www.alumni.du.ac.in / The University of Delhi Alumni eZine Edition Eight 2019

pT Cul 013 alumnus Parikshat Sahni an artiste of distinction

Parikshat Sahni alpix 0849 BA Eng Hons St Stephen’s

Parikshat Sahni is an acknowledged Indian film and television actor, who is most known for playing the lead in Tele-serials series Barrister Vinod, Gul Gulshan Gulfaam (Doordarshan) and Gaatha (STAR Plus). He has also appeared in three of Rajkumar Hirani's blockbuster films Lage Raho Munna Bhai, 3 Idiots, and PK.

He is the son of noted actor Balraj Sahni and nephew of the celebrated writer and DU alumnus Lecturer Dr Bhisham Sahni.

He was born while his father was teaching English at Visva-Bharati University in Shantiniketan of Rabindranath Tagore, and his mother was doing her Bachelors. Most of his schooling was done at the Lawrence School Sanawar.

Parikshat's parents were both theatre and film artistes, although his mother acted in only a couple of films before her death at an early age in 1947. His father subsequently married his own cousin Santosh Chandhok two years later. He is married to the phenomenal star-writer-director Dev Anand's niece Aruna Kapur. He was a good friend of actor Sanjeev Kumar. Parikshat even changed his screen name to Ajay Sahni at the suggestion of Sanjeev Kumar during the shooting of their 1968 film Anokhi Raat, before eventually reverting to his own name a few years later. One of his most famous films is 3 Idiots. where he was appreciated as R. Madhavan's father. He had a major role in the TV series Heena as Nawab Mirza, Heena's father. Parikshat played Veer Singh (Kaka-sa) in the popular Zee serial Saat Phere opposite Nivedita Bhattacharya. He starred in the classic Punjabi film Marhi Da Diva (1989), with Raj Babbar, Pankaj Kapur, Kanwaljit Singh and Deepti Naval. He played a remarkable role in the Hindi film Pavitra Paapi (1970) which was based on a Punjabi novel by Nanak Singh. Pavitra Paapi also featured his real life father, Balraj Sahni in a pivotal role. He acted in the Doordarshan television series The Great Maratha as Malhar Rao Holkar. wikipedia, penguin.co.in 27.12.2019 adapted