Television shows have moved beyond their humble beginnings in India, where they were little more than televised plays. The slice-of-life shows like Nukkad and soaps like Buniyaad were never big on scale. The soaps in the 2000s scaled up to an extent but were still not as grand as the films made in Hindi. That all changed as the decade turned and TV shows in India grew bigger and grander. One in particular had a budget that dwarves even the biggest Bollywood blockbusters.
The most expensive Indian TV show is...
Porus, a historical TV show aired on Sony, from 2017-18 and was billed as the most expensive Indian show ever made. The finite series had a reported budget of Rs 500 crore across 299 episodes, which made it more expensive than Suryaputra Karn, which was made in Rs 250 crore. Porus told the story of Indian king Porus and his famous face-off against Greek emperor Alexander the Great at the Battle of Hydapses. The show was praised for its immense scale, slick visuals, and large-scale battle sequences. Porus, notably, had no big star in the cast. The show starred Laksh Lalwani in the titular role. The actor had not played lead role in any TV show till then. Rohit Purohit, who played Alexander, was a known name in the TV industry but certainly not a huge name.
How Porus’ budget was greater than all Indian films till then
When Porus began airing, the most expensive Indian film ever made was Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. The SS Rajamouli film had a production budget of Rs 250 crore, just half of Porus. By the end of its run, 2.0 had taken over the tag of the most expensive Indian film with a budget of Rs 400 crore. But Porus still reigned supreme. Today, film like Kalki 2898 AD, Adipurush, and RRR have budgets more than Porus. But these are the only three. In fact, many of the recent Indian blockbusters put together can’t match up to Porus’ scale. The combined budgets of Animal (Rs 100 crore), Dunki (Rs 120 crore), and Fighter (Rs 250 crore) come out to Rs 470 crore, still less than Porus.
Porus’ reception and legacy
Despite the absence of stars, Porus was a huge hit. When it was released, viewers and critics favourably compared it to big Indian films with Pinkvilla calling it the ‘Baahubali of Indian television’. The show’s success led to Sony TV ordering a spinoff – Chandragupta Maurya. The show began airing immediately after Porus ended with many of the actors reprising their role.
