Remembering Praveen Kumar Sobti - Asian Games gold medallist & the 'Bheem' of Mahabharat

With quotes from an interview to TimesofIndia.com's Amit Kumar in May 2020NEW DELHI: Watching the mythological TV series 'Mahabharat' every Sunday on Doordarshan in the late 1980s and early 1990s became part of life for every household across India, and the characters received the love of audiences that very few programmes aired on television can match even now. Understandably then, losing any of those characters will always be a sorrow shared nationwide. February 7, 2022, was another such unfortunate day when Praveen Kumar Sobti, who played the role of 'Bheem' in that epic series, breathed his last at the age of 74. Sobti, who was also an elite Indian athlete before his plunge into acting, died following a cardiac arrest late on Monday evening at his residence in Delhi. A discus-throw Olympian during his playing days, Sobti won as many as four medals at the Asian Games (two gold, one silver, one bronze) during his days as a track and field athlete. He also represented India in two Olympic Games - in Mexico 1968 and Munich 1972.

(Photo: TOI arrangement)"He had a chronic chest infection problem. At night, when he started feeling uneasy, we called the doctor at home. He passed away between 10 and 10:30 pm following a cardiac arrest," PTI quoted a relative of Sobti as saying. 'Mahabharat' and its iconic characters re-appeared on the TV screens less than two years ago, when Covid-19 forced a nationwide lockdown in 2020. Even the re-telecast of the series registered record viewership numbers. One among the many characters in the TV series, the 6-feet-6-inch tall Sobti, who hailed from Punjab, appeared in many movies after ending his athletics career. He acted in over 50 movies, including the 1987 Amitabh Bachchan blockbuster