Mumbai, March 20 Actor Mahir Pandhi, who is seen playing the role of vanar-brothers Baali and Sugreev in the new show Veer Hanuman, feels Baali and Sugreev have been an integral part of Lord Hanuman’s journey.
Mahir said, "More than Ramayan, I feel Baali and Sugreev have been an integral part of Hanuman's journey. Since Hanuman's birth till he met Ram ji, there are so many stories of Baali and Sugreev that are there but haven't been told because people don't want to tell the untold and get into trouble; they want to play it safe, and also because people don't want to touch upon those things.”
“But we are not doing that; we are focusing more on the history part of their journey than the mythological," added the actor, who has worked in shows such as Vanshaj, Choti Sarrdaarni, and Congrats My Ex.
"And history should be told as it is; however, we are not going to follow how it's been done in the eighties and nineties, but we will show it in the 2025 way," he added.
To play his character right, the actor indulged in a lot of research and reading.
He said, "It was more about reading and understanding the historical proofs that we have and understanding how Baali and Sugreev have been defined so far."
Mahir mentioned that the most interesting find in the research was that there is no calendar image of Baali and Sugreev.
"So it's an opportunity for us to define and explore it. Hence the look and feel of the character is very close to what we have read, and the proofs are also because people have various emotions attached to these mythological characters, so we had to be careful."
He said that there is a misconception that only people with a heavy body will play such characters.
“However, I understand that in those times there was no gym, and in fact the definition of strength and power was quite different. So we have tried to get as close to the strength that these characters depict. Having said that, you will see the evolution of the characters every now and then with the age of the character."
Veer Hanuman is being produced by Siddharth Kumar Tewary, and the actor shared that the producer had him in mind when it came to Baali and Sugreev.
"It wasn’t an offer like how they tell you. It was Siddharth sir saying that I want Mahir as my Baali.”
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