India's most expensive TV show had ₹500 crore budget, more than Baahubali, Brahmastra, Kanguva; each episode cost crores

The most expensive TV show produced in India had a budget of nearly ₹2 crore per episode and was popular worldwide.

Updated on: Nov 19, 2024, 13:14:43 IST

By Abhimanyu Mathur

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The recently released pan-India film Kanguva is said to have grossed over ₹100 crore at the box office. Yet, it is quite a fair distance from recovering its cost because of its massive ₹350-crore budget. This makes it one of the most expensive Indian films ever made. And yet, it pales in comparison to the most expensive TV show produced in India, a historical epic that cost the makers ₹500 crore. (Also read: Porus nothing less than a film, might just be ahead of Baahubali 2: Laksh Lalwani)

India's most expensive TV show

The 2017-18 historical drama Porus is India's most expensive TV series. Firstpost reported in 2017 that the show had a whopping budget of ₹500 crore, which was, at the time, higher than any film made in India. Since then, three films have surpassed the figure (Adipurush, RRR, and Kalki 2898 AD). But even then, Porus remains a bigger project than some of the biggest Indian films ever made, including Baahubali 2 ( ₹250 crore), Brahmastra Part One ( ₹350 crore), Jawan ( ₹300 crore), and even the recent release, Singham Again ( ₹350 crore).

What made Porus so expensive

Porus was based on the historical Paurava king of the same name, who famously fought the Greek emperor Alexander in the fourth century BC. The show was mounted on a massive scale, with the producers intending to make it as grand as the Baahubali film series. Massive sets were erected, and top-notch VFX supervisors were hired. For the show's battle sequences, thousands of extras were hired. Much of the production took place overseas, in Thailand, further ballooning costs. This meant that, on average, each episode of the 299-episode series cost ₹1.70 crore. It easily beat the record of the previous most expensive Indian TV show - Suryaputra Karna - by a long margin. Suryaputra Karna had cost ₹250 crore.

About Porus

Created by Siddharth Kumar Tewary of Swastik Productions, Porus premiered on Sony TV on November 27, 2017 and concluded a year later. The show starred Laksh Lalwani in the titular role, along with Rohit Purohit as Alexander. Other prominent cast members included Rati Pandey, Aditya Redji, Sameksha, Mohit Abrol, and Sunny Ghanshani. Porus received wide acclaim, with Pinkvilla dubbing it the 'Baahubali of TV' in its review. The show also won three international awards, including Best Director for Tewary at the Asian Television Awards. A sequel - Chandragupta Maurya - aired from November 2018 to August 2019.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhimanyu Mathur
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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