MUMBAI: Today, the name Puneet Issar has become synonymous with Duryodhan but it may surprise you to know that impressed by his physique, BR Chopra had wanted to cast him as Bhima in his television series Mahabharat, which started airing from October 2, 1988. However, to his surprise, the actor requested to be considered for the role of Duryodhan, wowing the producer-director and his writer, Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza, during the audition, not just with his performance and voice, but also with his familiarity with literary works on the subject. “I know Ramdhari Singh Dinkar’s epic poem Rashmirathi, by heart and can recite verses from Maithili Sharan Gupt’s maha kavya (epic poem), Jayadrath Vadh, verbatim,” he informs in journalist-author Roshmila Bhattacharya’s book Bad Men.
However, as we learn from the book published by Rupa last month, BR Chopra told Puneet that he could play Duryodhan only if he could find an actor who was taller and bigger than him for playing Bhima. He did, in the Asian Games gold-medalist and Commonwealth Games silver-medalist discus thrower Praveen Kumar Sobti who, at six feet seven inches, topped Puneet by four inches.
When in front of the camera, Puneet did not need a single retake. He also put on an extra 22 kilograms to top the scales at 108 kilograms for the battle royale in the climax, shot over 18 days without any stunt doubles or cables. “Praveen Kumar beat me black and blue with a real mace in the finale,” he remembers in Bad Men. But the real victory was his. Like Amitabh Bachchan became the invincible Vijay after Zanjeer (1973) and Deewaar (1975), like Amjad Khan is still remembered as Sholay’s (1975) Gabbar Singh, and like Amrish Puri will always be Mr India’s Mogambo, Puneet Issar, to this day, is instantly identified with Mahabharat’s Duryodhan despite the fact that many other actors have played the role before him and since.
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