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Puneet Issar (born 6 November 1959) is an Indian actor, writer, director, producer and dialect coach best known for his works in Hindi cinema films and television shows. Issar started his acting career as a villain in Manmohan Desai's 1983 film Coolie, but gained recognition with the portrayal of Duryodhana in B. R. Chopra's television series Mahabharat (1988–1990).
Following Mahabharat, Issar acted in notable films including Chandra Mukhi (1993), Prem Shakti (1994), Ram Jaane (1995), Border (1997), Refugee (2000), Krrish (2006), Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008), Ready (2011), Son of Sardaar (2012) and The Kashmir Files (2022). His first directorial was Salman Khan starrer cop film (2004), for which he co-wrote the screenplay with wife Deepali.
Besides Mahabharat, Issar also went on to be part of television shows like Param Vir Chakra (1987), Bharat Ek Khoj (1988), Junoon (1993-1998), Noorjahan (1999-2000), Mahabharat (2013), Parchhayee: Ghost Stories by Ruskin Bond (2019) and Choti Sarrdaarni (2021). He was a contestant in the reality television show Bigg Boss 8 (2014–2015), hosted by Salman Khan. Formerly, he worked as dialect coach at various acting institutions, and his expertise included speech, diction and physical gestures.
He belongs to a Punjabi Hindus family which migrated from Pakistan following the 1947 partition.
He is married to Deepali, the daughter of actor Daljeet Puri and sister of actor Satyajeet Puri. She has written the films (2004) and I Am Singh (2011) both directed by Puneet. The couple has two children, daughter Nivriti Issar and son Siddhant Issar. Siddhant is also an actor.
Issar is a fitness and gym enthusiast. He also made some positive headlines for fitness at the age of 60.
He played the Indian Superman, a Bollywood version of the Hollywood films. He played the second lead in the cult Indian horror film Purana Mandir in 1983. Later he did many other horror movies such as Tehkhana in the 1980s.
He also starred in movies such as Krrish, Partner, Aryan, Bachna Ae Haseeno and many more in the 2000s.
In 1982, he was involved in an on-shoot incident with Amitabh Bachchan during the shoot of Coolie. He accidentally injured Amitabh, nearly fatally, and suffered the industry's backlash due to it. He later admitted that he had to face a lot of problems in getting roles in movies and he also lost 7-8 films due to the notoriety of the incident. He also went out of work for 6 years.
He has also directed TV serials such as Hindustani and Jai Mata Ki starring Hema Malini. He has starred in over 12 TV serials such as Junoon, Sahil, Noor Jahan, Vikram Aur Betaal and many more. He has appeared in over 1800 episodes on Indian television. He played the role of King Bimbisara in the feature film Gautama Buddha – The Life and Times of Gautama Buddha. He also starred in Left Right Left of the Indian Channel Sony SAB. He has also worked in several Punjabi films such as Rab Ne Banayian Jodiyan and in a few Telugu language films. He has also given a brilliant display of his acting skills in the mythological film Suryaputra Shanidev, which was released in 1997.
In 2004, Issar directed the film starring Salman Khan and Shilpa Shetty in lead roles. The opening collections of the film were good, and overall it was declared "Above Average" at the box office. His latest directorial venture I Am Singh, the story of which is also written by him, released in December 2011. It is based on the stories about the Sikh immigrants in the USA after the 11 September attacks.
In the Indian TV reality show Bigg Boss season 8, in 2014/2015, Issar was one of the 7 finalists. He was evicted from the show on 3 January 2015. Issar lasted in the house for 105 days. At 56, he was the oldest contestant to do so and lasted the entire season in the house. He played the role of "Daar ji" in Choti Sarrdaarni.
In 2022, Issar played DGP Hari Narain in The Kashmir Files, a film based on the Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.
Filmography
Films
Hindi
1983 Bob 1984 Anand 1985 1986 Amar Singh 1987 Darshan Patel Shekhar/Superman Akbar 1988 Sukhdev Police Inspector Sangraam /Jaggu 1989 1990 Maa Kasam Badla Loonga Inspector Kishan Singh D'Souza 1991 Afzal Khan 1992 Mahesh 1993 Zoohla Raana Dr. Rajan Bakshi Shakti Singh 1994 Shaitaan Singh 1995 Inspector Chewte Chakku Pandey Bola 1996 Parashuram 1997 Subedar Ratan Singh, Mangal Singh Dhanraj Poacher Shani dev 1998 Police inspector Khulbhushan Police inspector Khurana 1999 Pratap Singh 2000 2001 Chhota Chaudhary Jindal 2004 2005 2006 Ranveer Singh Bagga Komal Singh 2007 Rana from Haryana 2008 Anguli Mala Also shot in Telugu 2011 Tejpaal Singh Ishwar Chaudhary Fateh Singh 2012 Sardar 2013 Duryodhana DGP Hari Narayan Amar Tau 2025 Rajesh Singh 2026 Subedar Ratan Singh, Cameo
Telugu
1997 Devaraju aka DR, a mafia don 2002 Shoukat Ali Khan 2003 Police Commissioner Balbir Singh Minister 2005 Major Chakravarthy JD 2007 Liaqat Ali Khan 2008 Anguli Mala Mahadev Chandraksha Kasi Viswanath
Punjabi
2006 2009 2012 Jarnail Singh 2014 Pratap Singh
Kannada
1994
Bengali
1995 2008 2010 2015
Tamil
1993 Duriyodhanan 1994
Malayalam
1992 Vishakha (black magician) 1994 Edwin Thomas
Marathi
2012 Jas's Father 2026 Mirza Raje Jai Singh
Television
Naik Jadu Nath Singh Duryodhana Saudagar Singh Maharana Pratap Kabira Duryodhana Mahishasura Sher-e-Afghan Brigadier Chandok Jarasandha King Shivdutt Gurudev Singh Bhullar Parshurama Sri Bhagavatam Ravana and Hiranyakashyap Telugu Mythological serial on ETV Contestant 6th place Dhanaji Parchhayee: Ghost Stories by Ruskin Bond Maharaja Digambar Singh 2021 Choti Sarrdaarni Beant Singh Gill 2022 Channa Mereya Rajwant Singh 2023–2024 Vanshaj Bhanupratap Mahajan "Dada Babu" 2025 Shiv Shakti – Tap Tyaag Tandav Ravana
Other credits
19971998 19992000 2004 2011
External links
Categories: 1959 Births, Living People, Male Actors In Hindi Cinema, Indian Male Television Actors, Film Directors From Mumbai, Male Actors In Telugu Cinema, Indian Male Film Actors, Male Actors In Malayalam Cinema, Male Actors In Kannada Cinema, Male Actors In Bengali Cinema, Male Actors In Punjabi Cinema, 20th-century Indian Male Actors, 21st-century Indian Male Actors, Male Actors From Mumbai, Film Producers From Mumbai, Male Actors In Hindi Television, Male Actors In Telugu Television, Punjabi Hindus
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