On Rahi Masoom Raza’s centenary year, Puneet Issar recalls his mentor’s role in shaping Duryodhan’s iconic dialogues and his own journey from Coolie to Mahabharat

Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza and my father (director Sudesh Issar) had collaborated on ,but I remember him from my audition for a year later. I was in the same batch as Sanjay Dutt and Sunny Deol at Roshan Taneja’s School of Acting. They were private students, but I partnered them during improvisation and diction classes and a camaraderie developed. On Sanjay’s recommendation, Sunil Dutt agreed to screen test me for the villain’s role in his son’s debut film, which he was producing and directing.

Back then, we had to perform live. Having read Mirza Ghalib, Dr Iqbal, Meer Taqi Meer, I recited their verses. Raza , who was at that audition, was impressed by my Urdu pronunciation and asked if I could also recite something in Hindi. When I recited Maithilisharan Gupt’s epic poem , he asked my name, then wondered if I was related to Sudesh Issar. When I admitted he was my father, even Dutt was impressed.

Puneet Issar as Duryodhan in the TV show Mahabharat |

I didn’t get , but I was cast as the main baddie in . The dream debut however turned into a nightmare when I accidentally hit Amitabh Bachchan. He was seriously injured, I was dropped from many big projects and ended up as the villain’s sidekick, small, inconsequential roles that were quickly forgotten. Even hits like and didn’t benefit me professionally, and I was typecast as a 6-feet-3-inches, Black Belt fighter.

Six years later, when I learnt that BR Chopra was auditioning for his mega serial, looking for actors who could work with him exclusively for three years, I hopped across. Raza was at this audition too, with Chopra and fellow writer Pandit Narendra Sharma. They remembered me as the boy, but pointed out I’d have long dialogues. I told them I’d taken diction classes. Going by my height and build, they offered me Bheem’s role. But I had read Bhasa’s and was impressed with Duryodhan’s indisputable logic that he’s not blind like his father Dhritarashtra, and unlike his cousins who are the sons of Kunti and not even Pandav he’s the eldest of the Kauravas and so, the rightful heir to the throne. Desperate to prove myself as an actor with a multi-layered character, I surprised them by asking to play Duryodhan.