During the lockdown, BR Chopra’s ‘Mahabharat’ returned on Doordarshan and we relived the 90s once again. Later, the cast of the iconic show was invited to ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’ where Mukesh Khanna who essayed the role of Bhishma Pitamah was not present. The ‘Shaktiman’ actor called the show vulgar where men dressed up as female characters.
Gajendra Chauhan who played Yudishthir in the series responded to these comments by saying,
“I think Mukeshji now finds grapes sour because he did not get to eat the grapes. This show has been number one, crores of people watch it and he calls it wahiyat (bad quality). He even said that in the show men dress in women’s clothes. He forgot that even in the Mahabharata, Arjun had dressed up as a girl and danced in a scene, should he have left the show too? Why did Mukeshji not leave Mahabharata at that time? I strongly condemn this behaviour of Mukeshji.”
Hindustan Times quoted him adding,
“He wants to comment on some popular people and bring himself in the limelight. First, he commented on Ekta Kapoor and her Mahabharat, criticising it and saying that it was badly made. Anybody has the right to make Mahabharat in their own way. No one has registered Mahabharat in his name. Then, he attacked Sonakshi Sinha, and now he has attacked Kapil Sharma. I think this is an attempt to bring himself in the limelight by attacking prominent people.”
“I also want to say, films are not vulgar. Films are either good or bad, hit or flop. He was a flop actor before Mahabharat. All his films had failed, which is why he turned to TV from films. He was first cast as Dronacharya. Vijayendra Ghatge was supposed to play Bhishma Pitamah, but he was busy with Buniyad, so he had to let go of the role.”
Actor Mukesh Khanna shared a video titled “Gajendra, tum agyaani ho” saying,
“How is he comparing Ved Vyas ji’s Mahabharat with The Kapil Sharma Show? That was a different kind of dance and this is a different kind of dance. Arjuna was a warrior and he was cursed by Urvashi to live like a woman for a year. He carried out his sentence like a warrior. Even if he danced as Brihannala, it was Kathak dance, which he taught to Rajkumari Uttara. He never did obscene things like, ‘Aa baith na mere paas, tu kahaan jaa rahi hai (Come and sit next to me, where are you going)?’. Arjuna only danced. Even Lord Krishna dances, everyone enjoys it. I don’t have an issue with dancing. No one dances in The Kapil Sharma Show but their actions… Notable film stars and cricket stars come on the show and these people (the cast members) say ‘Aye, main tere paas baithna chahti hoon (I want to sit next to you).’ You laugh at these things? I have an objection to that.”
“During Shaktimaan, he did a little skit on his show. At the time, Krushna Abhishek also worked with him. Maybe it was in Comedy Circus. Kapil Sharma did a little skit wherein he was in the Shaktimaan costume and there was a girl standing some distance away. There was a bed too. It is shown that Shaktimaan moves towards the girl but gets a call, so he flies away. He comes back and the same thing happens again. I was so furious, I called Krushna Abhishek and I said, ‘What are you doing? You are showing a pure character like Shaktimaan in such a light?’ Krushna told me that he was supposed to do the skit but Kapil wanted to do it instead. I said, ‘How do you tarnish a character’s image like this? Who allows you? Is there no censor to examine the content?’ This is the problem I have. There is neither censorship of ads nor such shows and even films. The new generation which films by copying foreign films, forgetting the fact that their culture is not the same as ours.”
“It is a good thing that they did not insult themselves by calling me, else I would have told them on the phone itself that their show is vulgar.”
2020 really is the year of controversies.