"Can't understand this thing of blaming the actors for anything because there is nothing that he/she brings personal in the character," Pratik said.
When one hears the name Pratik Gandhi, the immediate and obvious association of the actor in one's mind is with the Hansal Mehta directed web series 'Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story' which got Gandhi national recognition and overnight fame.
However, one mustn't forget that Pratik has been around for over a decade and is a renowned name in the theatre industry. But there's no denying that 'Scam 1992' gave his career a new lease of life and a new medium to showcase his craft.
Recently, DNA caught up with Pratik and spoke to him about how life changed after 'Scam 1992', how taxing the playing the role of Harshad Mehta was emotionally and mentally for him and asked for his views on whether or not there must be OTT censorship.
During his interaction with DNA, Pratik confessed that 'Scam 1992' did change his life a lot. He said, "Scam 1992 has changed my life a lot. People have started taking me seriously as an actor. They are offering me good projects of mainstream Hindi films be it web series or films. More than that, people's perception of me has changed, now they feel more confident to put in the protagonist character and mount a project."
Pratik, who has previously spoken about the physical challenges he had to face to essay the role of Harshad onscreen, when asked about how emotionally taxing and difficult was it to break away from the character and be 'Pratik' again, told DNA that no matter how long he shoots for a character or how many shows he performs, he can still be himself and not be affected too much with a character because that's how he has trained himself.
"That's where my theatre training and experience came handy. Switch on, switch off comes very easy to me, it's easy to get into a character and the moment the scene is over, the moment we pack up, I come out of it, I become myself. So, no matter how long I shoot for a character, no matter how many shows I perform, I can still be myself. My process is such that I don't have to remember many things about that character, I try to create those moments live. I like to recreate the moments every time I perform. That's how I approach the character and perform," he said.
Expressing his views on the discussion around censorship for OTT, Pratik said, "Censorship... I don't know, I have my doubts if censorship will add value to it because the biggest censorship is in your mind. As a viewer, you always have that superpower of switching it off if you don't like it or think it's not working for you. Censorship does not always work out well. This is one place where there are lots of creative things and you can't put them all together and measure it with one common scale. There are so many things that can offend anyone, you may never know. If you start creating a list then one has to stop making any stories because something or the other will offend somebody. And how far, what all will you cover in censorship?"
When asked what his thoughts were on FIRs being lodged against actors featuring in web series that apparently hurt religious sentiments of a section f people, and how justified does he think these FIRs were, Pratk told DNA, "As an actor, my job is to create different characters and to be a part of a story and make it come alive. I can't really understand this entire thing of blaming the actors for anything because there is nothing that he/she brings personal in the character. Whatever is written or is the requirement of the story, that's how and what we perform."
He added, "And, I am a firm believer of my own religion. I believe that my religion is not that sensitive or timid which can get hurt or can be belittled by anybody saying one or two sentences or by doing something because my religion is so strong, is so beyond anybody, any human being, it is so very internal."
For the unversed, recently, FIRs were lodged against the makers and actors of Amazon Prime Video web series 'Tandav' for hurting religious sentiments. The series is directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and headlined by Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Mohd Zeeshan among other actors.
Lastly, on being questioned who does he think the breakout star of 2020 was on the OTT platform, besides himself, Pratik said it had to be no one other than Jaideep Ahlawat.
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 "Pratik Gandhi")
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