‘Mahabharat’s Duryodhan aka Puneet Issar on shooting climax scene: I had bruises all over my body

The lockdown has given people a chance to catch up with their favourite shows like ‘Ramayan’ and ‘Shri Krishna’ and ‘Mahabharat’ to name a few. Veteran actor Puneet Issar, who played Duryodhan in BR Chopra’s ‘Mahabharat’, recently opened up about the struggles of shooting the show’s climax scene and how his whole body was bruised in the process.

In ‘Mahabharat‘ Puneet played the role of Duryodhan and he had to fight with Asian Games gold medallist Praveen Kumar (who was 6’ 8″) who played the role of Bheem.

Revealing how they shot the climax scene in 18 days, Puneet told Hindustan Times, “Duryodhan had a blessing that he couldn’t get hurt and when I used to recite the dialogue “aur balpurvak (with more strength)”, Praveen would beat me up with even more strength. Also, the mace in those days used to be very heavy, unlike the foam mace used at present. My entire body used to turn black and blue after the shot. The fight in the climax scene was shot over 18 days. I had bruises all over my body.”

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Puneet was involved in the near-death experience of Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of ‘Coolie'(1983). Post that incident, he was not getting much work. So when asked how did he manage to bag ‘Mahabharat’ (1988), the actor replied, “When I heard BR Chopra was making Mahabharat, I approached him and said that I wanted to audition for the role of Duryodhan. That was my destiny. Those four years were a period of introspection, I had to work harder. Bhagya se adhik aur samay se pahle kisi ko kuch nahi milta. I was destined to get Mahabharat. Before that, it was my struggling period but I utilised the time to work on my body, my voice and my acting.”

Just like ‘Ramayan’, the audience is enjoying the rerun of ‘Mahabharat’ as well.

Also Read: OMG! ‘Mahabharat’s Duryodhan, Puneet Issar, was royally ignored by Rekha for THIS reason on ‘Bigg Boss 8’

Pooja Sharma

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