Mukesh Khanna is an Indian film and television actor, best known for playing “Bhishma Pitamah” in BR Chopra’s epic television serial “Mahabharat” and giving India its first small screen superhero “Shaktiman”.
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Wiki/Biography
Mukesh Khanna was born on Thursday, 19 June 1958 (age 65 years; as in 2023) in Mumbai. His zodiac sign is Gemini. He did his schooling in the same school where famous Indian actors Naseeruddin Shah and Shakti Kapoor studied. He graduated from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. He has B.Sc. Is. Degree and Master of Laws. Before doing Master of Law, he wanted to do plastic engineering. Subsequently, he graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx): 6′ 1″
Eye colour: black
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
family and caste
Mukesh Khanna belongs to a Hindu Khatri family.
parents and siblings
There is not much information about his parents. He had an elder brother Ved Khanna (died 2018) who was also an actor and producer.
Mukesh Khanna’s brother Ved Khanna with Asha Bhosle
Her elder sister Kamal Kapoor died of lung disease on 12 May 2021, after she had recovered from COVID-19 just a few days earlier.
Mukesh Khanna with his sister Kamal Kapoor
Relationships, wife and children
Mukesh Khanna is unmarried. He has never had any relationship with any woman.
livelihood
film
After making his debut in the 1981 Hindi film Roohi, he has appeared in over 60 Bollywood films.
Mukesh Khanna’s first film Roohi (1981)
Reportedly, before Roohi, theater director Narinder Bedi had given Mukesh his first break in the film Khooni, but the film could never be released due to Bedi’s sudden demise. Although most of his films were not successful at the box office, he has some commercially successful films to his credit, such as Saudagar (1991) in which he played the role of ‘Gagan’, Main Khiladi Tu Anari (1994) in which he played ‘Arjun Joglekar’ Roles, Barsaat (1995) in which he played the role of Baba (Badal’s father), Raja (1995) in which he played the role of ‘Rana Mahendra Pratap Garhwal’ and Hera Pheri (2000). ) in which he played the role of ‘Police Inspector Prakash’.
Mukesh Khanna in Saudagar
In 2005, she made her Telugu debut with the film “Dhana 51”. In 2014, he debuted in Marathi film with the film ‘Ardha Gangu Ardh Gondya’. In the same year, he debuted in Malayalam with the film ‘Rajaadhi Raja’, in which he played the role of ‘Sikander’.
Television
Mukesh Khanna got his recognition from television, where he did many successful projects, especially Mahabharat and Shaktimaan. After making his debut in BR Chopra’s Mahabharata (1988), he became one of the most popular television actors in India. Initially, he was approached to play the role of “Duryodhana” in Mahabharata, but he refused; Because he did not want to play a negative role. Later, he was offered the role of “Dronacharya” and ultimately, he got the role of “Bhishma Pitamah”. Talking about how he got the role of Bhishma Pitamah, he says,
When they were looking for people for the series they only wanted tall people so my eyes fell on him. They offered me the role of “Duryodhana” but it was a negative role and I rejected it. That’s why I joined Bhishma Pitamah.
Mukesh Khanna is getting ready to play Bhishma Pitamah
His portrayal of the powerful warrior Bhishma Pitamah became the second most iconic character in BR Chopra’s Mahabharata after Lord Krishna (played by Nitish Bhardwaj).
Mukesh Khanna as Bhishma Pitamah in Mahabharata
His next phenomenal performance came in “Shaktimaan”, which gave India its first true superhero. Shaktimaan aired on Doordarshan from 27 September 1997 to 27 March 2005 and its running days became sacred to children who remained glued to their television sets to watch the heroic exploits of their favorite superhero. Shaktimaan was not just a superhero but a moral guide for children in India; A superhero who not only amazed children with his heroic actions, but also advised them with his baritone voice to go to school regularly or drink milk every day. He says,
Shaktimaan had charisma and wanted to bring change in the society. I remember many parents telling me that after watching the show, their children have started drinking milk or going to school regularly.
Shaktimaan’s popularity led him to make a telefilm titled “Hamara Hero Shaktimaan” for the children’s channel Pogo, which aired on 30 June 2013.
The Shaktimaan franchise also includes an animated action series titled “Shaktimaan: The Animated Series”, which was created by Reliance Animation and aired on Sonic on December 20, 2011; Ultimately, Discovery Kids acquired its rights from Reliance Entertainment in 2017.
Apart from Shaktimaan, Mukesh Khanna has also appeared in several other popular television projects, such as “Chandrakanta” (1994–1997) in which he played the role of Janbaaz/Meghwat and “Aryaman – Warrior of the Universe” (2002–2003) in which he played the role of Aryaman. /Played the role of Ojwan.
