Reacting to the news of his demise, Mukesh Khanna said, “We had a lovely bond and association. It is a very sad news that he is no more with us. He was the network pillar in the BR Chopra camp. He was the one who got all of us together for Mahabharat and got us work. He was the person behind casting Mahabharat cast and all the screen tests.”
He further talked about his last conversation with him, “He was not well since the last six months and I had messaged him a lot of times. He replied to me saying he is not well. I wished him to get better. When I spoke to him last around 20 days or a month ago, when he was conscious he was not well. He was not keeping well since the last six months. “paani bhar Gaya tha unki body mein” and he was hospitalised. Later he was put on oxygen. I was in touch with his kids and got to know that he is no more.”
Mukesh Khanna revealed that Gufi Paintal, who was casting for Mahabharat first offered him Duryodhan’s role, “There are so many stories attached to him. Our journey starts from the day when he called me to do Mahabharat. I was doing films that time and I was a hero but he asked me if I’ll be able to do Mahabharat. I asked him I would love to but asked him which role he would offer me. He first offered me Duryodhan but I ended up playing Bishma Pitamah’s role. I was the closest to Gufi in the entire Mahabharat cast. There are a few others but I had a close association with him,” he shared.
Recalling the old stories and his bond with him, the actor said, “One of the most popular characters of Mahabharat is Shakuni Mama. We would have a lot of confrontational scenes together. Even after Mahabharat ended we did more than 100 shows together because of the popularity of our characters. People would call us to attend their functions and we would travel together all over India. Main aisi aisi jagah Gufi ke saath Gaya hoon Jahan shayad main akele Kabhi nahi jaata..”
Narrating a funny incident with his late friend and co-star Gufi Paintal, Mukesh Khanna shared, “We travelled to a village for an event and after the function we had a train to catch. Gufi, his wife and I were running on the station to catch the train. Somehow we entered the train and got to know that the organisers fooled us. They gave us second class train saying it is of first class. But the TC was a huge fan and upgraded our ticket. There were many other events where we would travel together and had many such incidents.”
The Shaktimaan actor revealed how Gufi Paintal agreed to do Mr Jackal’s role when any actor was not available to do the role, “Then when I made Shaktimaan after Mahabharat I did not have anyone to play Dr Jackal, the actor was not available. I asked Gufi to play the character and he agreed to play it. I pray God bless his soul, he will be missed.”
