Veteran actor Mukesh Khanna was seen playing the role of Bhishma Pitamah in BR Chopra’s famous TV series Mahabharata, which was highly appreciated by the audience. Now in a recent interview, the actor has criticized Ekta Kapoor’s 2008 drama ‘Kahani Hamare Mahabharat Ki’.
In an interview, Mukesh Khanna said, ‘Many people thought of recreating ‘Mahabharata’ but no one could do it because they did not have writers like Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza and Pandit Narendra Sharma and neither did they have dedication like him. There were attempts to tamper. Ekta Kapoor had tattooed Draupadi. All the Pandavas with bare bodies looked like models.’
The actor further said- ‘In our version, the role of Bhim was played by Praveen Kumar, Arjun by Firoz Khan, Pankaj Dheer by Karna and Gajendra Chauhan by Yudhishthir. These actors played these characters very well and that is why people still remember them. Nakul and Sahdev also had a different identity.’
In the end the actor says, ‘Overall I want to say that no one has shown as much dedication as we did in our ‘Mahabharat’. Nowadays everything has been made commercial. There is no understanding of storytelling like Chopra sahab. Today people are dependent on sets, so, Mahabharata was not remade successfully.’
