Dreamt of being the first choice: Pratik Gandhi on 'Saare Jahan Se Accha' success and career

Mumbai, Aug 24 (PTI) Actor Pratik Gandhi, known for his versatility, reflected on his journey from "Scam: 1992" to "Saare Jahan Se Accha" to"Gandhi".

In an interview with PTI, the 45-year-old, recalled his dream of being the "first choice of the writers and directors since my (his) theater days." "In theatre, I was always the third option. Most of the time, I was called for replacements. So, whenever there are critical situations where somebody is ill, or not available, I was asked to replace and perform a couple of shows," the actor said.

He said that "Scam: 1992" changed his career trajectory.

"I wanted to be the first name flashing in the director's mind whenever he thought about a character. That suddenly started happening after 'Scam'," Gandhi said.

The actor expressed that the past five years have become a dream come true and he is particularly grateful for this phase of his life.

"So, the last five years was a journey where people came to me with a lot of excitement and trust in their eyes, stating, 'Now, we want to work with you', and all of them have been varied genres and characters. I was happy, and I still say that I'm living the dream that I saw once,” the actor said.

Gandhi revealed that films like “Do Aur Do Pyaar”, “Madgaon Express”, “Phule”, and “Gandhi” series, were all made with him in mind.

“In mainstream cinema, it started happening with 'Do Aur Do Pyaar', 'Madgaon Express', and 'Phule'. Anant (Mahadevan, director) sir said that, 'I can see Phule in you, for 'Gandhi', Sameer Nair (producer) approached me and said, 'This is what we want to do with you, you are the first choice'. I can't thank the universe enough for this particular phase in my life,” Gandhi said.

When asked what is next for his sky rocketing career, Gandhi spoke of his wish explore more genres doing an "out-and-out action film" or a "good love story".

His most recent series, "Saare Jahan Se Accha", directed by Sumit Purohit and written by Bhavesh Mandalia and Gaurav Shukla, charts the rise of two spy agencies RAW and ISI, in the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971.

It is produced by Bombay Fables, and also features Sunny Hinduja, Suhail Nayyar, Kritika Kamra, Tillotama Shome, Rajat Kapoor and Anup Soni.

Filmmaker Sejal Shah of Bombay Fables expressed her joy over the positive reception of “Saare Jahan Se Accha” and said that they’re already brainstorming ideas for another season.

"We are still in discussion (about the next season) and we don't know where it's going to (go)... We hope there are going to be multiple seasons,” Shah said, adding work is underway on her other projects including her next directorial venture a thriller, on “Japani”, an action-comedy helmed by Rajesh Mapuskar.

Gandhi thanked Shah for crafting the character of an Indian spy, Vishnu Shankar, in “Saare Jahan Se Accha”.

With the spy-thriller, which released on August 13, the actor said his wish of playing a spy agent got fulfilled.

"I had never played a character of an intelligence officer or a spy, that to a human, not a superhuman, who flies and kicks and jumps, there's a real spy who means business, and who is not operating on field, but on desk through his mind. So, that's the biggest tick-mark for me,” Gandhi said, adding that the treatment of the story, free from jingoism and hyper-realism, made it easy for him to accept the role. PTI KKP SMR ATR ATR