Mukesh Khanna on Ranveer Singh: Terrific actor, but can’t play Shaktimaan

Bollywood star Ranveer Singh will reportedly play Shaktimaan in the TV series’ film adaptation. While many are excited to see how the whole thing unfolds on screen, actor Mukesh Khanna, who played the iconic role back in the day, didn’t like this particular casting and expressed the same in a recent interview, stating that Ranveer is not the right fit for the part.
Speaking to Bollywood Thikana, Mukesh said in Hindi, “I don’t take names as I am not supposed to criticise any actor. People get offended. But now everyone knows that Ranveer Singh came to convince me. I can’t hide it that I had called him a ‘terrific actor’ and praised his ‘energy’. People started posting pictures on social media as if Ranveer had been finalised to play Shaktimaan. Since, I hadn’t taken a call on it as I have a contract with Sony, I posted a video where I said, I have not said anything about the lead actor so please wait for sometime.”
“That poor guy (Ranveer Singh) was sitting in front of me for three hours. But it doesn’t reflect on his face, what it needs to play Shaktimaan. He looks fickle as if he will con somebody. But he is a terrific actor. When I praised him I mentioned that nobody else in the film industry has energy like him. But I haven’t approved him for the role. He must have felt bad. However, in the industry it is the producer who casts the actor, not the other way round. That photoshoot (a nude shoot with Dirty magazine) was one of the very big reasons that started my aversion to him. When I saw that photoshoot, I said, kya kar raha hai yaar (What are you doing),” Mukesh Khanna concluded.
On the work front, Ranveer Singh was last seen in the Rohit Shetty film Cirkus. He has the director’s Singham Again in the pipeline, which also features Deepika Padukone, Ajay Devgn and Kareena Kapoor Khan among others in pivotal roles.