Theatre and radio Before coming into the field of acting, Bharadwaj was a professional veterinary surgeon and had worked as an assistant veterinarian at a Race Course in Mumbai; however, he left the job considering it a monotonous one. He started his arts career with his training in
Marathi theatre as a director, under stalwarts such as
Sudha Karmarkar, Dr.
Kashinath Ghanekar and
Prabhakar Panshikar. He then moved on to professional Marathi theatre with Sai Paranjapye and later shifted to Hindi theatre on sound advice from his friend
Ravi Baswani. Baswani was instrumental in getting Bharadwaj from Marathi to the nationwide Hindi arena and Bharadwaj has always acknowledged Baswani's contribution to his life. He worked with a thespian of Hindi theatre named
Dinesh Thakur and performed in many of his plays till 1987. He later did a Hindi play
Chakravyuh, in which he reappears as Lord Krishna, the role he mastered in the old
Mahabharat. Though the play depicts the story of Abhimanyu's martyrdom, it brings out various issues out of the same story which are relevant to today's times.
Chakravyuh was one of the most successful plays of Hindi Theatre in 2015 and has already had around 75 showings across India, including some theatre festivals like the
Kala Ghoda Festival, Mumbai. Bharadwaj also performed in a musical theatre production titled
Moti Roti Patli Chunni (1993), with a renowned theatre in London (UK) named "Theatre Royal Stratford East". This play won the "London Time Out Dance & Performance Award" and toured across Britain and Canada. Bharadwaj also did 2 radio shows for BBC Radio 4 (London, UK), namely
Bhagvad Geeta and
Ramayan. He was nominated for the "Sony Radio award" for
Ramayan in the UK in 1995.
Television career In 1988 Bharadwaj was selected to play the lead role of Lord
Krishna in
B. R. Chopra's classic television series
Mahabharat. He played the role at the age of 23 and became an overnight star. His performance was loved and appreciated by audience. He also did a cameo in the show
Buniyaad's episode 51. He directed a philosophical TV series titled
Gita Rahasya,
Apraadhi for Star TV and a few documentary films. In 2000, Bharadwaj appeared in B.R. Chopra's another mythological show
Vishnu Puran, where he played role of
Lord Vishnu and his various incarnations. In 2001 he played the role of
Rama in Chopra's
Ramayan with
Smriti Malhotra Irani.
Film career Bharadwaj starred as the Main Lead in many
Marathi movies such as
Khatyal Sasu Nathal Soon,
Nasheebwan,
Anapekshit,
Pasanta Ahe Mulgi,
Trishagni (with Nana Patekar) and the highly acclaimed
Malayalam movie
Njan Gandharvan, (1991) directed by
P. Padmarajan. After
Njan Gandharvan, Padmarajan was planning a film with
Mohanlal and Bharadwaj in lead roles, but he died before it could materialise. In a later interview in 2019, Bharadwaj said that, if that film had happened, he might have settled in
Kerala. He judged a Marathi dance reality show on
ETV Marathi;
Jallosh Survanayugacha, with Sudha Chandran and Ramesh Deo. Bharadwaj made his film direction debut in 2013 with a Marathi film starring Tanuja, Suhas Joshi and Sachin Khedekar titled
Pitruroon. The film is based on a novella by Sudha Murthy. The film was acclaimed by both the critics and audiences.
Pitruroon received many nominations and awards, and also gave Bharadwaj the Maharashtra State Film Award as the second Best Director of 2013. Recently in 2020 he appeared on screen as a Sudarshan Chakrapani in a Marathi web series Samantar which was telecasted on mx player. Bharadwaj has also played important roles in movies including
Mohenjo Daro and
Kedarnath. His Management details are available on his instagram handle - https://www.instagram.com/nitishbharadwaj.krishna/ ==Politics==