Pratik Gandhi on Bobby Deol's comeback! Excl

In this exclusive interview with the versatile actor

Pratik Gandhi

, ETimes delves into his latest venture, 'Crimes Aajkal season 2' as the actor weighs the hosting responsibility for the first time. Known for his diverse roles and an inclination towards experimenting with newer formats, Pratik shares his excitement about this unique opportunity.
Excerpts from the interview:

You are hosting a show for the first time; how excited are you?

I am pretty excited because I have never done something like this for the screen, and I am doing this role of an anchor for the first time, and that too for the crime show.

So, it is an exciting thing to do as an actor, and as I have always believed in experimenting with newer formats, this is one of those experiments that I am excited about.

What is exactly a crime for you? What constitutes a crime?

That is a very interesting question, though. Though our constitution has already defined what is a crime in terms of the legal aspects, what is a crime for me is that the moment you, you know, hurt anybody, the moment you disturb somebody's peace, that is a crime.

During your childhood, have you made any silly mistakes that made you feel like you had committed a crime?

Oh, there are a lot of them. I mean, as silly as it gets, there are a lot of silly mistakes. Something that I remember is once I was playing with my brother and I hit him so hard that his hand was swollen for two days, and I felt that that was a crime that I did, and I cried over it.

You have been associated with Hansal Mehta for the longest time. How has life changed after 'SCAM 1992'? And tell us about your association with him.

As a mentor or an overall association. I feel Hansal Sir is my friend, philosopher, guide, mentor, whatever you call him; he is my go-to person for everything and anything, whether related to work or personal things. We keep discussing a lot of things.
SCAM 1992 has turned my life upside down. It gave me another phase of my life and my career as an actor, and it is a dream phase that I am living right now.

Taking the association forward with Hansal Mehta, what is the kind of homework or research that you are doing to play Gandhi?

So Gandhi is something that I always wanted to do, and by God's grace, you know, I have been performing Gandhi on stage for the last eight years now as Mohan's masala in three different languages. So Gandhi as a web series is talking about Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi right from his young days to the end of his life. So the first season is about young Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and a lot of exciting anecdotes and a lot of insights that I don't think anybody has ever read or ever known, especially the younger generation. So I am super excited to bring this character to life again.

This has been the year of comebacks for Bobby Deol, Sunny Deol, and Shah Rukh. Whose comeback has impressed you most this year, if you would like to comment on that?

Oh, I guess for Shah Rukh Khan, there is no point in using the word comeback; he was always there, he is always there, and he is going to be there. As far as the Deol brothers are concerned, I have to say Bobby Deol, has done the most stylized comeback with 'Animal' this year.

How do you want to end this year?

By being at home with my family and friends and just chilling.