On August 25 this year, Pratik Gandhi quit his engineering job to become a full-time actor. For the past 15 years, Gandhi, a familiar face on the Gujarati theatre circuit, had been juggling his acting career with a regular job. Synonymous with popular plays such as Saat Teri Ekvees , Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon , Hu Chandrakant Bakshi and Mohan No Masalo , Gandhi’s second Gujarati film , Wrong Side Raju , a thriller drama directed by Mikhil Musale, and co-produced by Cineman Productions and Phantom Films released yesterday to mixed reviews. Inspired by a real-life hit-and-run case, the movie is from the point of view of the protagonist Raju, who gets caught in situations beyond his control. Excerpts from an interview:
This is your second Gujarati film after the light-hearted caper Bey Yaar . How challenging was it for you to portray the character of Raju Bambani?
Bey Yaar was a fun-loving film while this is a thriller. The challenge lay in the non-linear narrative of the story. Raju is the guy next door. He wants to do a lot in life and in order to achieve that, does other things on the side. It is one of these things that leads him to the ‘wrong side’. There were discussions between the writer, director and me on how Raju’s character should be portrayed and as an actor, I found them very inspiring.
Compared with earlier movies, Gujarati cinema seems to be driven by content.
I have not seen that many Gujarati films. I may have watched them when I was very young, but as I grew up, I could not relate to them as the stories were similar, with similar costumes and songs.
Post Bey Yaar , in 2014 things changed drastically. The stories are more urbane and the youth could relate to them. In the Internet era, where one has access to world cinema and content from the best of people in the business, it would have been suicidal for the Gujarati film industry to continue making films that the next generation could not relate to.
Does your theatre background make it easier for you to adapt to films?
My theatre background has been a huge advantage when it comes to understanding the character’s graph and portraying the character the way the writer has written it and the director has visualised it.
The major difference between these mediums lies in the setting, in getting the gestures, postures and the detailing correct. In theatre, I have to be loud enough for even the person sitting in the last row to hear me. In front of the camera, even if my eyebrow twitches unnecessarily, it shows.
Starting from Saat Teri Ekvees to Hu Chandrakant Bakshi and now Mohan No Masalo , you have done a number of solo acts on stage…
Monologues are always challenging and fulfilling for an actor, especially when you are attached to minimalistic theatre. There is nothing on stage, hardly any props, and even the music is minimal. There is only one thing the audience is looking at and that’s the actor. There is nothing to hide behind and that’s where the true mettle of an actor comes across. There is no show where you can get away by giving anything less than your 100 per cent. The second reason I did so many monologues was because I had a regular job. My rehearsal timings would be really odd and I could not inconvenience other actors.
In Mohan No Masalo , you play the same character on stage in three different languages on the same day. Isn’t it exhausting?
Yes it is. What actors produce is emotions and beyond a point, you can’t fake them. If there are intense scenes, you go through those emotions and if there is a scene that requires you to cry, you could reach a point when tears threaten to spill over. You go through all those emotions, and going through them thrice a day is exhausting. At the same time, it’s the nervous energy that carries me through.
We hear you’re taking the play to Leh, Ladakh and Kargil.
Yes, we have been invited by the Army. We recently performed for the Naval base in Chennai. The audience there is very different. They don’t clap or laugh unless they see their seniors do so. I was scared that maybe I’m not connecting with them as an actor, but later an officer told me that this is how it is. I told him, ‘You should have told me before, so I would have gone prepared!’
The author is a freelance writer
