For many, Lord Krishna remembers the face of Nitish Bharadwaj. The veteran actor, who performed the function of Krishna in BR Chopra’s iconic tv present Mahabharat, nonetheless, refused to play the function for the primary time. On Krishna Janmashtami immediately, re-watch the episodes from the making of the enduring TV present.
Bharadwaj was initially forged as Vidur, however he was changed and rather a lot occurred after that. “I was first cast as Vidur and called to Seth Studio to shoot. When I was in the make-up room, Virendra Razdan came in costume and said that he is playing the character of Vidur. I said, ‘How can you play Vidur? He has called me for a shoot’. I went inside to meet Ravi ji (Ravi Chopra). He told me, ‘You’re barely 23-24. After a few episodes, Vidur is going to get old. It wouldn’t feel right’. After that, as far as Mahabharat was concerned, I was unemployed,” the actor had mentioned in 2020 when Mahabharat was being re-released throughout the pandemic.
Bhardwaj was approached once more by BR Chopra, this time to play the function of Nakul and Sahadev. But the artist wished to do Abhimanyu. “I knew the story of Mahabharata and wished to do one thing higher. Before pack-up, he requested me what I actually wished to do. I informed him that I need to play Abhimanyu.” BR Chopra assured that his workforce would take into account Bharadwaj’s want.
Nitish Bharadwaj Eventually Lord Krishna was supplied the lead function. This was when he was capturing for his second Marathi function movie in Kolhapur and was on out of doors capturing for a number of days. “In those days, we only got messages through the landline when we came back to the hotel.” He informed that his mom informed him how Gufi Paintal was making an attempt to contact him. “They wanted to screen test me for Krishna.”
Mahabharat aired on Doordarshan between 1988-1990 and emerged as one of many flagship reveals of the channel. (Photo: DD National)
Gufi Pental, who was the casting in-charge, additionally performed the function of Shakuni. “I told my mother to say no because I thought I couldn’t do it. She used her wit and told Gufi that I am shooting in Kolhapur and she will tell me about her proposal only when I come back,” Bharadwaj mentioned.
On his return the actor didn’t strategy BR Chopra, as an alternative he moved on to his subsequent venture. But future has its means, he later collides with Chopra and the one who confronts him to keep away from his proposal. “I informed him ‘You want a extra skilled individual, how are you going to have a brand new individual taking part in the function of a superhero (Krishna)’.
On being persuaded by BR Chopra to “at least appear for the screen test”, Bharadwaj went forward, and performed the function of Lord Krishna for 2 years. Mahabharat aired on Doordarshan between 1988-1990 and emerged as one of many flagship reveals of the channel.
Comfort, as they are saying, is historical past!
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
