Gajendra Chauhan

Chauhan was initially offered to play the role of Lord Krishna in the television series, and shot for two episodes of the series in this role.[9] However filming for the first series was delayed, and Chauhan moved south to take on new work.[9] Upon his return, Chauhan had put on weight and was considered unsuitable for the role of Krishna. He was later offered the role of Yudhishthira, which went on to being the role he has become better known by.[9]

On 9 June 2015, Chauhan was appointed as the Chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).[12] His appointment proved to be controversial amid allegations by students that it was a blatant attempt to "saffronize the institute".[12] A section of left-wing students association, including All India Students Association (AISA) (the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation) continue to agitate.[13] Chauhan requested the students to give him a year to prove himself, and insisted that he would be better than the previous chairpersons.[14]

Among those who have supported Chauhan's appointment as FTII chairman are BJP supporters and politicians including Mukesh Khanna,[15] Shatrughan Sinha, Paresh Rawal, Hema Malini, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, and Paintal.[10][16][17] Many more including FTII alumni and former teachers, actors, film technicians, filmmakers, journalists and political leaders have opposed his appointment, prominent among whom include Ranbir Kapoor, Kalki Koechlin, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Anupam Kher, Piyush Mishra, Anand Patwardhan, Kiran Rao, Jahnu Barua, Salman Khan, Rishi Kapoor,[18][19][20] Resul Pookutty,[21] Rajkummar Rao, Amol Palekar,[22] Soumitra Chatterjee,[23] Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal[24] and Rana Ayyub[25]