Pratik Gandhi Says Vitthal Teedi Is Special Because He's "Attached To Gujarati Cinema And Literature" - EXCLUSIVE

Scam 1992 actor Pratik Gandhi opens up about his upcoming work in an exclusive interview with SpotboyE.

3761 Reads |  

Pratik Gandhi Says Vitthal Teedi Is Special Because He's "Attached To Gujarati Cinema And Literature" - EXCLUSIVE
What made you select the  Gujarati webseries Vitthal Teedi  after Scam 1992: The Harshad  Mehta Story?
I guess what made me choose  this series above the other offers was the script, character and the complexity of the character. These factors tempted me as an actor. And of course the fact that  I come from Gujarat, and I am attached to Gujarati cinema and literature.

So the language does matter?
I cannot deny my partiality and  fondness for the Gujarati language and cinema/theatre in my mother tongue. So the language was definitely a  deciding factor. That apart, the director of Vitthal Teedi Abhishek Jain and I have a rapport. We had earlier  worked together  in a feature film in 2013. His passion is very contagious. Having said that, I didn’t think of the language as a criteria for accepting the series. There were lots of people who told me not to go for a Gujarati  serial after Scam which was  an international hit. But  I went with my gut feeling.

Come to think  of  it there are lots of  similarities between your characters  in Vitthal and Scam?
Yes, apart from the fact that they’re both gamblers  there’s  an  internal swag  in both the characters. There  a  certain style  to their  personality. They are  both  underdogs  and their journey is interesting. I  wanted to challenge  myself as  an actor that if I do another series  about another gambler   after Scam, would I be  able to create a completely  different character  from the one in Scam? I didn’t want  audiences to see Harshad Mehta or  me , Pratik Gandhi in Vitthal.  That was  one my biggest  motivations in doing Vitthal Teedi after Scam.

In spite of the similarities  the two characters are come across as different  personalities?
That’s because they belong to different worlds  . The set-up, feel everything.  But yeah,  there were a  lot of similarities. My job as an actor was to look beyond  the similarities.

Scam has turned you into a Bollywood star. I saw you  cooking  up a storm alongside  Karan Johar and Kareena Kapoor in some cheesy and  corny culinary show. Is stardom corrupting you?
I don’t think much about things like stardom, etc. I just do my work. I treat every project the way it deserves to be. For me a culinary show deserves my professional attention as much as anything else I do. So yeah, I just do my work. I don’t complicate things around me. I am just my normal self in every situation. And I make a conscious effort not to get corrupted by the trappings of stardom.

Your forthcoming projects?
I am shooting  a webseries  by Tigmanshu Dhulia called 6 Suspects. We’ll resume  shooting after lockdown. I’ve also  confirmed Siddharth Roy Kapur’s  film Woh Ladki Hai Kahan. My co-star I Taapsee Pannu.Apart  from these a couple  of other projects should be finalized soon.

Image source: Instagram/pratikgandhiofficial
Advertisement