Parikshit Sahni

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Parikshit Sahni is a well-known Indian actor who began his acting career as a child artist in the film Hulchul (1951). Later, he appeared in several critically acclaimed Bollywood films including 3 Idiots (2009) and PK (2014). Parikshit Sahni as Jaggu’s father in a still from the film ‘PK’ (2014).Parikshit Sahni spent most of his childhood in boarding schools since his father, Balraj Sahni, was an activist in India’s fight for freedom against the Britishers. Balraj and his wife Damayanti Sahni were associated with the Communist Party of India.At the time of Parikshit’s birth, his parents were teachers at Shantiniketan in Bengal after which they both went to London. His father then worked as a radio announcer for BBC London.His mother, Damayanti, was a social worker and worked in the slum. She contracted a disease called Amoebic dysentery, due to the consumption of contaminated water following which she suffered from a cardiac arrest, and passed away at the age of 26.After his mother passed away, Parikshit’s father married Santosh Chandhok, who was an author and television writer, in 1951.Parikshit spent his childhood in several cities including Kashmir, Dharamshala, and Ambala.When Parikshit graduated from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi, he went to Moscow to study Architecture; however, he dropped the course midway to pursue acting as he struggled with mathematics and could not clear the aptitude test.Parikshit Sahni wanted to be a director. He wrote the script of the Hindi film ‘Pavitra Paapi’ (1970) and intended to direct it; however, the producer of the project made him act as a lead in the film instead of directing it. During the shooting of this film, Parikshit’s stage name was Ajay Sahni. Official poster of the film ‘Pavitra Paapi’ (1970).In the beginning, Parikshit Sahni adopted the screen name Ajay Sahni on the advice of his very close friend Sanjeev Kumar. But after the accident, he changed his screen name back to his real name, as he says that it was his new birth when he recovered from the injuries.He injured his backbone while shooting for ‘Veer Shivaji’. It took a whole year for him to recover.