Nitish Bharadwaj, popular for his role as Lord Krishna in B R Chopra’s Mahabharat, resurrects his role for a theatre play, Chakravyuh, as a part of Rang Theatre Festival. This was his first performance in the city.
He attributes all his spirituality and upbringing to Karnataka. He says, “My family has roots in Karnataka. My mother was from Belgaum. We are Chitrapur Saraswats like Girish Karnad and Prakash Padukone. We have ourMutt in Shirali. My uncles, aunts and cousins live in Malleswaram. In fact, in 1983, when I passed out as a veterinary surgeon, I was planning to settle down in Bangalore as a veterinarian. But it did not happen somehow and I ended up in arts. ”
He thinks it is a privilege to play Krishna and there is no more fascinating character than him.
He had initially rejected the role of Krishna in Mahabharat. He was sceptical and felt someone with more experience in cinema should have done the role. “I thought I am not competent enough. I turned it down the first time. But it came back to me because Ravi Chopra was very keen that I should do a screen test. Even after that, I was sceptical as I really believed that they needed someone with more cinematic experience. I spoke to my mother. She taught me the Geeta and Gyaneshwari from childhood. She has seen me play different characters in theatres and she believed that I could do it. I am sadaka of Ma Bhagwati. With complete faith in Maha Bhagavati and my mother, I said okay.”
The role made him a household name overnight. People still touch his feet, considering he is Krishna. But he says that he has moved on in his life. He says, “I respect their feelings but one has to move on. I have no control on what society can do. I have control on my own actions. I did move on.”
He did serials and films. His last film, as an actor was Sangeet with Madhuri Dixit in 1992. He shifted to London for a while and did English plays and radio with BBC radio 4. He joined politics and later voluntarily withdrew. He directed his first commercial Marathi feature film Pitruroon which was released in December 2013. It was based on Sudha Murthy’s Kannada short story Roon.
He will be seen again on the big screen in the film, Mohenjo Daro, directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar. “I am playing Hrithik’s uncle, Durjan. When we start official publicity, I will be able to talk more about it,” he adds.
Trained in veterinary science, he feels a need to do something in this field but he doesn’t regret not being a practicing veterinarian. He says, “I am working on two thing; revival of tharparkar cow, which is slowly getting extinct from India and also organic farming. The only future for real sustainable growth of India or any country is organic farming. I would like to have a cottage with my organic farm so that I can eat healthy.”
He says people will get to see him in cinema more and if he gets a good role in Kannada film, he would sign it. “I can’t do the same concept again. I feel bored. You need to give new things to your audience. In today’s television, they are repeating the same concept, only the faces and sets change and that bores me. They don’t have any relevance unlike Mahabharat is still remembered now as it has relevances to the society even today.” His lifetime dream is act with Mohanlal. He was offered a role to play Mohanlal’s brother in a Malayalam film but it couldn’t happen as the director Padmaranjan passed away.