Mukesh Khanna Reveals His Last Chat with Mahabharat Co-Star Gufi Paintal: 'He Wasn't...' | Exclusive

Veteran actor Gufi Paintal died on Monday, June 5. The actor, best known for his role as Shakuni Mama in Mahabharat, died at a hospital in Mumbai. The funeral will take place on Monday evening, at 4 pm. Hours after Gufi’s death, in an exclusive conversation with News18 Showsha, Mukesh Khanna remembered the veteran actor and recalled the time he spent with him. Khanna essayed on the role of Bhishma Pitamah in Mahabharat.

“I was in touch with his son for a week now. He was hospitalized and not well. I got to know about his death at 9 am this morning,” Khanna told us. “This was a long-drawn case. His condition deteriorated. Dialysis was conducted. He went into semi-coma. He gained a little consciousness yesterday and the doctor said that it was a miracle but his condition worsened. His kidney was affected,” he added.

Mukesh said that he could not visit Gufi in the hospital during his last days. However, he recalled his last conversation with him was over text messages. “It’s been over six months that he wasn’t able to speak. I messaged him once saying, ‘Gufi, how are you?’ He replied, ‘Mukesh, not well’. Once his son tried to make me talk to him on call,” he said.

The Shaktimaan actor revealed that it was Gufi who had cast him for Mahabharat. “Gufi is the one person from the entire Mahabharata team I was more attached to. He was the one who cast me for the show. We had several confrontation scenes in Mahabharat. He was a nice man. He used to handle the entire Mahabharata including casting. Our association did not stop with Mahabharat. He worked with me in Shaktimaan,” he said.

Recalling his best memories with Gufi, Mukesh shared how the two went to Allahabad once but ended up missing their flight while returning. “Once we went for a Kavi Sammelan in Allahabad. It was so funny. The organiser had kept one car ready for us but when we reached there, we missed our flight. Gufi was worried. I had to shoot. The manager was also scared that he would be scolded. He recommended that we travel to Lucknow. We went there to catch a train but we had no tickets. People saw and said, ‘Aaiye aaiye Pitamah, Shakuni Mama’. Then we got the royal treatment,” Mukesh concluded.