Praveen Kumar Sobti, champion athlete and Bhim of 'Mahabharat', passes away at 74
Darpan News Desk IANS, 08 Feb, 2022 05:41 PM
New Delhi, Feb 8 (IANS) It was the punch he landed on Praveen Kumar Sobti that made Amitabh Bachchan's character deliver the famous dialogue from Tinnu Anand's super-hit movie 'Shahenshah': "Rishte mein toh hum tumhare baap hote hain, naam hai Shahenshah! (Yes, I am your father. I am Shahenshah)" But Sobti, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 74 in New Delhi, became briefly famous when he played the Pandava strongman Bhim in B.R. Chopra's iconic television serial 'Mahabharat'.
Before that, Sobti, who started his working life with the Border Security Force and towered at 6 feet 5 inches, earned laurels for India in discus throw and hammer throw, winning medals in three editions of the Asian Game -- a gold and a bronze in the 1966 Bangkok Asian Games, another gold in the 1970 Asiad, which was also held in Bangkok, and a silver at the 1974 Tehran Asiad
Sobti also won a silver at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, and represented the country at the Olympics in 1968 and 1972. He will, however, be remembered for his on-television characters -- Bhim in 'Mahabarat' and Saboo in the Raghubir Yadav-starrer 'Chacha Chaudhary', based on Pran Kumar Sharma's hugely popular comic-book series in Hindi.
Interestingly, his Chacha Chaudhary character was a giant alien from Jupiter, who provides protection to the elderly Chacha.
Sobti's large frame made him just right for thuggish roles in Hindi and he got his first break in Hindi cinema in action sequences against Jeetendra in 'Meri Awaz Suno' (1981).
Soon thereafter, he appeared in the action thriller, 'Raksha', which was a remake of a Telugu film inspired by the James Bond movie, 'The Spy Who Loved Me'. The strong man, pitched against Jeetendra yet again, reprised the role of 'Jaws' in the Bond movie.
Apart from having a busy film and television career, Sobti also dabbled in politics -- he stood in the 2013 Municipal Corporation of Delhi (2013) elections and subsequently joined the BJP.
In the image, Gauri and Shah Rukh are seen lovingly holding each other as they pose for the lens. Suhana captioned the picture: "Happy Birthday Ma", followed by a heart emoticon.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R.M. Nerlikar rejected the bail applications of Aryan, Arbaaz Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha, on grounds of "maintainability", upholding the contentions of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) legal team.
Aryan, 23, was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) along with seven others on charges of consumption, sale, and purchase of narcotic drugs, after a rave party was busted aboard a luxury cruise liner.
Aryan Khan's lawyer Satish Maneshinde and advocate Taraq K. Sayed, representing another accused Arbaaz Merchant, said that now they plan to move the appropriate court for regular bail on Friday.
The film is the story of Niranjan Singh and Satwant Kaur who are parents to four sons who have been brought up by them with immense love and affection.
Ironically, life became a full circle when a couple of days ago, SRK had to take the NCB's permission for a brief meet with his son in the agency lock-up, when the 24-year-old cried before his celeb dad, though eventually it has surfaced that no drugs were recovered from him.
