Telly-Mahadev Tarun Khanna refused to do Tandav initially

Mumbai: Actor Tarun Khanna, who has played Mahadev at least eight times, recalls how he declined to perform the Shiv Tandav when he was asked to do it the first time.

"I am not a very good dancer and had initially denied doing the Tandav, but it was very necessary for the script, so I had no other option but to perform in front of the camera," he said.

For the dance, he referred to many online videos that were enacted by professionals and very soon "realised that it is going to be very difficult".

Talking about what finally happened on the set, he said: "When the choreographer showed me the steps, they seemed very complicated but I knew I had to do it so I asked my team to shift the shoot to the evening and that I will require a lot of time to practice. I then practiced for seven hours straight. After a two-hour break we shot the sequence for another seven hours. Even though the process was so exhausting, it looked very well on the screen and the audience also liked it."

He is currently seen as Mahadev in "Devi Aadi Parashakti" on Dangal TV.