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Mahabharata (2013) Plot summary

Two brothers come across a magic coin and fight for it. A bird appears from the coin and begins reciting the Mahabharata as a message for all of mankind.

She sings the summary of the war's origins. Sage Durwas visits Princess Kunti's palace and blesses her that she will obtain sons from the gods. Kunti asks for a son from the sun god but becomes ridiculed for being an unwed mother, so she leaves him in a basket to float away in River Ganga. She marries Pandu and has 3 sons: Arjun, Bheem, and Yudhishtir. Pandu's second wife, Madri, gives birth to Nakul and Sahadev. Pandu's sons are known as the Pandavas. Pandu's blind brother, Dhritarashta, has 100 sons, the Kauravas, with his wife Gandhari. The eldest Kaurava is Duryodhan. The Pandavas and Kauravas learn under Sage Dronacharya and develop animosity between one another, which sparks the Mahabharata.

In Hastinapur, grandsire Bheeshma arrives at the exhibition of the Pandavas' and Kauravas' weapon skills. Karan, Kunti's first son that she gave away, arrives to challenge Arjun as the best archer. He is originally not allowed to participate in the challenge because he is not royalty, but Duryodhan declares him the King of Ang, eager to see Karan defeat Arjuna. Seeing them duel each other, Dronacharya declares Karan and Arjuna as equally skillful warriors. Yudhishtir is declared the King of Hastinapur, which makes Duryodhan jealous. His uncle, Shakuni, helps him devise a plan that will burn the Pandavas to ashes. They plan to burn their palace, but Vidur, another uncle, tells Bheem of the plan beforehand. Everyone believes that the Pandavas and Kunti have been burned alive, but with the help of Vidur, they use an underground escape route to flee the burning palace. Vidur advises them to live undercover in the forest for some time to build their strength and supporters, telling them that Krishna will guide them.

King Draupad holds a competition to find a husband for his daughter, Draupadi. The Pandavas arrive in the disguise of Brahmins to partake, and Arjuna wins the competition. When Arjuna comes to tell Kunti the news, without hearing what happened, Kunti orders Arjuna to share whatever he has won amongst all five brothers. Krishna arrives and explains how in her past life, Draupadi had asked for a husband five times, and Shiva had granted this request.

The Pandavas create a palace of illusions and invite Duryodhan, where Draupadi insults him out of vengeance. Duryodhan leaves feeling humiliated and angry. Duryodhan sets up a gambling match, where Yuddhishtir loses his kingdom and all of his posessions. He gambles away Draupadi, who Duryodhan publicly disrobes. Draupadi prays to Krishna, who uses his divine power to protect her dignity. To atone for their sins of gambling and not protecting Draupadi, the Pandavas go into exile again. In exile, Shiva and Parvati are pleased with Arjuna's penance and give him a powerful weapon.

Krishna warns the Kauravas against starting war, but they do not pay heed. Arjuna tells Krishna he cannot fight against his family, but Krishna tells him this is a war of right and wrong, and he must fight for the truth. Krishna reminds him that souls are immortal, so he should not worry about killing his family members' bodies. The Pandavas realize that they can't win until Bheeshma is on the battlefield because he has a boon that he cannot die. Arjuna reluctantly shoots him with many arrows to incapacitate him. The Pandavas send Arjuna's son Abhimanyu on the battlefield to break Dronacharya's labyrinth. Duryodhan and Shakuni trap Abhimanyu in the labyrinth formation and stab him from the back.

Kunti visits Karaa and tells her that she is his mother, begging him to spare the Pandavas. He promises not to kill any of the Pandava brothers except for Arjuna. On the battlefield, Duryodhan gets angry with Karan for not shooting the Pandavas when they are easy targets. Instead, while Karna is fixing his stuck wheel, Krishna tells Arjuna to shoot him, and Karan sacrifices himself for the sake of his mother. Seeing his army being defeated, Duryodhan sits in the ocean to meditate and Bheem follows him. They engage in duel until Bheem hits him in the thigh and kills him, ending the war. Kunti reveals to everyone that Karna was her eldest son and that he sacrificed himself for her to remove the stigma against him. Yuddhistir is crowned king and the Pandavas rule Hastinapur.

The story telling bird tells the boys that they should never forget the lessons from the Mahabharat, such as respecting elders and living in unity.