Japan Synopsis
One of the great masterpieces of world literature comes to vivid life in an elaborate production from acclaimed theater and film innovator Peter Brook. This collection of ancient Sanskrit stories (composed into the longest book ever written) comprises a series of enlightened fables at the heart of countless beliefs, legends, and teachings; indeed, its very title means "the great story of mankind." Brook and writer Jean-Claude Carriere worked for eight years to develop this epic concerning two sides of a royal family, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, whose struggle leads to a fascinating voyage of emotions, passion and vision of glory. Briefly, the Mahabharata is a tale of two rival sets of brothers, cousins to eachother, each born into royalty and with divinely guided paths in life. The result, however, is a great war, death, destruction – a vast epic.
Drama + War in Japan
59 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Drama and War genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding The Mahabharata itself).
The 1989–1991 Japan Window
The Mahabharata holds position #28 of 114 Japan films in the 1989–1991 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 1990s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1990s in Japan, 447 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when The Mahabharata premiered alongside 32 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 32 other Japan films in 1990.
The 807th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
16 audience reviews — more than 28% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 15th percentile among Japan films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on The Mahabharata, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- arjuna · 1
- mythology · 16
- dysfunctional family · 12
- hinduism · 7
- india · 84
- battle · 34
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #1,867 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (59th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.3 points above the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Drama productions specifically: #815 of 1,933 (top 42%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States of America |
| Original Language | En |
| Spoken Languages | English, Hungarian |
| Production Companies | MP Productions, Channel 4 Television, The Brooklyn Academy of Music |
| Runtime | 5h 18m |
| Release Date | January 24, 1990 |
| IMDb | tt0097810 |