Mumbai, March 6 (IANS): Actor Malhar Pandya, who was last seen in TV show 'Tere Ishq Mein Ghayal', will be seen playing the characters of Sugriva and Vali in the show 'Shrimad Ramayan' featuring Sujay Reu as Lord Ram and Prachi Bansal as Sita.

Malhar said: "I'm excited to get the opportunity to play such a powerful role of twins, Sugriva and Vali. And both the roles are opposite to each other. Vali ruled the kingdom of Kishkindha and his subjects were the vanaras. But later with time because of misunderstandings the brothers became bitter enemies.”

“Though Sugriva humbly attempted to explain himself, Vali would not listen and exiled Sugriva from the kingdom. To exact his vengeance, Vali forcibly took Sugriva's wife Ruma for his own," he added.

The actor continued: "In exile, Sugriva made the acquaintance of Rama, the avatar of Vishnu, who is on a quest to rescue his wife Sita from the demon Ravana, king of the rakshasas. Rama promised Sugriva that he would kill Vali and would reinstate Sugriva as the king of the vanaras. Sugriva, in turn, promised to help Rama with his quest. And Sugriva became a close friend of Lord Rama," he added.

Malhar, who has earlier essayed Lord Hanumana in 'Ramayan: Sabke Jeevan Ka Aadhar', finds the role familiar.

"As I earlier played Hanuman, a vanara, Sugriva and Vali are quite similar in looks and performance. So I'm happy also with every new project, the energy and excitement is fresh which is encouraging. I'm looking forward to it.”

He enjoys the genre.

“I was part of many mythological shows earlier such as Karna in ‘RadhaKrishn’, Balarama in ‘Suryaputra Karn’. I enjoy the genre," said Malhar, who has also worked in 'Ishqbaaz', 'Naagin 2', 'Kasam Tere Pyaar Ki' and 'Nazar'.