Tenali Rama (TV series)
Tenali Rama is an Indian historical comedy drama based on the life of the legendary Telugu poet Tenali Ramakrishna, one of the Ashtadiggajas poets at the court of Vijayanagara Emperor Krishnadevaraya, who is often cited as the greatest Vijayanagara emperor. The series premiered on SAB TV on 11 July 2017.
The show took a 9 months leap in July 2018, a 5 years leap followed by 20 years leap in August 2019 and then a 4 months leap in February 2020. The series is produced by Abhimanyu Singh under the banner of Contiloe Entertainment.
The telecast of the new episodes was stalled in the last week of March 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic and it has resumed the telecast of fresh episodes from 13th July 2020.
Premise
The show traces the journey of a 20-year-old boy, Tenali Rama who dreams of becoming rich and famous but is too lazy to pursue his dreams. When Tenali gets forced into marriage and is compelled to earn a living, a revered saint asks him to go to the temple of the village and recite a specific mantra. Tenali does as he is told and Goddess Kali appears in front of Rama with a bowl of milk and bowl of curd asking him to pick one but Tenali ends up tasting both leaving Kali furious. Later, Tenali reasons out by explaining that what is the use of one without the other. Goddess Kali gets impressed by his wit and says he will become a Vaikatavi, a jesting poet in Krishnadevarayas court. Tenali Rama leaves for Hampi with a desire to become a part of Rayas court.This popular series narrates the journey of Tenali who solves cases with his timely wit and intelligence due to which he becomes very popular in the Kings court.
Plot
Tenali Rama is the story of legendary poet and royal advisor Pandit Ramakrishna in Krishnadevaraya's Vijayanagara court who uses his timely wit and intelligence to solve even the trickiest of problems. His arch rival Tathacharya who wants to humiliate him is often stumped by Ramakrishna's intelligence. Rama is very close to King Krishnadeva Raya.6 Years Later
Bhaskar, Pandit Ramakrishna's son, is a naughty child and causes his father to be humiliated in the court of Krishnadeva Raya multiple times, to which Rama starts punishing Bhaskar for his naughtyness. He stops spoiling Bhaskar like he used to. Later, Bhaskara stops being naughty. Then, Prince Balakumaran arrives. Balakumaran is Krishnadeva's second wife, Tirumalamba's, brother. Balakumaran is a spoiled prince who cares a lot about his hair. Bhaskar is in Tathacharya's home to get Tathacharya to forgive him on his father's orders. Bhaskara has to glue together a broken vase. Balakumaran, who is at Tathacharya's home to learn from him, puts on the broken vase as a crown. The vase has glue on it, which causes it to be stuck to Balakumaran's hair. Balakumaran's hair must be pulled off his head to remove the vase. Balakumaran never gets his hair back, and is forever angry at Bhaskara, who is blamed for Balakumaran's mistake. Bhaskara is then sent to Gurukul for 20 years.
3 Months Later
Krishnadeva Raya and Pandit Ramakrishna have a debate about whether Vijayanagara will end. This is foreshadowing to the future.
20 Years Later
Bhaskara returns from Gurukul. He finds from the reformed Tathacharya that Balakumaran has become king after King Krishnadeva Raya left the kingdom for an unknown cause. Kaikala, Balakumaran's uncle and Minister, is the new main antagonist. Bhaskara's family is gone, and Bhaskara tries to find then. He eventually finds his mother, Sharda. He then pretends to be his father, Pandit Rama Krishna, to give justice to people in Vijayanagara. He gives Tathacharya his position, which he lost for many years, back which causes Tathacharya to become evil again. Kaikala keeps trying to get Bhaskara, in the costume of Pandit Ramakrishna, put in jail. Eventually, Kaikala is caught trying to kill Balakumaran, which causes the former to be put in jail for life. Balakumaran's wife and Kaikala's assistant, Sulakshana Devi is the new main antagonist. She eventually gets Balakumaran banished from Vijayanagara. She assumes the role of ruler.
Four Months later
Pandit Ramakrishna returns to the TV show. He returns to the position he had before. He stops Sulakshana Devi from being crowned Empress, and instead makes it so that in 4 years, Sulakshana Devi's adopted son, Swami, will be crowned Emperor of Vijayanagara. Now, Sulakshana Devi, the new Minister Pralayankar, Sulakshana Devi's brother Bharkam, and Sulakshana Devi's sister Charulata try to beat Pandit Ramakrishna.
