vs Porus
Plot
Story Of Purushottam/Porus
The Paurava Kingdom and Takshashila are rival kingdoms. Soon, to take advantage of this enmity, Darius III of Persia arrives in India, in 350 BCE, initially to trade, but later conspires to destroy the royal family of the Pauravas. Paurava King Bamni marries the princess of Taxila, Anusuya. Darius' conspiracies, along with Takshashila King Ambhiraj, bear fruit and the pregnant Anusuya is forced to flee, wherein she gives birth to Purushottam, but he too is lost. The infant prince is saved by Ripudaman, a Paurava general, and is raised by him, along with his own son Hasti, in the Dasyu Kingdom.Porus is soon reunited with his family when he grows up, but it is also revealed that Bamni married Kadika when Anusuya was lost, and has a son, Kanishk. Kanishk and Puru become rivals, and the former joins hands with Darius III to eliminate him. However, Puru foils Darius's plans, along with his friend Laachi, and kicks the Persians out of India. Soon, Shivdutt conspires with Kanishk and they try to kill him and fail every time, and soon, Porus is crowned as the king of the Pauravas, and he comes to know of the arrival of Alexander towards India.
Story of Alexander
Alexander is born as the son of Olympias and Zeus, however this fact is unknown and he is acknowledged as the son of Philip. Alexander grows up to be an ambitious, as well as respectful prince, and proves his skills in a battle. His half-brother Arrhideaus is made a mad person by Olympia. Philip marries Cleopatra Eurydice of Macedon, and denies Alexander the throne, saying that his and Cleopatra's son will be his successor. This leaves Alexander heartbroken and wants revenge. Cleopatra Eurydice gives birth to a daughter, and also Philip decides to wed his daughter Cleopatra of Macedon to Alexander I of Epirus. They wed, however Philip is soon assassinated by Pausanias on Alexander's command, making Alexander the new king. Olympias and Alexander also murder Cleopatra of Eurydice, her 2 infant children, Philinna and Attalus. Arrhideaus is left by Alexander to use him as a general.Alexander soon becomes a ruthless ruler, conquering many kingdoms, including Persia. He also marries Roxana, a Bactrian princess and the daughter of Oxyartes, along with Barsine and Drypetis, daughters of Darius. He soon marches towards India, wherein he is received by Ambhiraj, who surrenders, and wants revenge from Porus. Alexander also befriends the Dasyu families, and also Kanishk to defeat Porus. Kanishk is killed in a heist, whereas the Dasyus, realising that they need to fight for their country, go with Porus.
Battle of the Hydaspes and aftermath
The fierce battle ensues. The whole royal family of Pauravas fight, including a pregnant Lachi. The war goes on for days, in which Anusuya, Bamni and Hasti are killed. Porus also kills Ambhiraj for killing Anusuya. Lachi has to back off due to pregnancy, but Porus stands til the end, and fights, defending his land.Alexander, impressed by his bravery and skills, returns Porus his kingdom along with granting him more territory, and heads back towards Macedonia. The son of Porus, Malayketu, is born.Few years go by, and within this, Alexander stops in Babylon midway, and soon dies, making pregnant Roxanna a widow. Ambhikumar, soon launches a group attack with Seleucus I Nicator, in which Porus and Lachi are killed. Porus sends his young son in a basket, in the Jhelum river, before dying.
Now the future of India lies in the hands of Chanakya.
Cast
- Pooja Sharma as River Jhelum, the Narrator.
- Chetan Pandit/Tarun Khanna as Chanakya, a scholar from Takshashila and later Porus' adviser and minister.
The Pauravas
- Laksh Lalwani as Purushottam / Porus, King of the Pauravas, and destined rival of Alexander.
- Rati Pandey as Anusuya, Porus' mother, Bamni's wife and Ambhiraj's sister, princess of Takshashila, Queen and later Queen Mother of the Paurav Kingdom
- Aditya Redij as Bamni, King and later King Father of the Pauravas, Porus' father.
- Suhani Dhanki as Laachi, princess of Dasyu Raj, later wife of Porus and Queen of the Pauravas.
- Aman Dhaliwal as Amatya Shivdutt, elder brother of King Bamni, and Minister of the Pauravas under Bamni and then Kanishk.
- Akshara Singh/Sangeeta Khanayat as Kadika, King Bamni's second wife, mother of Kanishk and Porus' step mother, Queen and briefly Queen Mother of the Pauravas under Kanishk's rule.
