Devon Ke Dev – Mahadev’s Mohit Raina recalls an old lady touched his feet saying, ‘You are my connection to God, don’t stop me’

Mohit Raina became a household name with "Devon Ke Dev - Mahadev" and is still remembered for his role as Mahadev. In a podcast with Ranveer Allahabadia, Mohit opened up about his spiritual connection with the show, fan reactions, living a turbulent life in Kashmir during childhood and a lot more.

In 2017, when I started interacting with fans, the age group was very different. Kids would tell me, ‘uncle you look cool’, teenagers would tell me, ‘you look sexy’, ladies would tell me ‘You did very good work, you look handsome’ and the grandmothers would bless me.

There are celebs with whom you want to get a picture clicked with and there are some celebs with whom you just want to meet, or shake hands. I feel, I belonged to the second category. I feel blessed that I was chosen. Once, long back, an old lady touched my feet. I tried to stop her saying, ‘you are are my daadi’s age’. She said a very sweet thing, “You don’t have the right to stop me. You don’t think that I am touching your feet. You are the medium. So you don’t stop me and don’t take the 5-10 seconds of my spiritual connection with Him.” So I think, I gave into that special moment.

There was a negative character – Jalandhar, who was Mahadev’s ansh. He was trying to destroy Mahadev. Makers felt it will only look realistic when I played both the parts. I was playing double role simultaneously. There was a lot of baggage in that character. I didn’t have that much understanding as an artist, into how deep I have to go into a character. I went in quite deep. He had a lot of pain, agony. Suddenly I realised that I have to snap out of the character. An actor should set a limit for himself else, it affects his surroundings too. It had affected me in real life and that’s when I decided I wouldn’t get into so much depth.

My father had been a firm believer of Mahadev. The show was like a gift to me from my father. The day I got confirmed for the show, that was the day I lost my father. I feel it was his gift to me. It can’t be a coincidence. And I had to give my best because I realised that it is his gift. I put my heart and soul into it.

I was around 8 back then. I have seen those tough times when issues cropped up in Kashmir. I have seen my school getting burnt, firings. We would go school but don’t know how would you return. Kids associate with superheroes. In my childhood, I would see army personnel all around me and that’s why I think of them as superheroes. I never missed a chance to play a man wearing the uniform.

Back then, my father would write our house address on a paper and put it in one sock and a few coins in another sock. During such disturbed atmosphere, in case, if we ever get lost, we could atleast show the paper and reach home. When you see such days in life, it helps you understand life better and from a different perspective. Once we were returning from school, the Army once took over our house to carry on a mission.

The show was a major success and I knew it wouldn’t last. It was just a phase. I was also earning money. I remember, I had to buy a car. I bought a medium car. Many people told me, ‘What are you doing? You can buy a car 5 times more expensive than this. If your junior has a better car than you, what will people think?’ I understood, if someone is going to judge me because of my car, then it’s very sad.