Before the cable TV boom in India in the early 90s, Doordarshan used to be the only option for people all over the country. Doordarshan had complete monopoly over the television entertainment business. Many actors who are stars now started their career with the government-owned channel including the likes of Irrfan Khan and Rohit Roy. In this article, we will be discussing an actor who was branded as the first superstar of TV. Today, we have a plethora of daily soaps on TV, but it all started with Hum Log – the first ever serial on television. It started airing on Doordarshan in 1984. The show introduced us to many actors, most prominent among them being Abhinav Chaturvedi. He won the hearts of people with his charming good looks and acting capabilities. If media reports are to be believed, Abhinav was initially inclined towards cricket. He had even played for Ranji Trophy, but his fate had something else in store for him.
Around that time, Kumar Vasudev was planning on introducing Indian audiences to the concept of daily soaps through the serial Hum Log and was looking for fresh faces. In an old interview, Kumar Vasudev had said that for the casting, he looked for actors whose personal lives matched with the characters they played and Abhinav fit the bill perfectly. Abhinav once mentioned that while working on this serial, the director gave him no specific instructions. Instead, he had to portray the character of Nanhe in his own way.
This serial made him famous overnight and he became the first superstar of Doordarshan. After this show, he was a part of many other TV shows. With his popularity on television, he decided to try his luck on the big screen. But his good fortune did not carry over to the world of films. Films like Parbat Ke Us Paar, Baaz and Buniyaad did not work at the box office. He appeared in the superhit film Saudagar, but his was a small supporting role and he was overshadowed by big screen legends Raaj Kumar and Dilip Kumar.
He was last seen in Salman Khan’s film Sooryavanshi in 1992, which also flopped. Gradually, he began distancing himself from both the big screen and television. Around this time, he made the significant decision to quit acting. It is said that he earned very little money from his work and did not even have his own house in Mumbai. During this period, his father’s health deteriorated, and despite his wishes, he couldn’t keep his father in Mumbai, which forced him to leave the city.
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