Nothing in life should come easily

It took 15-years for Pratik Gandhi to get a break in the Hindi film industry with Hansal Mehta’s Scam 1992. Gandhi believes that as an actor there are two phases in his life – one is pre-Scam and the other is post-scam. And both the phases have been equally enriching for him as a craftsman.

As Atithi Bhooto Bhava releases tomorrow, Firstpost catches up with him for an exclusive interview. He talks about the #BoycottBollywood culture and how Scam gave him the recognition as an actor.

On your role in Atithi Bhooto Bhava…

The character’s name is Shrikanth and he shares a love-hate relationship with his girlfriend. I play the role of a stand-up comedian who meets the ghost of his grandson from previous birth. Actor Jackie Shroff plays the role of a ghost, who refuses to leave his surroundings because of some unfinished business. My character takes an interesting turn when I meet Jackie Shroff.

Your journey in the entertainment industry…

I have been around for the last seventeen years now. Then Scam happened that helped my work reach a wider audience. But before that the journey was exciting too since I come from a theatre background. Nobody in my family was into full time acting. There are a lot of artists in my family, but nobody is a professional artist. So, I am the first person in my family to make a living out of art. Theatre taught me the craft so well that I used to look forward to going on stage and breathing with the audience. But at some point, it did reach a level of saturation. But theatre gave me the first stepping stone starting from doing a Gujarati film, ‘Wrong Side Raju’ and winning the national award.

The journey was very tough, not just tough. But it was enriching at the same time. I was forty when I got a break with Scam. Now when I look back and reflect, I feel whatever happened, it happened at the right time and for the best. One shouldn’t get anything in life easily. I value this time more because I got it it the harder way.