As Nitish Bhardwaj returns with his iconic avatar of Krishna on stage, he says the deity’s principles can be a guiding light to crack today’s complexities. He chatted with Samiksha Raj
More than two decades back, he mesmerised a majority of Indian television viewers with his divine smile as lord Krishna in Doordarshan’s hugely popular epic show, Mahabharat. Nitish Bhardwaj who was the pick of TV producers for playing different mythological characters back then in 1988, staged a comeback in his favourite avatar of lord Krishna for the first time in 25 years. A play titled Chakravyuh by the Film and Theatre Society featured Nitish playing the role of the deity. Written and directed by Atul Satya Koushik, Chakravyuh was an attempt to present the chapter of Chakravyuh from Mahabharat in a new manner.
Hours before the play started, Nitish opened up about his character, experiences, future plans and relevance of theatre today. Nitish cited certain differences in donning Krishna’s mukut 25 years back and now. Earlier he hadn’t fully absorbed himself with the meaning and truth behind the subject of Krishna rather went with the specifications of the character he was asked to portray. Now, he is a veteran with whole lot of experience and has come to discover the relevance of the lord’s teachings in present-day world. “I played Krishna in the heat of glory and popularity but never really realised what Krishna could do for the society and for an individual. But in 25 years, life has taken me through ups and downs and that is where Krishna and his philosophy have really helped me. So he has become like a friend, philosopher and guide and very dear to my heart. So what I think is, performing now will be with a greater understanding of Krishna than it was 25 years ago,” said Nitish. Playing Krishna for so long, he felt the lord’s connection in real life as well. He added, “Krishna is today a part of me, my psyche and my life. His philosophy of the holy Geeta is what I’ve imbibed in my life. The greatest part of the Geeta is Karma, the concept and principle of Karma which is a cosmic law and I believe in that today.”
Nitish is seen from the mould of mythology. He had played Krishna and other avatars of Vishnu in a slew of shows long back like Geeta Rahasya, Vishnu Puran and also lord Ram in BR Chopra’s Ramayan. What makes Nitish enact various mythological charactersIJ “Each mythological character is very well-defined and Ram’s character is completely different from Krishna’s. Ram is Maryada Purshottam so he has put restrictions on his decision-making power and behaviour whereas Krishna has no restrictions. So each character is very distinct from the other and I play the character according to what is written in the scripture. My approach towards each role has always been with a fresh perspective.”
Nitish reprised the role of Krishna spreading immortal messages of ‘life and Karma’ in the play. Shedding more light on the play, he said, “Chakravyuh is not intended to take any social or political potshots. In fact it talks of the relevance of the chapter of Chakravyuh in today’s life.”
Apart from acting in a few Marathi movies and a highly acclaimed Malayalam one, Nitish also dabbled into film direction. His directorial debut, Pitruroon, a Marathi film (based on Sudha Murthy’s novel) earned him many accolades. It also featured Tanuja. As for his future projects are concerned, Nitish said, “I have completed the screenplay of my second feature film as a director which is a Hindi flick.”
He believed that the popularity of theatre is on decline due to the glamour world of Bollywood. But he also congratulated those few and far between who have taken up theatre or want to take it up in near future. “I am very happy with those few who have kept themselves away from the lure of money and stuck to their passion of theatre,” said Nitish. Citing the example of Raj Kumar Hirani’s, 3 Idiots he added, “One must follow one’s heart.”
