Nitish Bharadwaj is an Indian film actor, director, screenwriter and former member of the Indian Parliament Lok Sabha. He is best known for his portrayal of Lord Krishna in B. R. Chopra`s television series Mahabharat, as well as for his portrayal of several Avatars of Vishnu in some of Chopra`s other works, such as Vishnu Puran. His debut directorial film in Marathi titled `Pitruroon` has won him accolades from both the audiences and critics and he now focusses on his film career entirely through screenwriting, directing and acting. Academically Nitish is a qualified veterinary surgeon from Bombay Veterinary College, Parel, Mumbai. He has voluntarily withdrawn from electoral politics. He now focuses on his film career as an actor, screenwriter, and director.

Nitish Bharadwaj has starred in many Marathi movies like Anapekshit, Pasanta aahe Mulgi, and the highly acclaimed Malayalam movie Njan Gandharvan (1991) directed by P. Padmarajan. He directed a historical TV serial titled Gita Rahasya, Apraadhi for Star TV and a few documentary films. He judged a Marathi dance reality show on ETV MarathiJallosh Survanayugacha with Sudha Chandran and Ramesh Deo. Bharadwaj made his film directing 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 prestigious Maharashtra State Film Award as the second Best Director of 2013. Bharadwaj played the role of Krishna at the age of 23 and became an overnight star. His 2018 release includes Kedarnath, directed by Abhishek Kapoor.