It took us one and half years to understand Mahabharat properly: Praneet Bhatt

Praneet Bhatt who hails from Srinagar is elated on bagging the role of a lifetime in Shakuni for the epic show on Star Plus, Mahabharat starting 16 September 2013. Says Praneet, “This show produced by Swastik Productions will basically try to educate and entertain people and provide answers to many questions like – Why did Mahabharat war happen? Why did Shakuni want to take revenge? Why did Draupadi go through all the humiliation at the hands of the Kauravas? Why did Krishna have to salvage the situation?... so on and so forth. Also, as a country man, I have taken it as a duty or my service to the nation to tell our country’s story to the viewers.” It has been two years since Praneet bagged the coveted role of Shakuni in the epic. However, the actor stood his ground, and prepared himself with quite a lot of workshops instead of taking up another show. “It actually took us one and half years to understand Mahabharat properly. We had a lot of workshops, and our Guru was Producer Siddharth Tewary. He instilled so much confidence in me that I had it in me to play this role to the ‘T’. To shoot with the best of cameras, and amidst larger than life sets, has been an amazing experience. We indeed have our fingers crossed.” Praneet who has a great theatre experience, believes that one needs to understand the character he is to play, and age is certainly no bar for the role you play. “Actors need a good platform to showcase their talent. Our seniors from theatre like Naseer Bhai (Naseeruddin Shah) have essayed roles which are different from their real age. We have learnt seeing them and get motivated by their works.” On his preparations for essaying the role of Shakuni, the actor avers, “Well, Siddharth Sir worked on explaining the nuances of every character in Mahabharat to us. At the workshop, Rajat Kapoor helped us in sharpening the technicalities of acting. And then Prince our Director helped us in executing it. We got to learn horse riding, martial arts, sword fighting etc.” As said earlier by Praneet, the story revolving around Shakuni will talk of the immense and unconditional love that Shakuni had for his sister which actually lead to the story of Mahabharat. Get ready to watch the epic saga on Star Plus, Mahabharat from 16 September 2013 at the 8.30 PM slot.