Nitish Bharadwaj, known for his iconic role of Krishna is 1992 show Mahabharata, recently made his digital debut with Marathi show - MX Original Series - Samantar. The show traces the journey of Kumar Mahajan (Swwapnil Joshi), whose life changes when he hears that a man called Sudarshan Chakrapani's (Nitish Bharadwaj) past will be his future. The series is getting positive reviews and with an aim to cater to a wider audience set across India, the platform has dubbed the Marathi web series in 3 other languages - Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.
Recently, Nitish got in an exclusive chat with PeepingMoon and spoke about his journey so far, venturing into the web and his life-changing show Mahabharata.
Excerpts from the interview:
Why did you choose to be part of this web series?
The character was totally different from what I have done so far in Mahabharat or other films as the main lead.
Working experience as Sudarshan Chakrapani character?
I liked the mysteriousness of Chakrapani’s character. Many of us are always curious about the future and Chakrapani plays on this curiosity & adds to the mystery. The look my director Satish had thought of was also a new look for me. Satish shot it like a film, taking his time for detailing. I am told that this doesn’t happen in today’s TV soaps. Satish allowed me to develop the character’s mystery & use my eyes well to create mystery. The DOP Prasad Bhende lit up each shot so beautifully, to add to the genre of mystery. It is rare that you get to work on a good character with a good Producer, Director, DoP & the colleague actor. SAMANTAR was satisfying from these perspectives.
Swapnil Joshi and you both portrayed Krishna, did you discuss anything about this on sets with him?
Not really; I think both of us have moved ahead in our careers. I made my directorial debut film Pitruroon and tasted creative satisfaction. So, I am now focussing on my film writing-directing career, besides acting in select challenging projects. I don’t believe in dwelling in the past too much. Ma Bhagwati has given talents to each one of us; So, I believe in creating more landmarks in life so that at the end of my life, I can tell Lord Chitragupta that I did my job to the best of my ability.
How do you feel when people still recognize you as Krishna, that’s your identity to date?
It feels great as Mahabharat is my career’s 1st landmark. But I constantly tell myself that the lasting impact of my work is 75% due to Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza’s dialogues, Chopra ji’s vision & Raviji’s execution of that vision. My credit as an actor is just about 25%. I am yet to see a serial written that well. All this created this huge impact on the audience which is why I am loved & respected even after 30 years. But at the same time, I look ahead & pursue my own vision of my future career. If I remain happy with only this 1 landmark in life (Mahabharat), I would stink like a stagnated water pond.
Tell us about your upcoming working projects?
As an actor, I am reading a few scripts of web series & films; I haven’t decided which one to take up. In the meantime, I am progressing towards the 100 th show of my Hindi theatre play ‘CHAKRAVYUH’. As a director-writer, after directing PITRUROON I have written a few screenplays for Hindi feature films but have locked on 2. I should be cast for one of them soon & direct. It will be a period drama full of romance, music & mystery….. but no Corona Virus (Laughter… Laughter)
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