New Delhi: Gajendra Chauhan, who played the role of Yudhishthir in BR Chopra’s Mahabharat, has shared his thoughts on the upcoming Ramayana movie. He said that actors playing mythological characters shouldn’t have a public image. Looking at the trailer, he said that Kaikeyi’s outfits are too modern.
“Here, Ranbir Kapoor has his own image. He is a very big star. Now he is playing Ram,” he said in a podcast with Hindi Rush. Chauhan also praised Ranbir Kapoor’s look. “He looks very good in the get-up.”
While he praised Arun Govil’s casting in the film, he called it the best casting in the film.
“He was Ram 40 years ago. After 40 years, he has grown into Dasrath. He has become a father,” he said.
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Mahabharata days
Chauhan spoke about his time doing Mahabharat and said that he wasn’t prepared to play the role of Yudhishthir. Initially, he was cast for the role of Krishna, then Balram, but then moved to the role of Yudhishthir.
“I thought I am not getting what I wanted to do. But our director Ravi Chopra told me that this role is equally good,” he recalled.
According to Chauhan, Mahabharat was going to be telecast much earlier than Ramayana, and the marketing for the show was started back in 1984, but the shooting started four years later, in 1984. Before the telecast, a pre-screening was organised for politicians, who did not like the dialogues of Raja Bharat, played by Raj Babbar — “Asking must be determined on the basis of merit and not on the basis of birth.”
“Someone was very badly affected by it. That person ordered that this serial shouldn’t be telecast,” Chauhan recalled.
To solve the telecast issue, BR Chopra and Ravi Chopra sought a fast-track court at night.
“However, on the same evening as the stay, Chopra sir pulled a fast-track court at night. He made sure the stay was revoked,” he said.
Chauhan also claimed that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the biggest admirer of the show and used to ask him to retell his dialogues.
“He used to watch Mahabharat so intently that no one could cross him… If you go back to his parliamentary speeches, you will see his references to Mahabharat. He often made me retell my dialogues,” he said.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)