Why Does Doordarshan find itself in a time-slot muddle time after time. Is it incompetence, callousness...
I don't know if it is incompetence or what. But my guess is that what happens when a serial goes on for a long period of time, the channel, especially an entity like DD, which does not have executive producers sitting in on productions, loses control over the creative process of the serial. I hope they realise that and start the practice of appointing executive producers as is the case with the private channels.

With regard to Gita Rahasya and Shri Krishna there is a proper clause in our contract that stipulates that there cannot be another programme with the same time. We have moved Court in this regard, and we are waiting for Doordarshan's reply.

Why, then, does the confusion persist?
When I was a MP, in 1997, there were reports that DD planned to scuttle Shri Krishna. There were panic calls from the Sagars, and some powerful politicians asked me if I had anything to do with the reports. I had categorically told them then that I did not do business that way. This was in 1997. But now one hears that the Sagars are asking for an extension. It upsets our business plans very much.

The point of the matter is that in December 1998, DD asked me if I was ready to come on the air on the given date, June 13, 1999. I had assured them that I was. Even then there were rumours that the Sagars were asking for an extension.

But are't the Sagars justified in asking for an extension. they contend that Krishna is unthinkable without Gita and since the haven't addressed the Gita yet, they would want an extension.

My counter-argument to that is Shri Krishna is known to have been based on Shrimad Bhagawatam and other Puranas. It is a fact, that Gita is nowhere a part of the Puranas. Gita is an integral part of the Mahabharata. Shri Krishna, as admitted by Mr Prem Sagar to Mid-Day, is not based on Mahabharata and so the argument that Shri Krishna would be incomplete without the Gita's untenable.

Also, if they were basing Shri Krishna on the Gita, Doordarshan wouldn't have given me the go-ahead for the series as early as 1995. they have a policy of not approving serial with the same content.

How confident are you about the project?
I have researched the Gita ever since I started playing the role of Krishna in Mahabharata. But I don't claim to be an expert or an authority on the subject. I make it clear to people that this is my understanding of the Gita, and please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. This is only my perspective, my understanding of the Gita. Every man has understood the Gita from his perspective and his set of circumstances. The same shloka can mean one thing to me today and quite another thing eight years from now. That's the beauty of the Gita and that'w what makes it so relevant today as it was over the years.

It must be an onerous task having to produce and present such an important work.

I feel lucky, honoured and privileged that I'm associated with this great treatise. Playing Krishna in Mahabharata opened up immense possibilities for me. I could suddenly communicate with great scholars and theologicians. I could interact with them and draw from their experience and knowledge. And what I have realised is that when you come in contact with a treatise like the Gita, which goes beyond the man-made barriers of religion, caste and geography, it changes you. It changes your outlook towards life, and broadens your horizon.