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Journalism of Courage
Pratik Gandhi has been an actor for almost two decades but tasted commercial success and widespread fame and acclaim only in 2020 for the portrayal of Harshad Mehta in Hansal Mehta’s Scam 1992. Pratik believes the onus of his success lies on him and for people to take note of him, he needs to work harder. Currently, Pratik is performing Mohan’s Masala, a play that “explores lesser-known aspects of Mahatma Gandhi’s life, focusing on formative experiences that shaped him into a revered global leader from a shy boy in Gujarat’s Porbandar” at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA).
Indianexpress.com caught up with Pratik Gandhi over a Zoom call to learn more about the show, his love for theatre, dive deeper into his career and the lessons he learned along the way, why he is not “papped” much, the experience of working with Vidya Balan, and more. Read the edited excerpts below:
Pratik Gandhi: Firstly, it feels great when people acknowledge I’ve been part of the industry for so many years, because the experimental work I used to do in Gujarati theatre, in 2004 or 2008, is also being included. Then, even Gujarati theatre awards didn’t consider us a part of the scene. So, from those beginnings to now being part of a large industry, in whatever small capacity, feels great. Scam completely changed my career, and put me on national and international platforms. There’s more enthusiasm and interest in the eyes of makers to work with me. That was the dream: to be in the minds of writers and directors when they conceive any script. I wanted to be their first choice.
Pratik Gandhi: It never frustrated me. Unlike other professions, there’s no guarantee in this field. I always knew that no one else would make or break my career—I had to do it myself. I saw rejection and struggle as part of the game, and embraced it as an artist’s everyday reality.
This might sound bookish, but commercial success only guarantees your next project only as long as your films keep performing. Once they don’t, that guarantee disappears. I come from a different experience—none of my plays were commercially successful, but they’re still running, some for over 15 years. To me, that is success. Before Scam, we never had full houses for my plays. If we filled 50-60 per cent of the seats, we used to celebrate.
Pratik Gandhi: I’ve performed in Hindi, English, and Gujarati across many cities, including tier II and III. My hometown, Surat, has a vibrant theatre scene, with around 15-18 active groups participating in an annual competition hosted by the Surat Municipal Corporation, now in its 50th year. Other cities like Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Delhi, and Kolkata also have strong theatre cultures. Unfortunately, theatre is still seen as a “poor” medium, but this perception needs to change. Theatre is incredibly rich in the stories it tells. With the rise of digital platforms like OTT and podcasts, theatre faces challenges, but I believe people will soon crave live performances again, and that will make theatre more exclusive and valuable.
Pratik Gandhi: It started when I was in the fourth standard, during an inter-class competition; that’s when I felt that was magic. It was a small assembly room on the second floor and I performed a seven-minute skit I wrote myself. I was amazed that something in my head actually made people laugh. That moment of magic stayed with me.
Pratik Gandhi: At that age, I didn’t even know acting was a profession. I just loved being on stage, creating characters, and telling stories. I participated in everything I could—whether it was a local competition or a fancy dress event—I just wanted to be on stage.
Pratik Gandhi: Each medium has its own challenges, which keeps things exciting for me. After years in theatre, I find the other mediums a bit easier to navigate. The biggest adjustment was getting used to non-linear shooting in front of the camera. On stage, I’m used to continuous, live emotions, whereas on camera, scenes are often filmed out of order. It took time, but I’ve learned to adapt, and now I enjoy switching between these different formats.
Pratik Gandhi: Manoj Shah and I have worked together for 16 years, and during dinner one night, I suggested we explore a monologue in English about the lesser-known life of young Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. I realised that we always picture the older, iconic Gandhi, but what about the young Mohan who came from a small village with different dreams? He wasn’t born with ideas of Ahimsa and Satyagraha—how did those evolve? That’s what intrigued me, and we began researching his early life.
Pratik Gandhi: We learned that Gandhi was incredibly flawed early in life, and made many mistakes. I have never read, seen, or heard about a person who committed so many mistakes in his life and then wrote about them to be made available in the public domain! That honesty makes him India’s first “superhero”.
