WAVES OTT’s newly announced Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh project is yet another retelling of the grand epic that has been adapted countless times, so many, in fact, that we’ve honestly lost count. What makes this announcement even more baffling is the revelation that the project has been “reimagined by AI.” This title from WAVES OTT feels less like a leap of innovation and more like a stumble into redundancy.
The collaboration between the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati and Collective Media Network, while being touted as a “Maha-AI” event, frankly looks questionable at best.
The Mahabharat has been retold in every conceivable form, through oral traditions, countless regional versions, comics, novels, films, and, most memorably, the iconic 1980s Doordarshan series. More recently, Netflix India released Kurukshetra, the platform’s first-ever animated Indian mythology series, which has earned mostly positive responses from viewers.
But amidst all these reinterpretations of the great Indian epic, do we really need another retelling of the Mahabharat, and that too, powered by AI? What new insights could artificial intelligence possibly bring to the concept of dharma that generations of scholars, playwrights, and filmmakers haven’t already explored?
The War of all Wars/The Greatest Story of All Time
Written by Ved Vyas
Reimagined by AI.
It’s not just Mahabharata.
It’s Maha AI!Grand Premier on 25th Oct exclusively on Waves @PIB_India @DrLMurugan @sjaju1 @GauravDwivedi95 @DDNational @MIB_India @navneetsehgal3… pic.twitter.com/bLzR7kgS2w
— WAVES OTT (@WAVES_OTT) October 11, 2025
The project’s promotional clip showcases AI being used as a high-end CGI enhancement tool, polishing the chariots and gods until they shimmer gloriously in 8K. Yet the enduring power of the Mahabharat has never lain in its visual spectacle; it has always come from its moral ambiguity and the profoundly human flaws of its characters, qualities that seem conspicuously absent in WAVES OTT’s AI-driven vision.
Using an AI-generated format, especially one reportedly designed to cater to Gen Z’s shorter attention span, risks turning a deeply philosophical and spiritual text into disposable, “scroll-worthy” content.
It might be fair to say this “Maha-AI” version will at least give the characters better facial expressions, jokes aside, though, that’s not the real issue here. The concern isn’t merely that the series is being “reimagined by AI,” but how audiences will react to it. Because if AI ends up miscasting or digitally tweaking a deity or a revered character, WAVES OTT may find itself facing a far bigger war than the original 18-day one.
We’re hiring!
We are hiring two full-time junior to mid-level writers with the option to work remotely. You need to work a 5-hour shift and be available to write. Interested candidates should email their sample articles to [email protected]. Applications without a sample article will not be considered.
