This isn’t the Shakuni the epic warns one about—this is his side of the saga.

Gufi Paintal (1944–2023), the Indian actor, director, production designer, casting director and a lyricist, portrayed several important roles in many television serials as well as movies, the most memorable one being that of Shakuni in Mahabharat. Initially trained as an engineer, Gufi was part of the Indian Army during defence emergencies prompted by the Sino-Indian conflicts in the 1960s. While acting in Ravi Chopra’s The Burning Train, he also joined the production team of B.R. Chopra and later undertook many responsibilities under the banner. In 2010, he was appointed head of facility at the Abbhinnay Acting Academy in Mumbai, a school established by his Mahabharat co-star Pankaj Dheer.

Sapan Saxena is a contemporary fiction writer and a software engineer who is currently based in New Hampshire, US. He started writing blogs on Indology around 2011, which became instant success with his followers and were covered in leading Indian dailies. His first book Finders, Keepers was a critical success and his second book UNNS-The Captivation was extremely well received. His third book The Tenth Riddle was endorsed by many celebrities and politicians. Sapan completed his graduation from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, in 2004.

Goldie Tucker is an Indian film producer who has produced over 2,500 episodes of high-quality television shows for various broadcasters. He was also the business consultant for the successful Shaktimaan series. He has been involved in the production of many successful TV shows across the years for various channels, like Sab TV, Star Plus, Zee TV and Sony Sab. He produced the movie Sarhad Paar. Goldie stays in Mumbai where he also holds the position of director in Transvision Production Company Private Limited.