Shakti Anand on Playing a Father Torn Between Love, Power and Fear in COLORS’ Mahadev & Sons

COLORS brings an emotionally charged family drama with Mahadev & Sons, a story where love builds a home, but fear brings the rules. Set in the sacred town of Hardoi, the show follows Mahadev’s journey from an orphaned servant in a powerful household to a respected family head, only to fear the very love that once gave him everything. Essaying the titular role, Shakti Anand opens up about portraying a loving father and exploring themes of power, parenting, and past trauma.

1. Tell us about the show.
2. Mahadev & Sons is a family drama that speaks across generations. Set in Hardoi, it follows Mahadev, an orphan who enters a powerful household as a servant and, through grit and determination, becomes one of the town’s most successful businessmen. His love marriage to Vidya, his master’s daughter, defies social norms and comes at a heavy cost, leaving both of them cut off from their families. Together, they rebuild their lives and raise four children in a home that appears disciplined and united. Across the street stands Bajpai Bhavan, led by Vidya’s elder sister Bhanu, who believes Mahadev disgraced the family and is determined to destroy everything he has built. As the children grow older, they begin to question Mahadev’s rigid rules and the freedom they are denied. The show explores what happens when love turns into control, whether children can honour their parents without inheriting their fears, and if a family can truly heal from old wounds.

• Tell us something about your character.
• Mahadev is not the conventional father we’ve seen on television. He has earned everything the hard way through labour, rejection, and patience. Even after becoming successful, he still works alongside his men because for him, respect comes from effort, not titles. Being born without a surname left a deep scar on him. Moreover, the family members of the Bajpai household that embraced him as one of their own in his days as a servant, resents him after he marries his master’s daughter. These wounds shapes the way he runs his family, forbidding love marriage. He loves his children, but he is also afraid of history repeating itself. His rules come from that fear, not from cruelty. He is a caring husband, a proud father, and someone who believes tradition keeps a family united. But he can’t loosen the grip on the rules. That contradiction makes him human.

• What drew you to ‘Mahadev & Sons’ and how is it different from other family dramas?
• What drew me was its relatability across generations. Most family dramas show conflict as good versus evil, but this explores the grey areas where everyone believes they’re right. Mahadev isn’t a typical controlling patriarch – he’s shaped by real trauma, and his rules come from genuine fear and love. The show doesn’t judge him; it understands him while validating his children’s need for freedom. What also sets it apart is the class consciousness woven into the narrative – the rival houses facing each other, the servant-turned-businessman arc and the weight of surnames and status. These reflect real societal dynamics. Most importantly, the show trusts its audience of every generation to relate to its characters.

• This is a family drama rooted in Indian culture and traditions. How does the show balance respecting tradition while also questioning certain rigid mindsets?
• The show presents a nuanced exploration of when traditions serve us and when they start to restrict us. Mahadev’s insistence on arranged marriages comes from the trauma he suffered after the only family he knew was ripped apart by his love marriage to Vidya. Meanwhile, the younger generation on the show is asking for space to honour their roots and make their own choices. True respect for tradition means understanding its purpose. It’s about evolving while staying rooted and this is a path that every generation must navigate.

• Your character Mahadev has lived through intense social discrimination. How did you prepare to portray that inner conflict?
• I drew from observing real life. We all know men who’ve climbed up from nothing and carry that journey in everything they do – the way they speak, their caution around wealth, their need for respect. For Mahadev, the humiliation of being a servant, of not having a surname, of being told he wasn’t good enough – that never leaves him. Even when he’s successful, there’s a part of him that’s still that young man being looked down upon. I tried to bring that duality – the strength he’s built and the wound that still hasn’t healed. That tension between who he was and who he’s become is what makes him human.

• As a father yourself, did playing Mahadev make you introspect about parenting?
• Art has always influenced the way we look at life and culture; and ultimately, every great piece of art should spark introspection. Having said that, I never moralise my characters. I don’t judge Mahadev. I empathise with him. I understand the kind of father he is and the place his fears come from, even though I don’t agree with his methods. Playing Mahadev did make me think about how love can sometimes turn into control without us even realising it. My own parenting style is different, but what this journey reflects is something every parent struggles with – the hardest part of parenting is not protecting your children from every fall, but allowing them the freedom to make a few mistakes and learn from them. If Mahadev were my friend or a relative in real life, I would tell him to loosen his grip a little and to let his children figure some things out on their own.

• What is your message to viewers?
• ‘Mahadev & Sons’ is a story that feels close to home. It’s about parents who love too much, children who want freedom, and families caught between past scars and future dreams. This will resonate with every child who’s questioned his father, every father who’s feared for his child, every mother who’s held a family together through impossible choices, and every family navigating the delicate space between tradition and change.

Watch ‘Mahadev & Sons’, Monday to Friday at 9:30 pm, only on COLORS and JioHotstar.

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