veteran actor Mukesh Khanna recently shed light on his decision to decline appearing on The Kapil Sharma Show in 2020, when the cast of Mahabharat reunited on the popular comedy program. Mukesh, who portrayed Bhishma Pitamah in the iconic series, opened up about two incidents that left him uncomfortable with Kapil Sharma and led him to label the comedian as ‘uncultured.’
In an interview with Bollywood Thikana, Mukesh Khanna explained, “I don’t like Bigg Boss or The Kapil Sharma Show because of the vulgarity, but he (Kapil Sharma) is a terrific entertainer, no doubt.”
Mukesh then shared the two incidents that shaped his aversion to Kapil Sharma.He recalled, “There were two incidents… I won’t say they made me ‘anti-Kapil,’ but my vibrations didn’t match with him. The person might be good, but you don’t feel comfortable with him.”
The first incident involved a skit on Comedy Circus in which Kapil donned the Shaktimaan costume, a role made famous by Mukesh. “I don’t think he even realises it, but I had told Krushna Abhishek. They used to do skits on Comedy Circus, and the mistake Kapil made was that he wore Shaktimaan’s costume, and in front of him was a girl, with a bed shown on the side,” Mukesh said, expressing his disapproval.
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“I said, ‘What the hell!’ We’ve made this character so righteous, and you’re showing that since he’s busy, he isn’t going to a girl—otherwise, he would be wooing them. You’re doing this just for the sake of comedy. I called Krushna and questioned him about the act. Krushna told me that he was supposed to do this act, but Kapil took it from him,” he added.
The second incident occurred at an award show, where Kapil Sharma’s behavior left Mukesh feeling disrespected. “ I was sitting in the front row, and Kapil was, I think, just starting in the industry. So, Kapil sat next to me for 10-20 minutes but didn’t greet me once. He just took his award and left,” Mukesh recalled.
Reflecting on these experiences, Mukesh Khanna said, “These two things were on my mind. That’s why I said he is uncultured. Why do you think of yourself as being so big? When such a person behaves like this, they lose respect.”