'WE NEED THOUSANDS OF GANDHIS NOW'

The world needs Gandhi now more than any other time in history.'

Nothing succeeds like success. Ask Pratik Gandhi whose career received a boost after Hansal Mejta’s OTT series for SonyLiv, Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story. Before switching over to acting in Gujarati plays and films, Pratik worked in corporate India for several years.

In 2016, he decided to quit his job to accelerate his acting career.

This year, Pratik was unanimously praised for his diverse roles in the madcap comedy, Madgaon Express and the romantic drama, Do Aur Do Pyaar.

Pratik reunites with Hansal Mehta for their ambitious project on Mahatma Gandhi, the shooting for which is underway in London.

“This is the biggest character and project of my life,”

From playing a hero’s friend to protagonist, how would you describe your Bollywood journey?

It’s been very, very satisfying. I’m fortunate enough that I have seen each and every phase step by step, and never jumped anything.

Did you always want to venture into the Hindi film industry?

It was in my subconscious that one day, I want to work in mainstream cinema and reach out to the whole country.

It was a dream since I started as an actor in theatre. But I didn’t know how to approach it, whom to meet, where to go. Frankly speaking, I never chased it that way, madly.

You had a successful corporate career before you switched to acting. What drove your instincts during that time?

I started acting on stage from Standard 4. It was a part of my life, and almost become my second nature to create characters and tell stories, be it theatre, radio, short stories or just reading plays and poetry recitals.

I was equally passionate about engineering. I was working in consultancy profile, which was a mix of production engineering and management.

At one point, I started seeing that there is a loss of opportunities happening at both places.