Puneet Issar on playing Duryodhan in Mahabharat: I took people’s hatred as a compliment

Sharing that the show can help people gain positivity, he added, “These are great epics and teach a lot about Indian culture. Also, Ramayan and Mahabharat are not religious books. They are manuals to lead daily lives. They help one understand relationships and how to deal with adversities. While Ramayan teaches you what to do, Mahabharat tells you what you shouldn’t do. One can learn so much about human emotions and how it’s important to always choose what’s right.”

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A post shared by Puneet Issar (@impuneetissar) on Apr 25, 2020 at 6:03am PDT

While today it’s easier to gauge a show’s success with social media trends, we asked Puneet Issar about the time Mahabharata first aired. He said, “We knew that we were getting 96-97 per cent viewership. The way it was written, people loved the show. I realised my character has become popular when everywhere I went, people would call me ‘dusht’ (evil) with so much hatred. I took it as a compliment as I realised that I must be doing a good job (laughs).”

“I remember when we were shooting the climax of Mahabharat in Rajasthan, we were invited for dinner at a big industrialist’s house. As a mark of respect, the women in the house served each of the members personally. However, they all ignored me, and a servant was sent to give me food. When I questioned an elderly lady why she didn’t serve me, she looked at me with angst and said, ‘Dusht, you troubled Lord Krishna so much, how can I serve you food!’ I didn’t know how to react, while the entire team laughed so much,” he added with a smile.

Puneet Issar confessed that while he was initially reluctant to do Mahabharat again, it was the character of Parshuram that made him say yes. “When Siddharth Kumar Tewary reached out to me, I refused. People know and love me as Duryodhan, and I didn’t want to play another character. However, when he told me that he wants me to play Parshuram, I was interested. I have studied a lot about him, and I was excited to don the role. I also gave them a lot of inputs about the character. He really made the show very well, and with all the visual effects, it only added to the quality,” he said.