When Praveen Kumar Sobti aka Bheem refused to get his dialogues dubbed in Mahabharat; Mukesh Khanna recalls heartfelt memories about the actor

Mukesh Khanna, who played the role of Bhisma Pitamaha in BR Chopra’s Mahabharat, fondly remembers the late actor Praveen Kumar Sobti, universally known to everyone as Bheem. In a long video, he posted on social media, Mukesh Khanna recalled several moments from the late actor’s life, the last time they spoke, his sense of humour, clarifies certain rumours doing the rounds about the actor and more.

“Praveen Kumar ji is no longer with us. He left for the heavenly abode. Whoever has seen him in the role of Bheem, he left all of them and left for the heavenly abode. I still can’t believe what the Almighty wants. Gufi Paintal called late at night to inform me about his demise. I was so sad. I had just spoken to him 15 days back. He had called me and said, ‘Pitamaha, kya haal chal hai’. He wouldn’t call that much. But that time we spoke just to catch up with each other. We spoke a lot but never felt that he is not keeping well. Didn’t know that, that would be our last call. He left us all, all of a sudden. Heaven needs good people. They called Lata Mangeshkar ji and then Praveen ji.”

“Agar Mahabharat unit me koi sabse zyada shareef insaan tha, one who would speak with utmost decency, koi chhichorapan nahi tha, it was him. There was no controversy around him. Be it character or actor, Bheem was huge, but he always had a smile. He was the most decent person in the entire cast. He would always address me as ‘Pitamah’. He had worked hard in his career.

God blessed him with a good physique and height. As an athlete he won four medals at the Asian Games, including two gold medals, won a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games and competed in two Olympics. You will be impressed seeing his childhood pics. And because of his good physique and height, he got cast in Mahabharat. His character was the most difficult to cast. We all got cast through our experience, auditions and acting. But for Bheem’s role, the first requirement was that the person has to be taller than all the Pandavas. I learnt from him that BR Chopra was having difficulty in casting Bheem. Puneet Issar had suggested Praveen Kumar. Puneet was supposed to play the role of Bheem. When he was cast, and I met him for the first time, he looked like Bheem. So his casting was for his look and even BR Chopra said, ‘Mil gaya hume Bheem’. In some cases, casting someone for their physical appearance is much more important than performance.

People would often say that his Hindi had Punjabi influence. If I share some inside details, there was a scene, he had a dialogue during the Rang bhavan scene. It was the introduction scene, where everyone had to show their skills. I was sitting with director Ravi ji and Bheem was saying, “Oye Arjan, upar aja.” I told Ravi ji to get it dubbed as Mahabharat needs shudh Hindi. When we told him, he was like, ‘Kara lo dubbing. Role bhi kisi aur se kara lo.’ He wasn’t ready that his voice to be dubbed by anyone else. Once in an interview when I picked up this incident, he told me, “Pitamaha, I am a Punjabi and I am not ashamed of it. So what’s the big deal if it is not proper Hindi.” I think it was because of his stern believe in himself that people associated with Bheem the way he portrayed it.

After his role in Mahabharat, he did a lot of films, where he played the villain or a henchman. He would get beaten up by the hero. But after Mahabharat, I will tell you the truth. It happens in our industry – image, image, image. Once you have a certain image, it is very challenging to break that image. So they would say that casting Praveen ji opposite heroes like SRK, Salman, Aamir and others were a bit difficult. Because if these heroes beat him up, audience would react saying, ‘Bheem ko maar rahe hai.’ It wasn’t acceptable. It has happened with me too. There was a scene in Hera Pheri, where I played a Police Commissioner, and Om Puri was running after me. It was a hilarious scene. And I heard in the theatre, ‘Arre Shaktiman bhaag raha hai’. So you must have understood what ‘image’ does to you.

Mukesh Khanna reveals that before Praveen Kumar’s demise, there were rumours doing the rounds that he was going through a financial crisis. Clearing the air, Mukesh Khanna says, “I decided to call him to see if he is doing fine. He told me that he told a journalist that his pension was stopped from the Olympics committee, ‘I had requested the Government to give my pension. So that became headlines that I am going through a financial crisis. But I am doing absolutely fine.’”

I would like to say that Praveen Kumar Sobti is irreplaceable as an actor as Bhim and a human being. Just like Lata Mangeshkar ji is too irreplaceable. No one can take their place. Whenever there will be Bhim on-screen, only Praveen Kumar will be remembered. No one can take his place in that role. May God bless his soul.