The challenge was to show his evolution from a young, flawed individual to a global icon. I could relate to Gandhi’s experience of being humiliated—when I first came to Mumbai, someone slapped me on a local train, and I froze, just like Gandhi did when he was thrown off the train. The more we researched, the more we found out about him, including that he also attempted suicide with his friends at a young age – something we never studied.
Bringing that vulnerability to the stage was key. Another challenge was portraying a young Mohan at different ages—from age six to 16—while I was 35. It required a lot of physicality to make it believable.
Another interesting thing we found during research was that while there are so many audio clips of Gandhi Ji, there is none of him talking in Gujarati. He had a strong Kathiyawadi accent, since he is from Porbandar. So, the play has me talking in the language, which has a very sweet flavour and curt humour. And when I did the same play in three different languages in one day, I understood the difference between the grammar of the performance of each language – the English version is precisely 90 minutes, the Gujarati one goes beyond 100.
Pratik Gandhi: In my understanding, theatre is the epitome of the make-believe world because on stage, beyond basic set pieces, it’s up to the actor to create the world for the audience, using performance, light, and sound. On screen, everything is more literal, and the environment is already created. I’ve been performing this play since 2015, even while looking different for various films I was shooting. I have played Mohan with long hair, a beard, without a mustache – and it has worked every time. It taught me that if I can capture the audience in the first 30 seconds, I can take them anywhere.
Pratik Gandhi: For Scam, I gained nearly 20 kgs. For the first time in my life, my weighing scale went beyond 95, and I was scared because I didn’t know how the body would react and how much it would damage internally. So, I did it gradually and stayed cautious. More recently, I had to lose weight to play Gandhi for a series, and that required strict dieting and avoiding muscle gain. It affected my body, and I lost muscle mass, particularly in my hamstrings, causing knee issues. For another role, I was asked to develop a six-pack, but I refused to use supplements. I prefer to put more effort into creating a character with dialogue, emotions, and body language instead over physical transformation.
Pratik Gandhi: It is one of the most challenging things, for sure. One has to be very careful about physical and mental well-being. It’s not only physical; mentally, you are also going through a lot of emotions. Creating emotions on screen can take a toll because the body doesn’t differentiate between real and acted emotions. Actors need to know how to meditate, reset, come to ground zero, control their emotions and play it safe.
Pratik Gandhi: I don’t pay attention to all the extra noise around, be it social media or anything else that is not required for me to create a character. I am too attached to my storytelling and characters, and they need my attention more than anything else. Having said that, in today’s time, you have to be seen somewhere and be a part of it to be in the central business. But it’s important to not get emotionally attached to it. I always give doctors instances to myself, like how a doctor goes through an emotional turmoil and imagine the kind of stress they see around them every day.
Pratik Gandhi: I use social media for promotions but not for personal content. I’m not comfortable with getting “papped” either. I prefer maintaining some mystery for the audience to explore when they see me on screen or stage. If they already know that my side profile looks a certain way, my smile looks like this, and when I’m angry, I look like this then what is there to explore anymore? It keeps the element of surprise alive for makers and directors too. They will be able to explore a new version of me every time.
Pratik Gandhi: My first Bollywood experience was with Jackie Shroff in the Gujarati film Ventilator. He was so natural and down-to-earth, which made everyone comfortable on set. It is significant learning that you don’t wear your celebrity stature every time. When we are creating a story or a film, we put in a joint effort; it’s like validation that you can be normal and still work.
Vidya is definitely one of the most beautiful people to work with. She is so comfortable off-screen or on-screen, and her laughter is contagious. When she starts laughing, it’s difficult to hold back. I have learnt a lot of things from her. She generously gives credit to people. She’s never bothered about social media, I’m sure, because she has passed those stages, and she’s very comfortable with anything that happens around her.
Pratik Gandhi: Always theatre because that’s where I started and that’s where I feel alive and real.
