Mukesh Khanna has received a lot of anecdotes over his portrayal as Bhishma Pitamah in Mahabharat. However, what many are not aware of is that before this success, he was extremely disappointed in himself over his consistent flops.
During an interview with the Times of India, the actor was quoted saying, “Before bagging the role in Mahabharat, I had done many films that were big flops. People labelled me as a flop actor and I was deeply disappointed with the way things were going. When I travelled by train, people used to recognise me and ask me if I was Mukesh Khanna, but I used to deny it and say I was his brother. I just did not want to face people. However, after Mahabharat, life took a new turn and I am happy that I did justice to my role and people loved me for it.”
Speaking further about Mahabharat, he credited the roles in the film written by Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza, that spread awareness about the story of Bhishma.
He was quoted as saying, "I would like to give a large part of the credit of our roles in ‘Mahabharat’ to Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza, who wrote our dialogues. He used to tell me how on seeing me, his pen used to write non-stop about my character (smiles). Back then, Bhishmapitamah made me a household name."