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Golden Years of TV EXCLUSIVE-Shaktimaan aka Mukesh Khanna: Once staff gave money to shoot due to budget issues
Today, for Golden Years of TV, we take a walk down the memory lane with Mukesh Khanna, our Gangadhar and Shaktimaan (kyunki Gangadhar hi Shaktimaan hai) and exclusively discuss the challenges he faced to bring to life an idea which was encapsulated much before.
Rewind to 90s. If there was one superhero we all knew who was homegrown and everyone’s favorite, it was Shaktimaan. Clad in a maroon suit with his hands on his waist, he was the one every child could relate to. He was desi; he was grounded and most importantly, the first and the only Indian superhero that we knew. Today, for Golden Years of TV, we take a walk down the memory lane with Mukesh Khanna, our Gangadhar and Shaktimaan (kyunki Gangadhar hi Shaktimaan hai) and exclusively discuss the challenges he faced to bring to life an idea which was encapsulated much before. Mukesh shared some interesting deets, from how the costume for Shaktimaan was decided to the monetary challenges it faced and ultimately why he decided to stop it.
As we recounted how Shaktimaan changed the landscape on TV, Mukesh reiterated, "No one ever tried making an Indian superhero-like Shaktimaan after me." Now, over to him!
I read that the subject, the idea for Shaktimaan was something which came much earlier. What made you bring it to TV, plus the challenges it came with? In 1997, when the show went on air, no one really used SFX (Special Effects) on TV.
Mukesh Khanna as Shaktimaan
Initially, this idea of an Indian superhero had come to me while working on a film. I had discussed with Rajshri and had given them this idea for a film which they had even accepted but somehow the idea got fizzled out. But, we had the subject in mind when Doordarshan happened. When we decided to bring this subject to life on TV, my director even warned me against it saying it is a very costly project. It should never be anyone's debut project for production, it should be your second or third project. But I said, 'let's try'.
It was challenging for us because we did not know how deep the water is. People then used to shoot like 22 episodes in 13 days for DD, and that time when we made Shaktimaan, we took like 21 days to complete one episode. It's then when we realized, this is not an easy shoot. Shaktimaan had to stand on a skyscraper, run in traffic, jump from cars which we used to shoot using wires, so to shoot those 4-5 minutes sequences on wires was tough, and that made me realize why people are not interested in making too many superhero series. But with our involvement and enthusiasm, we found the right chord.
When the first episode of Shaktimaan launched, it took off like nothing else. The whole nation was gripped by it. Once it took off, we found the right rhythm. We felt responsible, I think by then Zee was launched, but still, 90 percent of the kids would come back running from school to watch Shaktimaan because they were crazy behind it. So, definitely, it was a challenge in those times.
You were the producer and actor on the show. Did it stress you out? Did the double responsibility ever tense you? Were you involved with the writers or story development?
Mukesh Khanna as Shaktimaan and Gangadhar
I was never the producer who would take tension or work in tension, not then, not now. Yes, I am a very serious person, I don't go to parties or have a social life. But I am a serious maker and actor. That time, I was not too involved with story development, I used to participate but mainly it was between the director and the writer. The director was also someone who grew up watching so that kept the newness in our story.
The biggest challenge for us was to create new villains in every episode, sometimes an electric man, sometimes a toy because Shaktimaan and Geeta Vishwas' characters were established, but we needed new villains. So, as ideas came, we used to do 3-4 episodes on them. When we made episodes on aliens, it went on for like 12 episodes. So, variety came in and the response was terrific. But I was not so much concerned about production, I was more worried about my acting. How will I convince people I am a superhero. More so, how will I pull off a double role? I used to be more tensed about this, but with a team effort, things will fine.
How did you close on the costume design for Shaktimaan? What was the idea behind it? Using the chakras and the color?
Shaktimaan uniform with collar
When we were thinking about the design, we had spoken to a famous designer also. She had drawn a sketch for us but then we developed it within with more discussion. We majorly concentrated on the chakras which were placed in the middle of the torso. The chakra was inspired by the Anahata chakra which is the fourth primary chakra. This chakra has 12 petals and we focused most on ensuring we have not more than 12 petals on it. It controls the heart, lungs and more. We kept the colour maroon because it is the colour of valour. So, all of this we developed with time.
In fact, there was a blooper which even today, only me and my director knows. If someone watches the first episode again, there is a trolly shot where there is a collar in my uniform which we removed later because superheroes don't need collars.
I read somewhere you mentioned that budgets for the show became an issue later on and that it was a heavy production project. How did you manage budgets?
To be honest, I was an actor and I had become a producer by default. I was not a production house, I was an individual. When we were making Shaktimaan, someone was co partnering with me and this burden was to be taken by him so he had put money in it, but when we got in, we realised that this project won't be made in that money. So I had to run to Delhi and then Mandi House, and meet people and between this, I managed to bag a contract of 104 episodes. Then I got to know that the Associate Producer could not fund the project more, so I returned his money to him and then became the sole producer and all the burden came on me.
Shaktimaan (1997)
I was not the one to take tension and people helped me a lot as we moved forward. I remember there was a time when there was a shortage of money and the staff would collect 15,000 to 20,000 and we would shoot and I would return them the money. What saved us in all this was the economy of the project and the sudden success it got. The slot which was given to us was a non-prime time slot but the show was so successful that it became their prime time slot later. But, because initially, it was not a prime slot, the fee for the two-slot I got was under Rs 3,80,000. We started earning in the first 1-6 episodes.
But we started having hindrance when we were suggested that why don't I take a Sunday slot. So I was like no one gave me, I can take that but that is when the problem started because the fee became Rs 7.50 lakh and then after 104 episodes, they said they will increase it to Rs 10.5 lakh. First I agreed but then they kept increasing. When I went on to like 350 episodes, they wanted to increase more and I felt like they were penalizing me for success. So, ultimately when they did not agree, I left Shaktimaan incomplete (it started in 1997 and went on till 2005 March). A lot of people complain but what could we have done. But this is how we sailed through.
How were the shifts then? Was it difficult to manage it?
Earlier, we used to work like in 9-6 or 2-10 shifts. Today, the satellites have made it very bad; the situation is bad, but we used to work for limited hours. We used to never go beyond Dahisar. It used to be considered one and a half-day shift, so we used to avoid it. In today's time, I hear that people work for endless hours.
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