Cast
Main
- Krishna Bharadwaj as Pandit Ramakrishna / Sudama / Bhaskar
- Pankaj Berry as Tathacharya
- Manav Gohil as Maharaja Krishnadevaraya / Woodcutter Hari Om
- * Tarun Khanna replaced Gohil as Maharaja Krishnadevaraya
- Ajay Chaudhary as Pralayankar, Kaikala's son and Charulata's husband.
- Neetha Shetty as Maharani Sulakshana Devi
Recurring
- Vishwajeet Pradhan as Mahamatye Kaikala
- Shakti Anand as Maharaja Balakumaran
- Priyamvada Kant as Sharda, Rama's wife
- * Niya Sharma replaced Kant as Sharda
- *Aasiya Kazi replaced Sharma as Sharda
- Nimisha Vakharia as Lakshmi Amma, Rama's mother
- Manul Chudasma as Princess Amrapali, Kaikala's daughter and Bhaskara's love interest
- Dhruvi Jani as Kanta, Bhaskar's childhood best friend.
- Krish Parekh as Child Gundappa, Rama's friend
- * Aman Mishra as Gundappa
- Sohit Soni as Manicharya, Tathacharya's Disciple
- Sanjay Mangnani as Dhanicharya, Tathacharya's Disciple
- Cheshta Mehta as Charulata, Sulakshana Devi's sister and Pralyankar's wife.
- Ketan Karande as Bharkam, Sulakshana Devi's cousin
- Pradeep Kabra as Senapati Nakush
- Jiten Mukhi as Timmarasu
- Jitendra Pathak as Nagar Kotwal
- Ayaan as child Bhaskar, Rama and Sharda's son
- Chahat Pandey as Ananta Lakshmi, Tathacharya's younger sister and Govind's love interest.
- Meghan Jadhav as Govind, Sharda's younger brother and Ananta Lakshmi's love interest.
- Sonia Sharma as Chinnadevi, Krishnadevraya's first wife
- Priyanka Singh as Tirumalamba, Krishnadevraya's second wife
- Neha Chauhan as Varunmala, Tathacharya's wife
- Heer Chopra as Saudamini, Royal Dancer
- Nishi Singh as Kotwalan, Kotwal's wife
- Rishina Kandhari as Goddess Laxmi / Durga and Navdurga 9 avtars / Kaali / Saraswati
Cameo
- Barkha Sengupta / Kenisha Bhardwaj as Goddess Kali
- Amit Sinha as Mathuradas
- Rajesh Puri as Ramleela Trainer
- Kapil Arya as Achyutadevaraya
- Anand Goradia as Bheeshan Babu
- Rajesh Khera as Sultan Samsuddin Jafar Khan
- Debina Bonnerjee as Mohini
- Nirbhay Wadhwa as Wrestler Dhuaandhar Durjan
- Vikas Verma as The Portuguese magician Marques de Pompador
- Omkar Das Manikpuri as Aghori Baba Danyebanye / Wazir Muttlu Pin-Pin
- Ajay Sharma as a Pirate Shambhuya
- Raja Chaudhary as Dimdima
- Mahesh Raja as Lakhanna
- Aliraza Namdar as Matrubhasha Gupt
- Abhishek Rawat as Kalluri Dinkar
- Raman Thukral as Child Tenali Rama
- Bikramjeet Kanwarpal as King Dhananjay Mudriya
- Amit Dolawat as Bala
- Reema Vohra as Charulata
- Minissha Lamba as Chandrakala, a Visha Kanya
- Monica Castelino as Kalavati
- Tarakesh Chauhan as Acharya Chakrapani
- Raju Pandit as King Dharmapala
- Madhura Naik as Queen Munmun
- Shahbaz Khan as Babur
- Rupali Bhosale as Maya, Mohini's sister
- Sooraj Thapar as Gajpati Pratap Rudra Dev, Orissa's King
- Haelyn Shastri as Varlaxmi, Friend / Neighbour of Sharda
- Urvashi S Sharma / Poonam Rajput as Princess Jaganmohini, Gajpati Pratap Rudra Dev's Daughter
- Piyali Munshi as Bhajani Devi / Sajani
- Ram Awana as Kaalbelu
- Deepak Qazir as Annacharya, Tathacharya's elder brother
- Bhavesh Balchandani / Amit Mistry as Birbal
- Bhupinder Singh as Shaitan
- Saud Mansuri as Yudhveer
- Aishwarya Raj Bhakuni as Sugandha, King Krishnadeva Raya's assumed sister Bhanumati's niece
- Athar Siddiqui as Chandrelu
- Mehmood Junior as Mullah Naseruddin
- Vijay Baldani as Siddhsen
- Ssumier S Pasricha as Sheikh Chilli
- Kajal Jain as Chitrangada
- Hridyansh Shekhawat as Somu / Krodh
- Heena Rajput as Timmarusu's wife
- Jahaan Arora as a Magician
