How Rabindranath Tagore Named Parikshit Sahni: A Family Secret Revealed

In an interview with ANI, Parikshit Sahni reflected on his upbringing, explaining that he was raised by his grandparents after the early death of his mother, Damayanti Sahni, and his father, the late film and stage actor Balraj Sahni, who travelled to the UK.

He recalled being brought up in Rawalpindi till the age of seven, saying, "They went to Calcutta for some time to be with Tagore and then travelled to England. Then the war started in 1939, and my grandparents didn't let them take me along. But my father was an adventurous man. He didn't care about the war and went to see England. I was left with my grandparents, and I didn't meet him again until they came back around six to seven years later."

Sahni also shared the story of how he got his name. "My parents lived in Shantiniketan for a while when my mother was pregnant with me. My mother decided to give her BA exam at the time when she was expecting me. So Tagore told him (my father), 'You gave your exam, and your child also gave the exam. So you can name him "Parikshit". He was responsible for the name," the veteran actor said.

Reflecting on his father, Sahni described Balraj Sahni as a deeply sensitive man, revealing the emotional impact of family tragedies. "He was shattered after the death of his daughter, Shabnam. She was very young, just 26, and my mother was also 26 when she passed away. He was so terribly upset about Shabnam that he died a year later," he said.

Born in the Rawalpindi district of present-day Pakistan, Parikshit Sahni has had a long and distinguished career in Indian cinema. He has worked with acting legends such as Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, and Shatrughan Sinha, and has featured in Rajkumar Hirani's hit films alongside Aamir Khan and Sanjay Dutt.

- ANI