Roopa Ganguly Aka Draupadi Says Trains Used To Stop At Stations So People Could Watch Mahabharat

Roopa Ganguly first became a household name after starring as Draupadi in BR Chopra’s Mahabharat on Doordarshan. The national award-winning actress, in a recent interview with the Times of India, opened up about the show’s return on Colors TV for a re-run amid COVID-19 lockdown and its massive impact on the Indian audience.

Roopa said, “There were so many people from my generation who wanted to watch Mahabharat. Also, I am sure that the younger generation might have heard tales about the show from their parents or grandparents. Now that a channel like COLORS has taken the onus to narrate this tale to the masses, everybody who has been wanting to watch the show now knows that they have to tune into the channel.”

Revisiting her fond memories of the golden days, the 53-year-old added, “We had put in a lot of hard work and we were confident that people would like the show. But slowly we got to know about the impact it had on people. We got the news that trains used to stop at stations which had a television so people could watch Mahabharat. At that time, we were very busy shooting the show, so we never really realized that the show had become such a huge hit. I didn't even get a chance to watch the show properly at that time. I am watching the show properly now and there are so many flashbacks, so many memories of shooting those scenes.”

For the unversed, the iconic mythological series originally began its journey on the small screen in October 1988. The cherished magnum opus ran till June 24, 1990, for a total of 94 Sundays in a row to everyone’s delight.