"Young actors have to work on their diction"- Puneet Issar

You have returned almost after a decade to television. How do you feel?
Actually I am returning to a mytho after almost a decade as I have done Left Right Left in between. I feel really nice to be back.

Were there any expectations while you were returning after a long time?
Not really because I was really engaged in my other work in films. But there were discussions among people that I am returning after a long time. Frankly speaking I was not on a break at all as I was busy with my films.

You have seen Nitish Bharadwaj playing the role of Lord Krishna with you. How would you rate Vishal Karwal in the same role?
Actually one cannot compare Nitish Bharadwaj against any actor; in fact you cannot compare Mahabharata with Dhwarkadheesh. Vishal is a kid now and he is doing pretty well.  

How is your association with Imagine TV?
Imagine is a nice channel, they had wanted me to play this role and I gladly agreed.

Now that you have returned with a mythic show, what are the differences that you have felt with respect to techniques and the look etc?
These days television has become like a tissue paper where you use and throw stuffs. The so called creative people have to really work hard on their work and there is a great need of strong scripts. When we did Mahabharata, we used to take six days to shoot one episode because that was a once a week show. Today since the shows are on daily basis, there is a lot of quality loss. The idea of Mahabharata was generated in 1986 and the show was started in 1988, thus you can imagine the amount of work that has been put for the show.    

Since there are a lot of chroma shoots nowadays happening, do you think the show seems unreal when compared to the earlier shows?
Earlier when we had war scenes, we used to shift ourselves to Jaipur so that there is a huge barren land. But here when time is an important factor, the quality suffers.   

What made you stay away from television this long?
I was busy with films and direction and writing.

You have been a director and an actor, what do you enjoy more?
Frankly speaking, direction gives you job satisfaction and you feel you are paid for what you like. But acting is also my passion and that's basically what I started with.

Do mythic shows attract you more that the normal fiction in television?
Actually television has become a senseless medium where everything has become temporary. Though there are shows on television now, older shows cannot be recreated like the Mahabharata, Ramayana etc.  

Do you watch any shows on television today?
Not really, actually I do not get much time.

You are also doing Chandrakanta at the same time. How do you manage both?
If you like something you do it, and you will automatically get time.

One advice you would like to give to the young talents of today?
I would like to ask them to improve on their diction a lot because sometimes they have the 'chalta hain' attitude which is not really good.

What are your other projects in television and films?
I have a film I Am Singh that is tipped to release in September, it is the story of mistaken identity where Sikhs are killed mistaking them to be Arabs.

Reporter and Author: Saranya Valsarajan