Talking with Subhash K Jha,’Lord Krishna’ Nitish Bhardwaj sadly discusses working with the late Pankaj Dheer, who played Karna in the 1988 TV series Mahabharat.
Pankaj Dheer, your co-star from Mahabharat, has sadly passed away. Roopa Ganguly made a very interesting comment. She said, the most handsome person on the set was you, and then the second one was Pankaj ji.
Roopa said that? Very flattering, I must say, coming from a beautiful lady like her. Bengali ladies always surprise me. I will say, if Roopa had said that at that time to me, probably we would have been married.She is herself a very beautiful person. You see, what was most important for Draupadi’s character was the strength of character and beauty of the body, both are required for Draupadi. Because she is the one who was to keep the flock of five Pandavas together in the most difficult times. So, such a woman who is a woman of character and the physical beauty can either make a household or break a household. And Roopa fitted that bill so well.
You were Shri Krishna, and to a large extent, people still recognize you as Lord Krishna. I’m sure you get lots of people touching your feet and all that?
Now I’m doing a Hindi play called Chakravyuh. We’ve done more than 155 show. I travel all across the country, and yes, now, the way I would say is, this kind of a respect for our heritage has been rejuvenated in the last 7-8 years. So the parents make an effort to bring their children,, which is a good thing. And yes, I mean, they’ve seen Mahabharata, and you know, so they come and see the play. I bring children on stage to ask me questions. This is the way we can go ahead with our culture and heritage.J
Just like Arun Govil in Ramayana. You have become the calendar face of Lord Krishna. And Pankaj Dheer the face of Karn? He was very quiet. That was the impression I got.
No, he was a livewire. He was the jaan off the screen, you know, on the set. He, his sense of humor was so good , he would crack jokes all the time. All the time. He was not the quiet types at all. But he, but he was a very straightforward man. You know, in the industry, it is very difficult to find people like that. And I would say he fitted the bill for Karna not only because with his looks, but, but he was himself a very straightforward man. And that’s why he could understand the character so well. And the best quality I found in him is with me, at least with me. See, the most important and crucial, Karna had only, only two aspects to his life. Firstly, let me put it this way, that he’s the first angry young man of the Indian heritage’s pantheon of heroes.He’s the first angry young man. Probably the angry young man of Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan was based on Karna. Like if you see Trishul, you know, Sanjeev Kumar dumped Mr Bachchan who was Karna.
You and Pankaj Dheer formed the core ideology of the Mahabharata?
Karna’s character had two aspects. One is, who am I? The quest for life, the search for identity is number one. And the second thing is when, at the most crucial junction where Krishna puts Karna into that dilemma about his identity,then the anger starts, you know, of being used.Krishna also tells him how he’s being used, even by Duryodhana. So, isn’t it better to be used by your own people than be used by a man who is an immoral man? Right. So, you know, all these dilemmas.
What was it like shooting that crucial moment?
When we came to that scene. That one scene is the core where, after the Shantidood speech, Krishna takes him to a Upavana, to a garden and tells him who he is, who he was.What happened is Pankaj Dheer was unable to understand and express the exact feeling that our director Ravi Chopraji wanted. See, from Krishna’s perspective, to deliberately tell Karna at that crucial time that you are you are not a Kaurav. Okay. To say this delicately so that he should join me, he should join the Pandavas. Karna plunges into a sea of emotions.And then to handle him and steer him in the right direction is Krishna’s challenge.
Pankaj was unable to handle it?
Yes. So, Ravi Chopraji said, okay, pack up. Then he went home. Then at night Ravi ji called me that Pankaj is saying he wants to come and see you tomorrow. And then to discuss the whole thing and we will defer the shoot by one day. Okay. So, I said, okay. He is most welcome. So, Pankaj came home. And then I read out a few things from Marathi literature to him. Explained the whole thing to him. Yes. And then, you see, for that one scene, Pankaj went to the entire length and breadth of that one scene to understand what he should be doing and then we shot that scene. Pankaj came home. He wanted to understand what is Krishna’s perspective of Karna?
So, what did you tell him?
I told him, what is Krishna’s perspective of Karna? That Karna is, is the fulcrum of this war. Everybody is saying to me , Krishna , that I can avoid this war. That’s not the truth. I, I have to ensure that the war takes place so that sab ki pratigya poori ho.But it is up to you, Karna, to avoid this or abort this war because if you turn the side to Pandava, Duryodhana cannot go ahead with the war.
After Mahabharata was over were you in touch with Pankaj Dheer?
I was not really in touch with him for a long time. I was in touch with Puneet Issar, Roopa Ganguly . Recently Pankaj got back in touch with me. And he said that we should meet. I told him, I want you to come and see my play Chakravyuh on 2nd of November, I have 2-3 shows in NCPA of Chakravyuh. And I was to invite him on this 2nd of November show. With Gufi Paintal gone, Pankaj gone, I think we’ll have to initiate a reunion. Because most of these guys are, you know, I’m still 60. Most of these guys are 10 years older to me.
Summing up, how do you look back on the Mahabharat experience?
He made me do a great job. And to be honest with you, Mahabharata has been a big school for me. Acting in Mahabharata I learnt so many things from B.R. Chopra Uncle, his son Ravi Chopra.
