'Requested BR Chopra to allow me to use air-cooler because of beard': 'Mahabharat' actor Mukesh Khanna clears the air

A few days back, Doordarshan's iconic show Mahabharat was trending on the Internet for an alleged goof-up observed by a viewer. In one of the sequences, air cooler was spotted behind Mukesh Khanna's character Bhishma Pitamah. However, many said it was a pillar which looked like a desert cooler. The debate was never-ending and now finally Mukesh himself set the record straight during an interaction with The Times of India.

The veteran actor stated, "I had been hearing about a picture of mine from the sets of Mahabharat going viral where I am shown sitting in front of a cooler, for the past few days. I want to know yeh picture aayi kahan se and secondly yeh kisne spot kiya? I doubt if this picture is from a still from the show. And if it is, it is a huge mistake. But from what I can say after seeing it is that it appears to be clicked in between shots. I don’t think such a glaring mistake would have happened from BR Chopra’s side. He was too careful with the making and the editing of Mahabharat."

Mukesh also confirmed that he used to keep a cooler as the costumes were heavy. The Shaktiman actor shared, "We were shooting in Film City which was fully air-conditioned. However, since I had such heavy costumes and to top it all a long beard which I had to wear most of the day I used to feel extremely hot. Especially because of the beard. So, I requested BR Chopra Ji to allow me to use an air-cooler. The beard was such that after shots I used to sweat a lot and it used to irritate me."