Talented actor Daya Shankar Pandey, popularly known as Goli of Lagaan will return to television with yet another meaty role after playing the role of Shanidev in Mahima Shani Dev Ki. Pandey known for his prolific acting in the movies Lagaan,Gangaajal, Swades, Raajneeti to name a few has been part of Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah and Devon Ke Dev… Mahadev on TV. His last outing was that of the negative land lord Surjeet Singh in Star Plus’ popular show Ek Veer Ki Ardaas Veera.

Now, Pandey is all set to play the father in Shashi-Sumeet Productions’ show on the to-be-launched channel Zee & (And) titled ‘Badi Devrani’.

Our readers would remember about the news we carried exclusively about Mudit Nayar playing the lead in the show.

We now hear that Daya Shankar Pandey will play Mudit’s father. The man will be a self-made, self-centred man who would need all the attention of the family. He will be a very realistic character with all shades in him.

The show which will be based on a Marwari setup will go on floors with a schedule in Kolkata in the next few days.            

When contacted, Daya Shankar Pandey told us, “Well, I have been in talks for the show. But as you know, I really take my time in accepting any show on TV as I need an author-backed role. Let’s see if I get into the skin of this one.”

Pandey who has been in the acting circuit for many a years now holds the distinction of performing nearly 25 -30 characters for the play ‘Popcorn with Parsai’, a biographical play on Hari Shankar Parsai, a noted humorist. The play was screened in Prithvi yesterday (14 December) for which Pandey got an arousing response. The best part of the play is that Pandey happens to be the only actor in the play; he dons nearly 25 different get-ups and looks and performs on the stage for nearly one hour and twenty minutes.

We dropped a text message to Producer Sumeet H Mittal, but did not get any response from him. We also tried getting a confirmation from the channel spokesperson.

Zee & is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2015.