BR Chopra Mahabharat Stars TV Debut: When BR Chopra’s ‘Mahabharata’ went on air on Doordarshan in 1988, the show changed the history of Indian television forever. BR Chopra and his son Ravi Chopra, who made blockbuster films like ‘Dhool Ka Phool’, ‘Insaaf Ka Tarazu’ and ‘Nikah’, wanted to make the show as grand and star-studded as the films. Chopra wanted to add the flavor of film stars to ‘Mahabharata’ instead of new faces like ‘Ramayana’. He also approached the then strugglers Govinda and Juhi Chawla, but things did not work out. Despite this, he gathered veteran actors of Bollywood and regional cinema and created an ‘epic cast’ of actors like Debashree Roy, Varsha Usgaonkar, Nazneen, who made their TV debut through this show.
Actually, it was a big risk, because at that time many of his films (Awam, Dahleez, Mazdoor and Tawaif) had flopped at the box office and his first TV show ‘Bahadur Shah Zafar’ (1986) had also flopped badly. But still, seeing his name and brand, some big faces of the film industry ‘Mahabharata’ Made his debut on TV through.
Debashree Roy (Satyavati)
Bengali cinema superstar and National Award winning film ’36 Chowringhee Lane’ Debashree Roy, who made her mark among the Hindi audience, made her TV debut with ‘Mahabharat’. In the show, she played a very powerful cameo of ‘Satyavati’, the wife of King Shantanu. People still remember his screen presence and dialogue delivery. Very few people know that Debashree Roy is the real aunt of Bollywood actress Rani Mukherjee.
Varsha Usgaonkar (Uttara)
Varsha Usgaonkar, a well-known actress of Marathi theater and films, entered the world of TV by playing the character of ‘Uttara’ in ‘Mahabharata’. The unprecedented success of this show opened the doors of Bollywood for Varsha. After this, in the 90s, he played lead roles in many superhit Hindi films like ‘Doodh Ka Karz’, ‘Tiranga’ and ‘Dosti’.
Nazneen (Kunti)
Nazneen, who was seen in films like ‘Kora Kagaz’, ‘Chalte Chalte’ and ‘Ek Duje Ke Liye’ in the 80s, was considered quite bold in the industry. In those days, she mostly did small budget films, but ‘Mahabharata’ completely changed her image. She played a very important role of ‘Kunti’, the mother of Pandavas. After this show he said goodbye to the industry and got married.
Dabboo Malik (Young Bheeshma)
Dabboo Malik, father of today’s famous singer and composer Amaal Malik and Armaan Malik, started his career not with music but with acting. His father Sardar Malik and brother Anu Malik were in the music industry, but dubbu Played the character of ‘Young Bhishma’ in the first episode of ‘Mahabharata’. After the recognition he got from this show, he got big films like ‘Baazigar’ and ‘Tiranga’, although later he returned back to the world of music.
Roma Manek (Madri)
Roma Manek was a big name of Gujarati cinema, but the credit for taking her to every corner of the country goes to BR Chopra and ‘Mahabharat’. She played a small but very effective role of ‘Madri’, the mother of Nakul and Sahadev. After getting national recognition from ‘Mahabharata’, the doors of Hindi films opened for Roma.
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