- Patrali Chattopdhyay as Han..chhi, Chinese businesswoman
- Pratima Rasaily as Aan..chhi, Chinese businesswoman
- Mahi Soni as Child Kanta
- Puneet Vashisht as Daku
- Rati Pandey as Princess Devyani
- Bhavin Bhanushali as Mirza Ali, Humayun's son
- Iqbal Azad as Humayun
- Manish Bishla as King Durjan
Production
Casting
Krishna Bharadwaj was chosen to play the titular role of Tenali Rama and went bald for it. Speaking on how he got the role, he said, "I have been waiting for something good to come my way".When I received a call for Tenali Rama, I was shocked to be informed that I would have to go bald. But then I decided to give it a try, and it all fell into places. I feel there has been a divine force blessing me for I have managed to sink my teeth into the character so well. I did not do any research nor read about it but I can assure I am doing a good job, even though I do not consider myself so capable. As for the baldness, the first day, I was really upset but now I see Tenali in the mirror and not Krishna, and that takes away the blues."It was reported in June 2017 that Manav Gohil had been cast to play the pivotal role of Emperor Krishnadevraya. Gohil, who worked with SAB TV on Yam Hain Hum, where he played the titular role, said, "This time it's Krishnadevaraya, a very powerful king that I am portraying. It's a comedy show and I am looking forward to working with a new set of people. The show is "Tenali Rama" and I am so ready to get rolling with this one."
Veteran actor Pankaj Berry was cast to play the series' antagonist and Tenali Rama's foe frenemy, Tathacharya, who is the royal priest in the court room of Emperor Krishnadevraya, and always makes Tenali Rama in trouble in cases with his fellow servants, Dhani and Mani, in which he totally dislikes them. Berry said, "I am very excited to play Tathacharya. It is a very different kind of challenging role, there are different layers to the character even though it's a negative character." It was reported in July 2017 that Sonia Sharma and Priyanka Singh had been cast to play the roles of Krishnadevraya's wives, Chinna Devi and Tirumalamba, respectively.
Awards and nominations
Historical inaccuracies
- The series portrays Chinna Devi as Krishnadevaraya's senior wife and chief queen and Tirumalamba as his junior wife. This is inaccurate. Tirumalamba was actually Krishnadevaraya's senior wife and his chief queen or patta manishi. She was the princess of Srirangapattana and Krishnadevaraya had married her most probably in 1498, long before his accession to the throne in 1509. Chinna Devi was actually princess of Koorg pradesh to whom Krishnadevaraya had married immediately after his accession to the throne and was his junior wife.
- Tathacharya was a very wise priest unless shown in the Serial. But it's true that he hates and tries to get rid of Tenali Rama.
- Ananta Lakshmi and Saudamini were his daughters not girlfriend or sister.
- Krishnadevaraya died in 1529, when Birbal was just one year old. But, in the serial, Birbal is portrayed as a young man in Krishnadevaraya's court.
- Successor of Krishnadevaraya was Achyuta Deva Raya not Balakumaran or Sulakshana devi.
Reception
Adaptations
Tenali Rama aired on Zee Tamil under the title Tenali Raman and was dubbed in Tamil.It was dubbed and aired in Telugu on Zee Telugu as Thenali Ramakrishna.
The series was also aired on Zee Keralam as Tennali Raman, dubbed in Malayalam.
It is dubbed and aired in Sinhala on TV Derana as Panditha Rama.