- Savi Thakur as Kanishk, former Crown Prince and King of the Pauravas, son of King Bamni and Queen Kadika, Porus' half brother
- Hrishikesh Pandey as Senapati Ripudaman Singh, Commander of the Pauravas and later disguised as Sajjan Singh and Commander of the Dasyus, foster father of Porus.
- Ashlesha Sawant as Pritha, wife of Ripudaman Singh, foster mother of Porus, mother of Hasti, and later Queen Mother of Sindh under Hasti's rule.
- Pranav Sahay as Samar Singh, Commander of the Paurava army, brother of Kadika, and posthumously maternal uncle of Kanishk.
- Mohit Abrol as Hasti, Ripudaman Singh and Pritha's son, Porus' foster brother, aide, and later king of Sindh.
- Vivek Vallah as The Rajguru, the Royal Priest of the Paurav Kingdom.
The Greeks
- Rohit Purohit as Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, and destined rival of Porus.
- Sameksha as Olympias, former Queen and Queen Mother of Macedonia, Philip's wife and Alexander's mother.
- Sunny Ghanshani as Philip II, Former King of Macedonia, Alexander's father.
- Aparna Dixit as Roxane / Rukhsana, princess of Bactria, later Queen of Macedonia, Alexander the Great's love interest and first wife.
- Riya Deepsi as Barsine, Princess of Persia, elder daughter of Darius, second wife of Alexander the Great.
- Akash Singh Rajput / Akhil Kataria as Hephaestion, Alexander's best friend and general in his army.
- Amaad Mintoo as Arrhidaeus son of Philip and Philinna, Prince of Macedonia, step brother of Alexander.
- Sarehfar as Philinna, Queen of Macedonia, wife of King Philip II, and mother of Arrihdaeus.
- Nitin Joshi / Amir Malik as Cleitus the Black, one of Alexander's generals.
- Vikas Verma as Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander's generals.
- Aruna Irani as an Oracle, a priestess who acts as medium between men and the gods, and an adviser to Alexander.
- Ruby Kakar as an Oracle, a Greek priestess who acts as medium between men and the gods, who is a philosopher.
- Raviz Thakur as Pausanias, bodyguard and murderer of Philip II.
- Vidvaan Sharma as baby Alexander.
- Karishma Rawat as Cleopatra Eurydice of Macedon, Queen of Macedonia, King Philip's last wife.
- Rizwan Kalshyan as Alexander of Epirus, King of Epirus, uncle of Alexander the Great, and husband of Cleopatra of Macedon.
- Praneet Bhat as Darius III, trader, later Emperor of Persia, succeeded by Alexander the Great.
- Suzanne Bernert as Ada of Caria, Queen of Caria.
- Browny Parashar as Oxyartes, father of Roxane and general of King Bessus of Bactria, later King of Bactria.
The Persians
- Praneet Bhatt as Darius, King of Persia, former trader, father of Barsine and Drypetis.
- Chandan Dilawar as Muashiz, Darius' companion and assistant, Commander of the Persian army.
- Vishal Patni as Farus, Muashiz's son, Commander of the Persian army.
- Riyanka Chanda as Stateira I, former Queen of Persia, wife of Darius and mother of Barsine and Drypetis.
- Shalini Sharma as Drypetis, Princess of Persia younger daughter of Darius.
The Dasyus
- Shraddha Musale as Mahanandini, Laachi's mother and matriarchal Queen of Dasyu Raj.
- Rishi Verma as Sumer, Laachi's brother, Prince of Dasyu Raj.
- Chirag Jani as Arunayak, Laachi's father and King of Dasyu Raj
Takshashila
- Zohaib Siddiqui as Ambhikumar, Crown Prince of Takshashila, elder cousin of Porus.
- Gurpreet Singh as Ambhiraj, Former King of Takshashila, brother of Queen Anusuya, father of Ambhikumar and maternal uncle of Porus
- Vasundhara Kaul as Alka, mother of King Ambhikumar, former Queen of Takshashila.
Magadha
- Saurabh Raj Jain as Dhana Nanda, Emperor of Magadh.
- Nimai Bali as Amatya Rakshas, Prime Minister of Magadh.
Others
- Nalini Negi as Vishuddhi, a member of the Vishkanya community.
- Jaival Pathak as Malay, the boy adopted by Porus.
Reception
Pinkvilla called it the television version of the film Baahubali.