‘पंकज धीर ने कर्ण को कृष्ण की नजर से समझा’: नीतिश भारद्वाज ने बताया कि पंकज धीर ने कैसे ‘महाभारत’ में अपना रोल निभाया था

B.R. Actor Pankaj Dheer, who played the character of ‘Karna’ in Chopra’s TV series ‘Mahabharata’, died on Wednesday. After his demise, actors Nitish Bhardwaj and Gajendra Chauhan, who worked with him in ‘Mahabharata’, expressed grief. While talking to Dainik Bhaskar, both of them shared many stories related to them.

Nitish Bhardwaj said that the character of Karna in ‘Mahabharata’ was so iconic that both of them used to discuss it often. Both ‘Karna’ and ‘Krishna’ were central characters of Mahabharata. According to Nitish, Pankaj Dheer’s specialty was that he wanted to understand Karna from ‘Krishna’s perspective’.

Recalling the preparation of that scene, Nitish Bhardwaj said that when Krishna reveals his real identity to Karna that he is not Radheya, but Kunti’s son (Kaunteya) and Pandava. Before that scene, Pankaj Dheer discussed with director Ravi Chopra. After this, Pankaj Dheer himself came to Nitish Bhardwaj’s house, where he had an in-depth discussion about the character of Karna for two days.

Nitish explained that he wanted to understand what would be the imbalance or conflict of emotions in Karna’s mind when Krishna would tell him the truth. According to Nitish, the greatness of Pankaj Dheer was for an actor to understand his character from the perspective of another important character (Krishna).

Apart from ‘Mahabharata’, Nitish Bhardwaj has worked in religious shows like Vishnu Purana.

Talking about Pankaj Dheer’s acting style, Nitish Bhardwaj said that he played the character of Karna very strongly. Sharing memories during the shooting, Nitish Bhardwaj told that the shooting of ‘Mahabharat’ lasted for about two and a half to three years (around 1988 to 1991). He described Pankaj Dheer as a very simple person with an extreme sense of humor.

Despite the extremely tight schedule during shooting, there was a lot of humor on the set. According to Nitish, Ravi Chopra, Pankaj Dheer, Punit Issar, Arjun Firoz Khan and he himself were the five people who often used to laugh and joke. Pankaj Dheer had the maximum contribution in this.

Nitish Bhardwaj said emotionally, “Sometimes we worked for 36 hours continuously. We had such a busy schedule. In the midst of all this, this banter, this sense of humor… we used to make jokes on each other. It is this atmosphere of friendship that I miss today.”

Never seen Pankaj Dheer sad

Talking about Pankaj Dheer’s personal life, Nitish said that as an actor he was playing a serious character (angry Karna), but as a human being I never saw Pankaj Dheer sad. He was always laughing.

The desire to meet Pankaj Dheer remained unfulfilled

In the end, Nitish Bhardwaj told that even after ‘Mahabharata’, he remained close to some people. He and Puneet Issar still do theater and keep meeting each other. Pankaj Dheer also wanted to see his Hindi play ‘Chakravyuh’. He said that I had promised to call him for the next show in Mumbai on 2nd November. But now this accident has happened. Pankaj Dhir’s demise marks the end of a golden era of Indian television. The character of Karna played by him will always be remembered.

Meanwhile, on the demise of Pankaj Dheer, Mahabharata actor Gajendra Chauhan said that along with the sadness of Pankaj Dheer’s demise, there is a deep pain in my heart. As serious as Pankaj Dheer looked on screen, in real life he was a person with an equally good sense of humor. Today I feel that our family of ‘Mahabharata’ is falling apart. One by one the member is leaving us all. It is very painful.

Gajendra Chauhan told that Pankaj Dheer was comfortable and natural on the set.

Gajendra Chauhan said that the team of ‘Mahabharat’ was not just a group of actors. It was truly a family. We were people who came from outside Mumbai, we made our career in Mumbai, so these friends, these artists were our brothers, our family. We all used to have get-togethers and parties at each other’s places every week or fortnight. It was a companionship that can never be forgotten.

Gajendra Chauhan said that I remember, the day Pankaj ji was selected, I was shooting for Ranbhoomi. Suddenly I saw that a man came in a very modern look, wearing a headband and glasses. I asked someone who is this? He told that this is Pankaj Dheer, who will play the role of Karna. I jokingly said, ‘Man, he is very handsome, he will eat us.’ A feeling of fear had settled in my mind. But when I met him, I found that he was an artist with a big heart.

The special thing is that Pankaj Dheer was selected for the role of Karna in the very first attempt.

Apart from ‘Mahabharat’, Gajendra Chauhan has worked in shows like Paying Guest, Kanoon and Sankatmochan Mahabali Hanuman.

Gajendra Chauhan told that Pankaj Dheer’s way of working on the set was very easy. Together we all had created such an environment that the lightman, spotboy, technician all used to see who would forget the dialogue today. When we four-five main actors (Arjun, Krishna, Duryodhana, Karna and I) had scenes, they used to enjoy a lot because our acting came out very ‘naturally’.

Perhaps it was because of this mutual trust and spontaneity that the people of the country felt that this shooting was not going on, but ‘Mahabharata is happening’.

Gajendra Chauhan told that after the popularity of the serial, yes, there was some delay for me and Pankaj ji in getting work. It took me about seven-eight months. The reason for this was that all the producers and directors were wondering where to cast us? Our image had become so strong that they were confused whether to take the role of father or brother, but the work they got after that was countless. Pankaj ji was working continuously till he caught the disease because I believe that if an artist is good and his nature is good, then the work never stops.

Gajendra Chauhan said that the friendship between Pankaj and me was very deep. My wife and his wife were also very good friends. I remember, in the initial days, Pankaj had brought his son Nikitin Dheer to my wife to teach him dance. We used to visit each other’s houses as per our rights.