Pratik Gandhi's Banking On A Bull Run

Juggling two careers and battling life’s many challenges has only made the scam 1992 actor stronger. Join him on his incredible journey from engineer and theatre performer to mainstream star

- Sonali Velinker Kamat

A 'SCAM'. That’s what it took to propel this award winning actor into the big league. Like Harshad Mehta, the man he portrays with panache on the Sony LIV web series Scam 1992, Pratik Gandhi comes from humble beginnings. Born in Mumbai, but raised in Surat, his is the quintessential ‘rags to riches’ story — albeit with a twist. Pratik shuns clichés. If he has one thing to say about himself, it is that he doesn’t believe in ‘boxes’ and stereotypes.

Educated to be a mechanical engineer, obsessed with spreadsheets, and crazy about the Kaizen process, you’d never think Pratik’s enduring passion is performing. But acting is the one thing he was always unable to tear himself away from, no matter how pressing his other commitments may have been. “I was in Grade 4 when I set foot on stage for the first time,” Pratik recalls. “My school had this beautiful culture where there was a monthly gathering — called a ‘sammelan’ — and you would have to perform something. I decided to do a small skit based on a story I used to hear from my