Top News

From Duryodhan’s unforgettable dialogues in Mahabharat to the emotional depth of Disco Dancer, collaborators remember the legendary writer-poet-lyricist and his enduring cinematic legacy

, that’s the first thought that comes to mind when you remember writer-poet-lyricist Dr Rahi Masoom Raza, who co-wrote BR Chopra’s epic series with Pandit Narendra Sharma. Puneet Issar, who became a household name as Duryodhan, recalls going for the audition and being recognised by the trio as the ‘ boy’. His punch, during an action scene of had seriously injured Amitabh Bachchan, derailed his career, and typecast him a 6-feet-3-inches, Black Belt fighter.

“They pointed out I would have to speak long dialogues and I told them that I had taken diction classes,” Puneet reminisces, adding that going by my height and build, he was offered Bheem’s role. But desperate to prove himself as an actor, he surprised them by requesting that he be cast as Duryodhan.

Raza, who collaborated with Puneet’s father, director Sudesh Issar, on which won him his first Filmfare Award for Best Dialogue, had heard him recite when he auditioned for Sunil Dutt’s . He urged the actor to recite something in Hindi. His rendition of Maithilisharan Gupt’s poem a second time bagged him the role of his choice in .

Filmmaker Kamal Amrohi’s son, Tajdar, remembers his father was an ardent fan of the Doordarshan show and its dialogues. “Raza idolized and was thrilled when he praised his writing despite not knowing Sanskrit. He insisted it was his biggest award and such was his magnanimity, he would say he was inspired by Kamal . When asked how that was possible, he would point out that he had simply translated ‘’, the Urdu word Kamal saab had used in to express Akbar’s need for privacy—to be alone—as ‘’ in ,” Tajdar recounts.