Oh My God!

It is believed that most things have a ripple effect. As a child, when Mohit Raina participated with gusto in the festival of Mahashivratri, little did he realise that he was actually going to play a larger, related role in the coming years.

Mohit currently essays the role of Lord Shiva in the vastly popular daily soap, Devon Ke Dev – Mahadev. He says, “Being a Kashmiri Brahmin, I have worshipped Lord Shiva since my childhood. I come from the land of the Ambernath yatra, and my family has always been deeply religious. Perhaps, earlier I did not delve too deeply into Shivji’s intense philosophy, but slowly, I have done that too.”

He reminisces, “When I first landed the role, all of us were initially cautious. We were completely personalising an extremely strong deity, and we had to be careful to maintain respect at all times. It was not easy, but slowly we started to get a much clearer idea about the way forward.”

But the actor is, after all, human. How does Mohit, the human; maintain Mahadev, the sculpted character? He chuckles, “We shoot all week long, and sometimes the long hours get gruelling. But no matter what, I am up at 6 am to hit the gym every single day.”

He muses, “Our country, our people are very religious. When in character, one has to be extremely responsible. Ultimately, you cannot play with people’s emotions. Especially since I am portraying a major deity, I am that much more conscious about it.

“Everything that is shown on-screen definitely has its roots in authenticity. It is all obtained from the Shiva Purana.”

The effect of his reel life has trickled into his real life as well. “Wherever I go, people are anxious to know what will happen next in the serial. Also, I have noticed that the perspective of people has become more intense. They have complete faith in what I say, and treat me with a lot of respect!”