Throwback: When actor- Producer Mukesh Khanna took a dig at Sonakshi Sinha for ignorance in ‘Mythology’
Throwback: When actor- Producer Mukesh Khanna took a dig at Sonakshi Sinha for ignorance in ‘Mythology’
Actor-Producer Mukesh Khanna took a dig at Sonakshi Sinha for ‘not adequately versed on
Mythology.
Mythology based shows are a big faction of television and the audience connect with them devotedly. Amid the pandemic, when shows like Ramayan and Mahabharat were being aired on TV, actor-producer Mukesh Khanna found it a good opportunity for the youngsters to learn about mythology.
In the midst of the pandemic lockdown, Mukesh Khanna headlined when he took a dig at popular at actress Sonakshi Singha for ‘not being well versed with mythology.’
He revealed some unknown facts on his shows, slammed Ekta Kapoor for making a mockery of the holy show Mahabharat and more.
On the re-runs of the holy shows Mukesh affirmed that the reruns will really help people who haven’t watched Mahabharat and Ramayan. It will also help people like Sonakshi Sinha who doesn’t seem to be versed on knowledge on our mythological sagas. People like her are also unaware who did lord Hanuman get Sanjivani for. There is a video doing the rounds where a few boys are asked whose Mama (uncle) was Kans and they got scared to answer. Some said Duryodhan, others said something else, so they are not aware of the mythology.”
The actor-filmmaker spoke on daily soaps and how it has polluted the minds of youth
The actor and producer shared that it’s time for people to sanitise their minds as it has been polluted by the daily soaps. He further added that the saas Bahu shows have killed the weekly mythology-based shows.
He feels happy that the reruns of Ramayan and Mahabharat are happening because these daily soaps have polluted the minds and now it is the time to sanitize it. Mukesh also doesn’t feel that women who are shown in these daily soaps belong to my or our country. To understand what our women are made of and what they are exactly watch Ramayan and Mahabharat. He went on to add that there was a time when TV took over Radio, and now 24-hour news channels and online news have taken over newspapers. Similarly, saas-bahu shows have killed the good bi-weekly shows, they want to watch this drama Monday to Saturday.
He has no grudge on Ekta and doesn’t blame Ekta Kapoor entirely. When she made Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, 30 similar shows featuring saas bahu got made. He feels sorry that the women she shows we don’t see in real life. Her shows or these saas-bahu shows have women sleeping in designer saris, loud makeup and heavy jewellery and then waking up in it. I don’t see such women around me,” he added.
On the reruns of Mahabharat and Ramayan during the lockdown the actor-producer says that something like the pandemic was very unexpected and he never saw such a day coming. However, he said that it’s in a way good that people can now watch Ramayan and Mahabharat. He added, he had never dreamt that this day will come when you will be forced to sit at home and you not be allowed to go out. I
MMukesh always wanted this generation to watch Ramayan and Mahabharat.
The filn had has shaken the entire world, and economy and everyone is now forced to be at home. He really appreciates our PM’s efforts that he enforced this lockdown of 21 days. This has led to curfew-like situation and now the best of 80-90s shows, the classic are being played. He had insisted and called up the CEO of Prasar Bharti and shared with him that people on Twitter and other social media platforms are writing that they want to watch the rerun of Shaktimaan too. Earlier, when Mahabharat and Ramayan played on TV there used to be a curfew on roads and now it is happening again.”
He wishes to confess that Ivv never liked the TV show, Ramayan”
The actor confessed that he never really liked the TV show Ramayan and the show Mahabharat was more of his thing. He further said that he didn’t like the way the show has been made and that is the reason for his disliking. “I would like to confess that I never liked the TV show, Ramayan. It was like I belonged to BJP and Ramayan was Congress. Whenever I watched the show, I felt why Ramanand Sagar made such a slow show. I used to like watching Mahabharat because it was fast-paced. I recently started watching Ramayan and I was literally floored away by the way it was made. After every scene, there was Ravindra Jain’s song, a chaupai. It was so pleasant to watch and I had tears in my eyes during a few scenes,” he added.
Sass Bahu sagas have destroyed the TV watching generation
Mukesh said that it is not just about Ramayan and Mahabharat but also other iconic shows that got taken over by the TV shows. The actor elaborated, “ Just forget about Ramayan and Mahabharat, take an example of Buniyaad, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Nukkad these shows were not related to mythology but even they had good content. Look at the story, the making, performances, they still look fresh. But today nobody has time to watch. First it was about test matches, then they started playing 50 overs, now they have reduced that and started playing 20-20. Now, we are not far enough when the results will be decided on who won the toss. So, yes I feel saas bahu sagas have played an important role in destroying the TV watching generation. There is a lack of good content on TV.”
It took Mukesh a year to work on his body for Bhishmapitama”
He recalled working super hard to build a proper body for his role of Bhishmapitama.
He revealed that it took him almost a year to build the body for the role. He got a year to work on his body. Initially, there was a plan of bringing Mahabharat and Ramayan together, but later it was decided that Ramayan will be aired first as bringing two epic sagas together won’t be a good idea. We had even got selected for our roles. He hit the gym for a year to work on my physique. He remembers the show was so successful that once a TC allowed us (Gufi Paintal and me) to travel in a train without ticket from Lucknow to Mumbai as we had missed our flight. There was a couple who even commented that they will allow Bhishmapitamah to sit but won’t give a seat to Shakuni (laughs). So they were this attached to us and our characters.
Mukesh also reveals that the audience used to perform arti before watching Ramayan
The actor revealed that people were really connected to Ramayan and Mahabharat. While some used to perform arti before watching Ramayan, others would walk to different villages to see Mahabharat.
But now, when he watched it again I felt the difference between Ramayan and Mahabharat..Ramayan is an emotional subject. Mahabharat is all about tempo. But now, he has realised his mistake and I feel he took pain in showing small small details.
That’s the reason people performed arti before the show went on-air. People used to walk to another village to watch Mahabharat. Now, I am watching both together.”
He expressed his disappointment in Ekta Kapoor for making a ‘mockery’ of the popular mythology based show Mahabharat. Mukesh says that the actor of the show was shown with six-packs and the actress with tattoos which was not how it should be. He added, “Ekta Kapoor took Ronit Roy to play Bhishmapitama and they were flaunting six-pack abs, she took popular heroines to play Draupadi and other female characters. I did 15 films before bagging the role in Bhishmapitamah and had given a proper look test wearing a beard and proper mustache.
Selection was made on the basis of our audition and they were elected and that’s why they did not look the character.
Mranwhile, Mukesh feels that the irony of his life is when he was young he had played Bhishmapitamah and enacted Shaktimaan’s role later in his career.”
On his iconic role of Shaktimaan
Mukesh believes that his show Shaktimaan didn’t have good visuals but he it had a good story. He said, “We shot the entire show in FilmCity and we had a fully air-conditioned set.
It was one of the first full air-conditioned sets. We shot for two years there and we had make-up rooms upstairs and down was our set.
Yes, definitely today things have become easy because of VFX, but in those days there were visual effects. So, if they had to show that mere body mein 50 teer (arrows) lage hain, they shot for 50 times and he had to give expressions that many times. Whatever, we did in during that time is commendable. He also mentioned, VFX can’t change the destiny of the film, Shah Rukh Khan’s Ra-one had the best of visual effects, but it failed to work, because it lacked good content.
News input KV Raman
