PRATIK GANDHI'S QUIET EUPHORIA

The actor―who delivered a knockout performance in Madgaon Expresson the high of a hit and the pressure of sustaining success.

- ANKUR PATHAK

IN AN INDUSTRY where it takes only a few films for an artist to flatten out their uniqueness and start playing variations of themselves, Pratik Gandhi stands out as a refreshing aberration. There’s an inherent ease with which he’s able to slip in and out of parts, one that’s achieved without too much strain, without too much effort. The performance feels good because the craft is invisible.

The worlds of Hansal Mehta’s zeitgeisty show Scam 1992  (2020), which propelled Gandhi into instant stardom, and Kunal Kemmu’s comedy film Madgaon Express (2024) couldn’t be further apart. The former is a story of an ordinary Gujarati man who orchestrates the country’s biggest financial fraud, the latter is a drug-fuelled comic caper about a bunch of Mumbai boys whose Goa trip spirals into an unending nightmare.

And yet, Gandhi infuses so much charm, humanity, and humour in both these parts, it’s impossible to believe that until 2016 he was juggling a full-time corporate gig with sporadic theatre work, trying hard to find a foothold in an inequitable industry. An ordinary actor would’ve played Harshad Mehta as an archetype—a scheming ’90s strongman out to defy a rigged system—but Gandhi brought in a vulnerability that made us root for him to get away with it.

In Madgaon Express, it’s his physicality—he’s performing with his entire body, evoking laugh after laugh, negotiating a fine line, never going overboard or making it Chaplin-esque. Gandhi credits Kemmu for being so thorough with his prep that it made the shoot an actual joyride. “He was so prepared that he narrated the script to us by enacting all the scenes. He assumed the distinct voice of each character, beat by beat. There was little doubt in his head and I think that’s because the voice of the film, the humour in the film, is very uniquely Kunal’s. He’s as funny in real life.”