Apart from acting, he has also produced a few television projects, including Mahayoddha, Shaktimaan, Aryaman – Warrior of the Universe, Sautela and Hamara Hero Shaktimaan.
Politics
After joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1998, he campaigned for the party in various elections across the country.
Mukesh Khanna is campaigning for BJP in Delhi
signature/autograph
controversies
Shaktiman and children’s deaths
After Shaktimaan aired on Doordarshan in the late 90s, several reports of children emulating Shaktimaan’s heroic acts started surfacing on various media platforms; Due to which many children got injured and even died. In an episode of Shaktimaan, Mukesh Khanna had to clarify things about Shaktimaan. In an interview he said,
I feel very strongly about the well-being of children. So, in one episode, we show how Shaktiman is made, how everything is done on computers, how he can’t fly. He hanged himself from the rope.”
derogatory remarks against women
In August 2022, he attracted controversy after he uploaded a video on his YouTube channel ‘Bhishma International’ in which he allegedly made derogatory remarks against women. Reportedly, the video is titled ‘Are you also attracted by “girls like this”???’ (Are such women attracted to you?), he said that if a woman tells a man that she wants to have sex with him, then she is not a woman but a sex worker (doing business). Later, Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Malliwal condemned his remarks and filed an FIR against him.
Favourite Things
Facts and General Knowledge
- Mukesh Khanna was just 30 years old when he played the role of Bhishma Pitamah in BR Chopra’s Mahabharata.
- He was not interested in the roles of Bhishma Pitamah, rather he wanted to play the role of either Arjuna or Karna.
- Apart from being his favorite politician, in February 2015, he criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not including him in his Ganga cleaning campaign.
Mukesh Khanna with Narendra Modi, Gajendra Chauhan and Vinod Khanna
- Although he is a staunch supporter of the BJP, the National Conference (NC) brought in Mukesh Khanna to counter the NaMo effect in Jammu and campaign for the party in Vijaypur during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Mukesh Khanna and Mukesh Rishi with NC candidate from Vijaypur Surjeet Singh Salathia during a public meeting in Vijaypur.
- In an interview, when he was asked about his views on television serials based on history, he called it “ridiculous” and said,
Such dirty tricks with India’s history to garner TRPs must be stopped through a censor board or an independent authority that oversees television programming.
- Within the first 15 episodes of Shaktimaan, he became the first Indian superhero and every week Mukesh Khanna received more than 50,000 letters from the audience. It was an instant hit, and wherever he went, children would gather and request him to fly the way he did on the screen.
- Shaktimaan was so popular that it was even featured in several international newspapers including The Wall Street Journal.
- During his acting career he never accepted negative roles. When asked why he was so apprehensive about negative roles, he said,
I will never do negative and weak roles because I feel I am responsible towards my audience. Morals are very important to me and I take my roles very seriously and my image even more seriously. I believe that if I do any negative role then I am sending a clear message to a person living in a chawl or ‘Rae Bareli’ that he too can be bad. I believe that heroes should not do negative roles because people think that if a hero like XYZ can do it then why can’t he. They may deny their responsibilities towards ethical obligations, but I think this is wrong because ‘showbiz or no business’ we are all accountable for the messages we send because they have a deep impact. See, right after ‘Pitamah’, Manmohan Desai also offered me a negative role, but I did not want to do that, because negativity is not in me. I can’t do anything that I don’t have the capability to do and I want to come on screen as a strong person anyway.”
- Mukesh Khanna’s dedication towards the role of “Bhishma Pitamah” was such that when Bhishma Pitamah took the oath of celibacy on-screen, Mukesh actually swore not to marry and not have any kind of relationship with any woman. Chasm.
- Mukesh Khanna advocates the same character that he plays on screen in real life too and he has never been seen smoking or consuming alcohol. On the release of Ra.One, when Shah Rukh Khan said that he was going to be India’s first superhero, Mukesh Khanna cursed him for his smoking habit and said,
If someone smokes in real life how can he play a superhero for children?”
- In April 2015, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting appointed him the President of the Children’s Film Society, India (CFSI). However, he resigned from the post in February 2018.
- Mukesh Khanna owns a production company “Bhishma Productions” and runs acting schools in Mumbai, Jaipur, Agra and Chandigarh.
- After the re-telecast of Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan and BR Chopra’s Mahabharata on television in March 2020, Mukesh Khanna took a dig at Sonakshi Sinha and said,
I think the reruns will be useful to many people who haven’t seen the show before. This will also help people like Sonakshi Sinha who have no knowledge about our mythological stories. People like him do not know for whom Lord Hanuman had brought Sanjeevani. A video is going viral in which some boys were asked whose maternal uncle Kansa was and they were scared to answer. Someone said Duryodhana, someone else, that is why they are not aware of the mythology.
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Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn