'I want to break the image of Shaktimaan with this role'-Mukesh Khanna

Mukesh Khanna better known as Shaktimaan amongst kids and Bhishm Pitamah in the silvers is now seen playing the dutiful father, Biswadeep Chaudhury in Sony’s ‘Waqt Batayega Kaun Apna Kaun Paraya'.

The actor goes down the memory lane and talks about his various roles and experiences playing them…

Tell us something about your role in the serial?
I play Biswadeep, the head of the Chaudhary family. He has adopted a daughter Rudra and loves her a lot. But my wife due to certain reasons does not like her as she thinks she is a daughter from my extra marital affair. I always wanted to play a strong and positive role and I think this is the right platform for me.

What is the message that the serial is trying to give?
Today the society is such that everyone wants a boy, but I personally feel that this serial is subtly giving a message that females are no more a curse to the society, but rather a boon as I and my family adopt a daughter and keep her happy. The conflict in the serial actually starts when the mother does not like Rudra where as the father gives her all the attention, in fact more than what he gives his sons.

After playing powerful characters like Shaktimaan, Bhishm Pitamah, are you comfortable with the role of a father?
Yes, very much!! I think it is easier for me to get into the character as I have played Bhishm Pitamah before, where I was the father for five generations. For people who have seen me as Shaktimaan, it might be surprising to see me in such a role. In fact, I am trying to break the image of Shaktimaan with this role. I think the dialogues here are well written, and for me dialogues are really important in any role I play. At the end of the day, I am living Shaktimaan , Bhishm Pitamah and now Biswajeet.

Tell us something about your relationship with Dheeraj Kumar?
I know Dheeraj ji from the days when he made the movie ‘Waqt ke Shehzaade’; it was my second movie as an actor. Since that day, we been good pals and today I am really happy that the ‘Waqt’ has got us back together!

How has the experience been on the sets of Waqt?
It is a nice mix with experienced actors like Kishori Shahane, Nishigandha Wadh and also some newcomers like Bankim (Rakesh Kukreti) and Upendra. We all gel together well.

Any Dream roles?
When I started my career, I wanted to do all the historical roles. But after living two images concurrently like Shaktimaan and Bhishm Pitamah, I can say I have no dream role left in mind. I think people live one image and die with that like Amjad Khan lived the image of Gabbar Singh and died with that. In the same way, Superstar Amitabh Bachchan is known as an Angry young man whereas I am known as Shaktimaan in one breath and in the other as Bhishm Pitamah. Let’s hope Biswajeet Chaudhary also gets popular!!

Author and Reporter: Binita Ramchandani