MUMBAI: This ongoing lockdown has us holed up in our houses. While social distancing is the only way to stay safe in this crisis situation, many of us have been cribbing about missing our social life. In this grave situation, many channels have been re-telecasting iconic shows.

Amid these, B R Chopra’s Mahabharat is also been telecasted on Indian television. The show has made a comeback after around 32 years and is currently one of the most watched shows on Doordarshan.

Here are some interesting facts about Mahabharat.

1. We all remember ‘Samay’ from Mahabharat. This iconic narrator plays a key role in the narration of this epic. Interestingly, director B R Chopra was planning to rope in Dilip Kumar and NT Rama Rao as a narrator of the show. However, it was Dr Rahi Masoom Raza who convinced him to have ‘Samay’ aka time as the narrator.

2. Juhi Chawla was the first choice to play the role of Draupadi in the show. However, she walked out of Mahabharat after she was roped in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. Later, the role went to Roopa Ganguly.

3. Interestingly, Mukesh Khanna, who won hearts with his performance as Bhishma, was initially offered the role of Duryodhan. However, turned down the offer as he was interested in playing the role of Arjun or Karna. He was even considered for the role of Dronocharya but then was finalised as Bhishma.

4. Gufi Paintal, who was the casting director of the show, took eight months to finalise different characters of Mahabharat with numerous video testing and checking the Hindi diction of the applicants. Interestingly, he was seen playing the role of Shakuni in the iconic show.

5. Govinda and Chunky Pandey were considered for the role of Abhimanyu in Mahabharat. However, both the stars opted out due to their professional commitments and later Master Mayur was roped in as Abhimanyu.

Credits: Pinkvilla