Mukesh Khanna is an Indian film and television actor, best known for his role as ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ in BR Chopra’s epic television series ‘Mahabharata’ and for giving India its first small screen superhero ‘Shaktiman’.
Wiki/Biography
Mukesh Khanna was born on Thursday, June 19, 1958 (65 years old in 2023) in Mumbai. His star sign is Gemini. He went to the same school as famous Indian actors Naseeruddin Shah and Shakti Kapoor. He graduated from St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai. He has a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Laws degree. Before pursuing his Master of Laws, he wanted to study Plastic Engineering. After that, he graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune.
appearance
Height (approximate): 6′ 1″
Eye color: Black
Hair color: gray and white
Family and caste
Mukesh Khanna belongs to a Hindu Khatri family.
Parents and siblings
There is not much information about his parents. He has an elder brother, Ved Khanna (died in 2018), who is also an actor and producer.
Mukesh Khanna’s brother Ved Khanna and Asha Bhosle
His elder sister Kamal Kapoor died of lung disease on May 12, 2021, days after she recovered from Covid.
Mukesh Khanna and his sister Kamal Kapoor
Relationships, Wife and Children
Mukesh Khanna is unmarried. He has never had any relationship with any woman.
Profession
Movie
After making his debut in the 1981 Hindi film Roohi, he acted in more than 60 Bollywood films.
Mukesh Khanna’s debut film Roohi (1981)
According to reports, before Roohi, theatre director Narinder Bedi had offered Mukesh his debut in the film Khooni, but the film never released due to Bedi’s sudden death. Although most of his films were not successful at the box office, he has a few commercially successful films to his name like Saudagar (1991), in which he played the role of “Gagan”, Main Khiladi Tu Anari (1994), in which he played the role of “Arjun Joglekar”, 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, he made his acting debut with the Telugu film Dhana 51. In 2014, he made his acting debut with the Marathi film Ardha Gangu Ardha Gondya. In the same year, he acted in the Malayalam film Rajadhi Raja, playing the role of “Sikhander”.
television
Mukesh Khanna made his name through television, starring in many successful projects, most notably Mahabharata and Shaktiman. After his role in BRChopra’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 turned it down; as he did not want to play a negative role. Later, he was approached to play the role of ‘Dronacharya’ and eventually, he got the role of ‘Bhishma Pitamah’. Talking about how he got the role of Bhishma Pitamah, he said,
When they were casting for the show, they wanted only tall people, so I got noticed because of that. They offered me the role of Duryodhana, but it was a negative role and I turned it down. So I got the role of Bhishma Pitamah.”
Mukesh Khanna to play Bhishma Pitamah
His portrayal of the powerful warrior Bhishma Pitamah became the second most iconic character after Lord Krishna (played by Nitish Bharadwaj) in BR Chopra’s Mahabharata.
Mukesh Khanna as Bhishma Pitamah in Mahabharata
His next phenomenal performance was in Shaktimaan, the show that gave India its first bona fide superhero. Airing on Indian television from September 27, 1997 to March 27, 2005, Shaktimaan’s airing days have become sacred for children, who would remain glued to their television sets to watch the exploits of their favourite superhero. More than just a superhero, Shaktimaan was a moral guide for Indian children; a superhero who not only wowed children with his exploits but, with his baritone voice, would advise them to go to school on time or drink milk every day. He said,
Shaktimaan was charismatic and wanted to make a difference in society. I remember many parents telling me that their children started drinking milk or going to school more often after watching the show.”
The popularity of Shaktimaan prompted him to make a telefilm titled “Hamara Hero Shaktimaan” for the children’s channel Pogo, which aired on June 30, 2013.
The Shaktimaan franchise also includes an animated action series, Shaktimaan: The Animated Series, produced by Reliance Animation and aired on Sonic on December 20, 2011; eventually, Discovery Kids acquired its rights from Reliance Entertainment in 2017.
Apart from Shaktimaan, Mukesh Khanna has acted in many other hit TV shows like Chandrakanta (1994-1997) where he played the role of Janbaaz/Meghawat and Aryamaan – Brahmaand Ka Yodha (2002-2003) where he played the role of Aryamaan/Ojwan.
Apart from acting, he has done a few television projects including Mahayodha, Shaktimaan, Aryamaan – Brahmaand Ka Yodha, Sautela and Hamara Hero Shaktimaan.
politics
After joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1998, he represented the party in various elections across the country.
