New Delhi, 19 March

A day after he expressed displeasure over reports of Ranveer Singh's casting as Shaktimaan in a potential film, actor Mukesh Khanna, who played the popular superhero in the 1990s serial of the same name, appears to have deleted all related posts from social media.

According to media reports, Singh was recently roped in to play Shaktimaan in the film set to be directed by Basil Joseph of "Minnal Murali" fame. The makers of the project are yet to confirm or deny reports of Singh carrying forward Khanna's mantle.

In the now deleted post on Instagram, Khanna said on Sunday that he is not in favour of Singh playing "Shaktimaan" as "the actor has a certain image".

"Social media is flooded with rumours that Ranveer will play Shaktimaan. Everyone was angry about it. I kept quiet. As channels started announcing that Ranveer has been signed for the part, I had to say something."

"I have said that an actor with a certain image, no matter how big a star he may be, cannot become Shaktimaan. I have put my foot down. Let's see what happens now," wrote Khanna, also the creator and producer of the 1997 DD show Shaktimaan.

The actor, known for playing Bhishma Pitamah in BR Chopra's 1988 epic TV series Mahabharat, had also posted a video on his YouTube channel Bheeshm International where he called out Singh for his bare-bodied photoshoot for a magazine in 2022.