After Roadies, city lad to appear in TV show on Battle of Saragarhi

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 4

City lad Balraj Singh Khehra (29) has bagged a show on the historical Battle of Saragarhi. He hogged the limelight after winning Roadies, a popular reality show, last year.

Balraj will play the role of Boota Singh and share the small screen with famous TV actor Mohit Raina, who portrayed the role of Lord Shiva in Devon Ka Dev Mahadev. Mohit will play the role of Hawaldar Isher Singh, who had led the battle.

While talking to The Tribune, Khehra said the show would be based on the battle that was fought between Sikh soldiers of the British Indian army and Pashtun Orakzai tribesmen in 1897.

“The story will revolve around the 21 soldiers of the 36 Sikh Regiment who fought against 10,000 to 14,000 Afghans and killed more than 600 of them before sacrificing their lives. The Battle of Saragarhi is considered as one of the most fierce last stands in history,” he added.

Explaining his role, he said, “I am given the most important role to play because Boota Singh was the right hand of Isher Singh and he used to admire him.” Born in Khadoor Sahib, the newbie in the tinsel town has been living in Jalandhar for the past nine years.

While growing up in a small village, a dream of becoming an actor was nurturing in Khera’s mind. To achieve his dreams, he took part in Mr. Punjab in 2014 and finished second in the competition. Thereafter, he started his journey and giving auditions in the Punjabi film industry.

Balraj had then developed a grouse that people from the Punjabi film industry would say that he was not a ‘known face’ so he could not get a chance to appear in the films. Later, he took it as a challenge and headed to accomplish his ultimate dream.

Then Roadies happened and he won the show. Balraj is a trained fitness trainer and has a team called Fitness Freaks that gives training to celebrities and businessmen.

He said. “I am not going to Mumbai to give auditions but I will do shows or movies if someone approaches me.”

“I got a call from a production house. They told me that there was a role in a show which will be aired on a new channel of Discovery. Initially, I got other role but when they saw me, they said only a ‘Sardar’ could have done this important role of Buta Singh in the best way,” added Balraj. “It is a proud moment for me to play such an important role in my first ever show,” elated Balraj added.