EXCLUSIVE: Shri Krishna Star Sarvadaman Banerjee Says Bollywood Is Shallow And Devoid Of Anything Glamourous Thus He Left Acting

As most of the yesteryear shows are returning on the tube it is not a strange phenomenon that one of the most popular shows of the early 90s is coming back yet again during the Coronavirus lockdown.

After Ramayan and Mahabharat, Ramanand Sagar’s Krishna is all set for a re-run on the television. It was the most popular show when it used to air on TV between 1993 to 1996 taking audiences through the Bhagwat Purana, Brahma Vairvata Purana, Vishnu Purana, Harivamsa, Padma Puran, Garg Samhita, Bhagwadgita and Mahabharat.

The show may be one of the biggest successes on Indian television but despite the fame and fortune the show's leading man actor Sarvadaman D. Banerjee who played Shri Krishna decided to opt-out of the limelight and now teaches meditation in Rishikesh.

His portrayal of Krishna enlivened the celestial being and brought him to such proximity with his character that we could literally feel him. Sarvadaman Banerjee portrayed the role with such conviction and ease that nothing outdoes it even to this day.

But as he has said in a few media interactions, he told us, "I was not initially happy playing the role of Krishna and had in fact refused to be part of the show altogether. I told Ramanand Sagar that he has Shiva inside me and not Krishna. It was only after an incident that is no less than a miracle when I saw multiple Krishna idols dancing in the middle of the sea which resulted in a slight bout of unconsciousness, I relented and said yes to doing it.”

The ex-actor is now a recluse. He is away from the attention; he is away from the limelight and is pretty happy with his life and the way it is. He took to meditation full time and now resides in Hrishikesh, right in the lap of mother nature where he also has a meditation school.

Sarvadaman used to be an FTII student. Not just Shri Krishna, it seems as though he had a long-time connection with spirituality which he continues to court. Well, much before Shri Krishna, he played the lead role in the 1983 film Adi Shankaracharya. The film went on to receive the national award for the best film and thereafter he played the role of Swami Vivekananda. When portraying such characters, one has to read up a lot, one has to have a psyche that would immerse you in their world, their thought process and their depth and Sarvadaman did have a psyche that was prone to immersing. He immersed himself in such a manner that he took to that kind of life (in a way).

The Krishna star was barely interested in talking about his days as an actor and said he was never quite drawn to Bollywood. Banerjee vehemently denies the existence of any glamour quotient in Bollywood on the contrary. “There is barely in glitz and glamour in Bollywood, whatever is there, it is just there in the minds of people who see the exterior, in reality, it is grim and shallow and devoid of anything glamourous. I decided to leave it after Krishna, I wanted to do something for myself and that’s what I am doing now,” quipped he.

Well, he surely has sequestered himself from acting and from facing the lens, but in his mind, he still knows a large part of his identity comprises of his role in Shri Krishna which is why perhaps in all most all his communication addresses, he has chosen the name Krishna to be a prefix of sorts. Well, the roles he has played can never be sequestered from him and neither has he mentally sequestered from them.  Today as our part of the world gears up to watch the re-run of Shri Krishna once again, we are sure, he will be marveled at yet again this time by a different generation, the 90s generation will surely relive their moments of sorrow and ecstasy and unlimited newer realisations will crop up in the minds because today, the world is different and the perspectives are different as well.