TV's Duryodhana Puneet Issar set to play Raavan in a play

Pic/Sameer Markande

In the last nine months, actor Puneet Issar has lost 15 kilos and gained significant muscle mass in a bid to look larger than life. "I hit the gym at 9 am and do three hours of heavy weight training. In the night, I go for a run without fail, followed by a session of martial arts," he tells us. During the day, Issar spends his time reading Vedas and Puranas. This interest in fitness and epics is not without reason. The veteran actor, who essayed the iconic role of Duryodhana in BR Chopra's 'Mahabharata' in the 80s, is set to play Raavan in an all-new play, 'Raavan Ki Ramayan'. After doing the rounds in Delhi, the play will make its debut in Mumbai next month.

Puneet Issar rehearses a fight sequence for his upcoming play

"While Raavan is mostly seen as a brute, he was also a great scholar, a capable ruler and a maestro of the veena. Not many might know that he even invented chess," says Issar. Produced by The Films and Theatre Society, Raavan Ki Ramayan is a re-telling of the epic from the point of view of Raavan, who Issar feels has never got a chance to tell his side of story. "It's a fresh perspective to the epic. There's so much to him that people don't know. For instance, he designed the lute known as Rudra Veena using one of his ten heads as the lute's gourd, one of his arms as the beams and his veins as the string. However, the biggest mistake he made was abducting Sita," he explains, adding that the play also puts forth Raavan's reasoning behind the act.

Interestingly, the play also marks Issar's theatre debut. "It was last December that I got a call from Rahul Bhuchar, who ran a theatre group in Delhi" he says. "After I read the script, I agreed to be part of it immediately." The two-and-a-half hour play is in poetry form, interspersed with Sanskrit verses. "I had to memorise the lines, understand the rhyme of the words in order to give meaning to what I was saying," he says. These days, Raavan is all that Issar breathes. "The way I'm etched in peoples' mind as Duryodhana, I want to create the same impact. I'll be living Raavan on stage," he smiles.

Where: Rangsharda Auditorium, Bandra Reclamation, Bandra (West)
When: Oct 1, 8 PM
Entry: Rs 300 - Rs 1,250
Call: 26430544