Mukesh Khanna talks about his iconic show, Shaktimaan, and the challenges he faced while making it.
Mukesh Khanna talks about his hit TV show Shaktimaan and the challenges he faced while doing the show
Shaktimaan continues to be one of the most-loved Indian superheroes for those who followed the show. The show starred Mukesh Khanna, who played the dual roles of Shaktimaan and the bespectacled photojournalist Pandit Gangadhar Vidyadhar Mayadhar Omkarnath Shastri.
PLAYING HIS AGE
Mukesh admits that post his role as Bheeshma Pitamah in Mahabharat, he was offered roles of older men and father figures. He wanted to break that image, and show how he “looked without a beard”. Mukesh says, “I wanted to do a role suitable to my age. Also, I wanted to do a show with an Indian superhero that kids could enjoy.”
THE SUPERHERO
The 1997 show was a megahit and a trendsetter. Kids would replicate Shaktimaan’s style of twirling with his right-arm stretched out, and even dress up like him in red velvet pants and jacket with a chakra emblem. While playing the character of the photojournalist, Mukesh would sport buck teeth and glasses.
In the show, Suryanshi saints give a man the power to fight evil, and thus he becomes the superhero Shaktimaan. “We brainstormed about the powers we wanted him to have. Shaktimaan could hear and see things from far away, walk through walls, and control the will of others. He didn’t have any weapon but used rays from his fingers and eyes to fight villains. Mostly, we stuck to muscle power to defeat villains, and ensured that we don’t show blood or dead people on the show,” says the actor. The
MUKESH KHANNA IS MOST SATISFIED ABOUT THE FACT THAT KIDS LEARNT GOOD HABITS FROM THE SHOW AND THEIR MOTHERS WROTE TO HIM ABOUT THEM.
show was on air for seven consecutive years.
Other than the superhero and action scenes in the show, many dialogues too became memorable including “andhera kaayam rahe” (darkness shall prevail) said by villain Tamraj Kilvish, played by Surendra Pal. After every episode, there used to be a moral lesson for kids.
The actor adds, “Shooting was a costly affair, as we shot on different locations, had special effects and stunt costs too. The toughest part was hanging in the air wearing a harness for hours.”
THE CONTROVERSY
At one time, the show came under the scanner after few untoward events got reported. Reminiscing the incident, Mukesh says, “In 2000, there were reports that people burnt themselves and even others after watching Shaktimaan, in the hope that the superhero would come to save them. However, we never showed anybody being burnt on the show. So, I hired a detective agency to find out the truth and we learnt that Shaktimaan’s name was dragged into it without any reason. Doordarshan wanted to stop the show, so I fought the case in court for six months.”
The actor is most satisfied about the fact that kids learnt good habits from the show and their mothers wrote to him about them.