Mukesh Khanna campaigns for BJP in Delhi
Signature/Autograph
dispute
Shaktiman and Child Death
After Shaktimaan aired on Indian television in the late 1990s, multiple reports began to emerge on various media platforms of children imitating the heroic acts of Shaktimaan, resulting in many children being injured or even killed. In one episode of Shaktimaan, Mukesh Khanna had to come clean about Shaktimaan. In an interview, he said:
I care deeply about the well-being of children. So in one of the episodes, we showed how Shaktimaan was made, and everything was done on a computer, and he couldn’t fly. He was hanging on a rope.”
Derogatory comments about women
In August 2022, he sparked controversy after uploading a video on his YouTube channel ‘Bheeshm International’ in which he allegedly made derogatory remarks about women. In the video titled ‘Kya aapko bhi “aisi ladkiyan” lubhati hai???’ (Do such women attract you?), he reportedly 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 (dhandha kar rahi hai). Later, Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Malliwal condemned his remarks and filed an FIR against him.
Favorite things
Facts and Trivia
- Mukesh Khanna was just 30 when he played Bhishma Pitamah in BR Chopra’s Mahabharata.
- He was not interested in the role of Bhishma Pitamah, instead, he wanted to play the role of Arjuna or Karna.
- Besides being his favourite politician, in February 2015, he criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not involving him in the Ganga cleaning drive.
Mukesh Khanna with Narendra Modi, Gajendra Chauhan and Vinod Khanna
- Although Mukesh Khanna was a staunch supporter of the BJP, he was fielded during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections to counter the influence of NaMo in Jammu and campaigned for the party in Vijaypur.
Mukesh Khanna and Mukesh Rishi along with Vijaypur’s NC candidate Surjeet Singh Slathia at a public meeting in Vijaypur
- When asked in an interview what he thought of the history-based TV series currently airing, he called them “ridiculous” and said:
This dirty trick of exploiting India’s history to get TRPs must be stopped, either by the censor board or by an independent body monitoring television programmes.”
- Within the first 15 episodes of Shaktimaan, Mukesh Khanna became India’s first superhero, receiving more than 50,000 letters from viewers every week. The show became an instant hit, and wherever he went, children would gather and ask him to fly like he did on screen.
- Shaktimaan was so popular that it even appeared in many international tabloids including the Wall Street Journal.
- He has never taken up a villain role in his acting career. When asked why he is so skeptical about villain roles, he said,
I will never play villains and weak characters because I feel I am responsible to the audience. Morals are very important to me and I take my roles very seriously and more so the images I portray. If I play a villain, I believe I am sending a clear message to the people living in slums or ‘Rae Bareily’ that even he can be a bad guy. I strongly feel that heroes should not play villains because people think if a hero like xyz can do it, why can’t he. They can deny their responsibility towards moral obligations but I think it is wrong because ‘showbiz or non-showbiz’, we are all responsible for the messages we send out because they have a powerful impact. Look how Manmohan Desai offered me a villain role after ‘Pitamaha’ but I didn’t want to do it because there is no negativity in me. I cannot do something that I am not capable of doing and I want to be seen as a strong person on screen no matter what.”
- Mukesh Khanna was so committed to the role of ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ that when Bhishma Pitamah took a vow of celibacy on screen, Mukesh actually took a vow not to marry or have any relationship with any woman.
- Mukesh Khanna is no stranger to smoking or drinking alcohol as he plays his on-screen characters. At the release of Ra.One, when Shah Rukh Khan said it would be India’s first superhero, Mukesh Khanna slammed his smoking habit and said,
How can someone play a superhero for kids if he smokes in real life? ”
- In April 2015, the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting appointed him as the President of the Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI). However, he resigned from the post in February 2018.
- Mukesh Khanna owns a production company ‘Bheeshma Productions’ and runs acting schools in Mumbai, Jaipur, Agra and Chandigarh.
- In March 2020, after the reruns of Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana and BR Chopra’s Mahabharata on television, Mukesh Khanna took a dig at Sonakshi Sinha and said;
I think the rerun will be useful for many people who have not watched the show before. It will also help people like Sonakshi Sinha who are ignorant about our myths and legends. People like her don’t know for whom Hunuman sahib got Sanjivani. There is a video that has gone viral where few boys are asked whose mom (uncle) is Kans and they are scared to answer. Some say Duryodhan and others say something else, so they don’t know the myth. ”
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education