Pratik Gandhi’s convincing act as the controversial stockbroker Harshad Mehta in the SonyLIV series has resulted in countless offers for film and series. Earlier this year, he was seen in the Gujarati drama series Vitthal Teedi. His upcoming Bollywood films include Taapsee Pannu-starrer Woh Ladki Hai Kahaan? and romantic comedy Atithi Bhoota Bhava. He was also filming Tigmanshu Dhulia’s untitled web series, co-starring Richa Chadha, before the second wave of COVID-19 halted the shoot earlier this year. For the Surat-born actor, this line-up is a testament to the trust of the filmmakers in his acting ability.
Gandhi said there are makers who are writing roles especially for him, which is a dream come true. “There is a lot of excitement around me. Everyday there are new things coming to me. What changed after ‘Scam’ on a bigger level was the way the audience and the makers started looking at me as an actor. “There are interesting offers coming my way. There are people approaching me with roles written for me. I was waiting for this for 16 long years.” Gandhi, however, is also aware that filmmakers will be often tempted to cast him in the roles that the audience has loved him in before. “It’s important for me now more than ever to not get stuck. To keep reinventing myself. Once something gets noticed and people love you, most of the makers want to put you in the same bracket, feeling this is what the audience would want from an actor.
“But as an artist, I don’t want to be in that space. I want to be in a space where, if I appear on the stage or the screen, the audience should not know what I’m going to do,” he said. The actor is currently featured on one of the episodes of the online celebrity cooking show “Gobble – You Got Chef’d” season three. In the episode, the actor will try his hand at cooking. “I had never done anything like this, which is why I was extremely excited. I don’t cook at all. This was my first experience meeting a chef like Ranveer Brar and getting to know from him what it is that gets you in the kitchen so comfortably. “I would always start feeling nervous, every time I entered the kitchen, that I’ll mess up for sure. That feeling never let me cook. But the chef made me understand that it isn’t that difficult. It’s all about how you approach it.”
