"It's a double celebration for me": Praneet Bhatt

When asked Praneet on what made him take up the role of Shakuni Mama he said, "Well this was my dream role. I wanted to play a  negative role by all means. I have done comedy, I  have done serious roles as well but I wanted to do negative roles this time and there was no better negative role than playing the role of Shakuni as he is the milestone of being negative."

Elaborating more about his character, Praneet opines, "If you see him there is a reason why Shakuni is negative, his love for his sister is such that makes him blind. I would also say that every character in Mahabharat is someway or the other different and there is a reason why Mahabharat happened. Why Lord Krishna had to come, why Duryodhan was arrogant, why Gandhari had to get blindfolded, why Satyawati was so ambitious, if you read Mahabharat once you will surely get to know the answers."

Everyone prepared and grilled themselves for a year to get into the skin of the character so did Praneet, talking about his regime for a year he shared, "I would say that I did watch Mahabharat when I was young but yes, we have been trained to use weapons and have also learnt horse riding. We  have studied about the epic Mahabharat and have read six different versions of Mahabharat and we were told in the workshop, not to watch any episodes of previous Mahabharat so that we actually bring in the originality in the new version of Mahabharat with our original thinking capabilities. We are not copying or getting inspired by any actors. We are not comparing earlier Mahabharat with this Mahabharat. This new version is for everyone who has seen Mahabharat and who hasn't. We are fully equipped with technology as well as we are knowledgeable enough that every nuances has been shown in the new Mahabharat."

"Everyday when I wake up, I talk to myself and think what would Shakuni mama do in a situation like we have been trained and drilled this way. I love the character of Shakuni as he is focused, he is smart and an amazing planner. In Mahabharat people had to prove themselves to occupy the place of a king who was in power at that time," he added.