Deepika can never pull off Draupadi the way Pooja Sharma did!

What Pooja Sharma did as Draupadi is untouchable. Not saying this cause I dislike DP personally but not just her I don't see anyone from any other regional film industries either nailing the character as amazingly as Pooja did in SPMB. Definitely none among the active Bollywood actresses, Vidya could've done justice to the role in her prime but I don't see her fitting in as Draupadi at the moment due to her figure. Maybe Anushka Shetty will do to some extent. Y'all might look down upon her since she's a TV actress but she was beyond terrific as Draupadi in every frame every single scene right from her birth to last episode. Pooja has immortalized herself as Draupadi in modern audience minds. Pooja is Draupadi. Draupadi is Pooja. Such sheer impact. Whenever I read or think of Draupadi, Pooja's face appears instantly right infront my eyes. I can't help but visualize her, none else. Be it intensity, emotional, light-hearted, breakdown. Her performance was the major highlight of that shitty televised SPMB factually incorrect and interpolated version of MB. I was in awe of her performance & more so because she had no acting experience before that show. The goosebumps she gave, the intensity she had shown... Uff. Surreal. I seriously feel Bollywood shouldn't dare to touch that cause not just story wise, an actor of such low calibre as Deepika would be the biggest miscast ever as Draupadi who was a force to be reckoned with, unlike DP who has crybaby expressions on her face all the time. It's way way out of her league and range. She'll not only ruin an epic character as Draupadi, will turn the iconic disrobing sequence into an unintentional comedy scene with her voice. She doesn't have the depth, presence, voice modulation, acting chops, intensity, dialogue delivery at all. Pooja was on whole different level altogether.

Here are some of the small clips :

https://www.hotstar.com/1000028023

https://www.hotstar.com/1000012103

Yea, maybe DP cannot.... But to say no-one can do is exaggeration..... Esp from regional industries.... I am sure, south, marathi and even bengali industry have few talented actresses who can do similar or better job....

Originally posted by: anjs

Yea, maybe DP cannot.... But to say no-one can do is exaggeration..... Esp from regional industries.... I am sure, south, marathi and even bengali industry have few talented actresses who can do similar or better job....

like who? I can only consider Anushka Shetty from outside Bollywood. I don't think talented leading actresses exist anymore in Bengali cinema.

Having never seen this show, I can't judge on how good Pooja was. There are alot of roles where I can't imagine anyone but original actor doing it because they have made such a strong impression with their role and acting. Same could be the case here. Which means Pooja is prolly talented and did full justice to the role, but that doesn't negate the talent that is there in rest of India and its actresses.

This might be a very unpopular opinion...but I think Pooja was a terrible choice! She neither matched the character by her looks or her acting. The whole presentation of Draupadi and various important scenes of her was messed up in that Star Plus Mahabharat... the original was much better

Originally posted by: Unfair_Salman

What Pooja Sharma did as Draupadi is untouchable. Not saying this cause I dislike DP personally but not just her I don't see anyone from any other regional film industries either nailing the character as amazingly as Pooja did in SPMB. Definitely none among the active Bollywood actresses, Vidya could've done justice to the role in her prime but I don't see her fitting in as Draupadi at the moment due to her figure. Maybe Anushka Shetty will do to some extent. Y'all might look down upon her since she's a TV actress but she was beyond terrific as Draupadi in every frame every single scene right from her birth to last episode. Pooja has immortalized herself as Draupadi in modern audience minds. Pooja is Draupadi. Draupadi is Pooja. Such sheer impact. Whenever I read or think of Draupadi, Pooja's face appears instantly right infront my eyes. I can't help but visualize her, none else. Be it intensity, emotional, light-hearted, breakdown. Her performance was the major highlight of that shitty televised SPMB factually incorrect and interpolated version of MB. I was in awe of her performance & more so because she had no acting experience before that show. The goosebumps she gave, the intensity she had shown... Uff. Surreal. I seriously feel Bollywood shouldn't dare to touch that cause not just story wise, an actor of such low calibre as Deepika would be the biggest miscast ever as Draupadi who was a force to be reckoned with, unlike DP who has crybaby expressions on her face all the time. It's way way out of her league and range. She'll not only ruin an epic character as Draupadi, will turn the iconic disrobing sequence into an unintentional comedy scene with her voice. She doesn't have the depth, presence, voice modulation, acting chops, intensity, dialogue delivery at all. Pooja was on whole different level altogether.

Here are some of the small clips :

https://www.hotstar.com/1000028023

https://www.hotstar.com/1000012103

she was very good (as per my friends)I am watching the old Mahabharat and asked few Indian friends their take on Mahabharata most of them were fan fan girling/boying on Pooja I have not watched SPMB but the impact she left on audience surely speaks about her range.

Is it true it's her first show ? Heard she was a model before ❓

Never watched Star Plus Mahabharat so can't say. But I think Rupa Ganguli was brilliant as Draupadi in BR Chopra's Mahabharat.

Originally posted by: Unfair_Salman

like who? I can only consider Anushka Shetty from outside Bollywood. I don't think talented leading actresses exist anymore in Bengali cinema.

Sai Pallavi maybe. Okay this might be a stretch but I am a total fangirl for her😆

Originally posted by: Anjalika01

This might be a very unpopular opinion...but I think Pooja was a terrible choice! She neither matched the character by her looks or her acting. The whole presentation of Draupadi and various important scenes of her was messed up in that Star Plus Mahabharat... the original was much better

The original as in BRC? Since BRC made a complete mess of the character Vyasa wrote and changed her into a revenge thirsty b**** instead of the awesome force she was, it can hardly be considered a template to compare against. BRC made Krishna reprimand Panchali when in epic, each time she spoke, Krishna actually did what she asked.

But yeah, Star Plus Panchali was also not Vyasa's Panchali. The Panchali from the epic was an awesome woman, the finance minister and citizen liaison of Indraprasth, pandith, a woman with enough martial prowess to throw down both Jayadrath and Keechak. She was the woman who lectured Krishna, not the other way around. Star Plus made her into Krishna's puppet. And she never, ever made that silly vow about not trying her hair!

I was incensed watching the post dice hall scenes. They gave Krishna HER lines! Why? Why, why, why? Even in the pre Bhagavat Yana scene, Krishna got her lines on dharma/adharma. It's not as though KRISHNA needed propping up. Then, there were all the extra lines they added to justify K boy in the sexual assault he perpetrated. The real Panchali hardly knew he existed until the dice hall, and even there, she ignored him and spoke to the elders.

Pooja did fit the bill in terms of beauty and strength. The characterization was poor.

As for Deepika... no way. Maybe Sushmita or Priyanka in their younger days. No Deepika. EVAAAHHH!!!

1. She simply doesn't fit the beauty bill.

2. There is no way Deepika can bring the kind of strength to her performances a role like Panchali needs.

Beauty wise, I don't believe any actress ( past or present) completely fits. PC and Sush come the closest. Acting wise, the closest one I can think of is probably Nitya Menon. Or Vidya.