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With three Asian Games medals, one in the Commonwealth, and a two-time Olympics participant in track and field, one would be termed as a sports legend. However, it was Mahabharat that made Praveen Kumar Sobti a household name. Interestingly, he was spotted and offered a role in his first project during a competition in Kashmir. The actor played Bheem in Doordarshan’s magnum opus by B. R. Chopra. Still remembered for the part, Praveen passed away on Monday night, following a heart attack.
During the lockdown, TV production was halted and channels got back past glorious shows to keep audiences entertained. As the mytho-drama found new takers after 30 years, the actor spoke about enjoying the second wind of popularity, especially among young audiences.
The sportsman-turned-actor then revealed that people may not recognise him as Praveen but as soon as he says he’s ‘Bheem’ they instantly connect with him. Sharing that if he had remained in sports, people would have forgotten about him till now.
Sobti said, “Let’s be honest. People who know you for sports invariably forget. After 35-40 years of leaving athletics, those who knew me as an athlete are all either retired or out of sports. But the identity Mahabharat gave me can never be forgotten.”
The actor further recalled that when Mahabharat came on air in 1988, he did not watch the show. However, he now makes it a point to not miss an episode and enjoys watching it along with his wife.
“I remember one incident during the shooting when the director, Ravi Chopra, okayed a scene but I felt I could do better. I could not tell him this but late at night I got a call saying there had been some technical issue with that particular scene and it was to be shot again the next day!” He added that there’s not much that can be changed about Mahabharat, “I don’t think there is much scope for improving on Mahabharat as it was made then. Mainly it was because most of the scenes had several actors and any small mistake meant everyone had to re-shoot! So everyone was perfect with their homework every day.”
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