Actress Roopa Ganguly, who became famous for playing the role of Draupadi in Doordarshan’s TV serial ‘Mahabharata’, got emotional after hearing the news of the death of her co-star and Mahabharata’s Karna Pankaj Dheer. Expressing her feelings, the actress said, ‘I can’t believe that he left us at such a young age. I am very sad to hear this, I have no words to say.’
According to sources, Mahabharata’s Karna i.e. Pankaj Dheer passed away due to cancer. When Roopa Ganguly was asked about this, she said, ‘I had no idea about Pankaj’s illness. We had spoken through text messages about a year ago, but he never mentioned his illness to me.’ Tears welled up in Rupa’s eyes as she said this.
In an interview, Rupa Ganguly said, ‘After Nitish Bhardwaj, Pankaj Dhir was the most handsome person on the set of Mahabharata. I used to send him messages calling him ‘my most handsome friend’. He knew that people called him handsome, yet he was a very sensitive, decent and calm gentleman. Puneet Issar (Duryodhan) and Feroz Khan (Arjun) were a bit of a joker (chulbula), but Pankaj always remained a serious person.’
In response to the question of when she last met Pankaj Dhir, Rupa Ganguly said, ‘Many years have passed. When I went to Mumbai, I used to inform Pankaj that once he came to meet me, but he could not come the second time. However, we used to talk through text messages.’
Roopa Ganguly also said that she had heard stories of Pankaj Dhir being threatened with being fired from the show by B. R. Chopra for not cutting his moustache. She clarified, “I have heard these stories, but since the character of Draupadi came later, we did not talk about it.”
Apart from ‘Mahabharata’, Pankaj Dhir played the powerful character of Raja Shivdutt in ‘Chandrakanta’, which gave him a new identity at home. In recent years, he was also seen in serials like ‘Teen Bahurania’, ‘Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat’, ‘Rang Badalti Odhni’ and ‘Sasural Simar Ka’. His demise has left the entire television world in mourning.
