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Journalism of Courage
Back in the late 1980’s when four-time Asian Games gold medallist and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Praveen Kumar Sobti was cast as Bhim in the BR Chopra-epic Mahabharat, the six feet and five inches tall former Indian Discus and hammer thrower would call fellow athlete and former Indian athletics coach Bahadur Singh multiple times. “Praveen would say that we will get to see him on TV every week for long and sounded very excited. In 2020, when Mahabharat was re-run by Doordarshan during the lockdown, we again saw all the episodes and would share a laugh,” remembers Singh. On Thursday, 74-year-old Praveen Kumar breathed his last at his Delhi home and his demise meant that India lost a Track & Field star, who ruled Asia in Throws back in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Born on September 6, 1947 at village Sarhali in Amritsar district, a young Kumar’s first tryst with sports would begin in the form of games like kabaddi and other rural games. While his father Kulwant Rai was a police inspector, Kumar had a well built physique in his junior days in school and would start discus throw and hammer throw at the village school on the insistence of school principal Harbans Singh. Kumar would become the national champion in hammer throw in junior nationals in Calcutta in 1963 before winning a bronze medal in the senior nationals in 1965. The same year, Kumar would create a new national record in hammer throw during the Indo-Russian Athletics meet. “I first met Praveen in the Punjab Schools camp at Shimla in 1962. He was a very tall youngster and when one of our coaches asked him about his height, he told him, “I am two inches taller than the tallest tug of war participant from our village,” It showed his confidence,” remembers former triple jumper Mohinder Singh Gill, two-time Asian Games medallist and two-times CWG medallist.
Starting 1965, Kumar would remain the national record holder in discus throw for 15 consecutive years and became national champion in both discus throw as well hammer throw six times in nationals. In 1966, Kumar would become the second Indian athlete to win a medal in Commonwealth Games when he won the silver medal in the CWG at Kingston, Jamaica where he threw the hammer to a distance of 60.12m.
Three months later, Kumar would become the Asian Games champion in discus throw with a throw of 49.62 m apart from winning the bronze in hammer throw with a distance of 57.18m. Between his 1966 Bangkok Asian games gold and 1970 Asian Games discus throw gold medal with a distance of 52.38 m, Kumar would finish 20th in hammer, with a throw of 60.84 m in 1968 Mexico Olympics.
“During the camp for Mexico Olympics at Railway ground in Delhi, we would often go to watch Parveen practice. We were juniors then and Praveen would make sure that he spent some time with us after his practice and would give us autographs. Later, I got a chance to be his room-mate in many competitions including 1970 Asian Games and he would always cheer us with jokes. He would also never forget to pat us after a bad race too. At the camp, he would often pick 1500 m distance runner Edward Sequeria on his shoulders and would pose for photographs,” remembers five-time Asian Games medallist athlete Sriram Singh.
In 1969, Kumar would also go to USA to compete in the USA vs CCCP vs CWG team games where he would stay with long-time friend and team-mate Mohinder Singh Gill. Gill, who shifted to USA in 1968 to study at the California State University and train there, also got Kumar a scholarship from the university but Kumar refused to study there and returned to India. Gill along with Kumar was one of the four Indian athletes who won gold in 1970 Asian games.
“Praveen was a big star of his times. Being the Asian Games champion, he was always eager to win more and practiced a lot. In 1969, when he was part of the CWG team and visited Los Angeles, I got him to meet the officials at California State University and he also got the scholarship. He worked in BSF at that time and university officials told him that they would get him a job too. But he refused saying he has promised a girl in India to return and then marry her,” remembers Gill.
Kumar would also compete in Munich Olympics apart from 1974 Asian Games at Manila, where he was the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent. A back injury meant that he finished second with a throw of 53.64 m in discus throw in Manila followed by him winning the gold in Asian Championships in 1975.
Though Kumar competed in 1978 Asian Games too and ended his 15-year-long career in 1980 with a bronze medal in an International meet in Scotland in 1977 (being his last international medal), Bahadur Singh remembers one incident in particular. “In 1977, the Indian team went to England for an international meet. The federation officials only arranged for air travel and when some athletes refused to go, Praveen assured all that he would take care of food and accommodation. Whichever city we went in England, his friends hosted us and treated us like VIP’s,” shares Singh.
Gill too remembers one incident of Kumar’s disarming naivete and innocence despite his huge physique. “Once we went to Madras for an international meet and stayed in a five star hotel. Praveen washed his feet in the sink and it broke. We paid fine and for the next few days, Praveen did not take a bath in the bath tub fearing that if it broke, then who would pay the fine to the hotel? Many female fans in Chennai would meet him and I would play the role of translator for him,” says Gill.
Post his athletics career, Kumar would start his career in Bollywood debuting with his first movie Raksha in 1981. Though Kumar, who knew actor Ashok Kumar, would act in more than 50 movies, his most memorable innings on the celluloid was as Bhim in BR Chopra’s Mahabharat.
Cast by actor Gufi Paintal for the role, Praveen would become the favourite of TV watching public. “I had finalised Puneet Issar for the role of Bhim but he wanted to play the role of Duryodhna. It was Puneet who suggested the name of Praveen ji. At first, he struggled with dialogues and would speak in heavy Punjabi accent during screen test. He would read Mahabharat in Hindi multiple times to improve. He would also make us laugh with his jokes. During the scenes of Mukesh Khanna lying on arrows as Bhishma, Praveen would say,” Eh chiita kukad uthda hi nahi. Kadon uthega (This white rooster does not wake up. When will he wake up?) making Khanna laugh,” recalls Paintal.
Praveen, who retired as a deputy commandant from BSF, also joined politics and joined Aam Aadmi Party and later BJP. Survived by his wife Bina Devi and daughter Nipunika, Praveen had been suffering from back issues since many years and faced difficulty in walking. “I met him last in the 2010 CWG games and we would share about the days when he would eat 40-50 chicken wings during dinners post competitions. He loved sports, food as well as his family and friends and that’s the way we would remember him,” says Gill.
