From Mukesh Khanna as Bhishma and Nitish Bhardwaj as Lord Krishna to Roopa Ganguly as Draupadi and Puneet Issar as Duryodhana, the 1980s cult series Mahabharat on Doordarshan starred many famous names. Produced by BR Chopra, the five Pandavas in the epic TV show, based on the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, were played by Gajendra Chauhan as Yudhishthira, Praveen Kumar as Bhima, Firoz Khan as Arjuna, Sameer Chitre as Nakula, and Sanjeev Chitre as Sahadeva.
The role of Arjuna was first offered to Pankaj Dheer, who refused it on just one condition that he won't shave off his moustache. In an interview with Lehren Retro last year, Pankaj recalled, "When I gave my audition, dialogue writers Rahi Masoom Raza, Bhring Tupkari sahab and Pandit Narendra Sharma ji had a panel together. They all thought that I would suit the role of Arjuna well. We shook hands on that and I signed the contract. Then BR Chopra called me and told me that since I would also have to play the role of Brihannala (the eunuch form of Arjuna) and for that I would need to shave off your moustache. I was like, ‘No, I can’t do that.’ I told him that my face’s balance is such that if I shave off my moustache, I won’t look good. He told me, ‘Are you an actor or what? You are leaving such a big role because of a moustache. I can’t understand this.'"
The veteran actor further added that due to his condition, BR Chopra threw him out of office, but later requested him to play Karna in Mahabharat when he wasn't getting any suitable actor to play Surya and Kunti's son. "It was my big stupidity but at that time, I could understand only this much. Chopra sahab told me, ‘Get out of this door and don’t come back.’ He threw me out of his office. My contract was torn and for six months I kept roaming around and doing dubbing. Chopra sir called me again and this is what I call destiny. He asked me if I could do Karna’s role. I asked him, ‘Sir I don’t have to shave off my moustache right?’ He said no. It was destiny that I got Karna’s role", Dheer concluded.
After the show's success, Pankaj Dheer went on to star in multiple successful films. Some of his most famous film roles were with Shah Rukh Khan in Baadshah, Ajay Devgn in Zameen, and Salman Khan in Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge. Now, Pankaj's son Nikiteen Dheer is also a famous actor and has been seen in movies such as Shershaah, Sooryavanshi, and Ready among others.
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