We want to hide it (by saying) we are too busy in our lives, we have other things to attend to, we have families.But they all had families, including Jyotiba Phule or Mahatma Gandhi, or anybody who challenged the system.

After he was catapulted to stardom in 2020 with Scam 1992, Pratik Gandhi didn't restrict himself to mainstream opportunities.

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He is one of those few actors who adeptly straddled the line between mainstream and arthouse.

The actor began 2025 with the goofy comedy Dhoom Dhaam. Up next, is the period drama Phule, in which Pratik portrays social reformer Mahatama Jyotiba Phule. The Ananth Narayan Mahadevan directorial co-stars Patralekhaa as Jyotiba’s wife, Savitribai Phule.

“If we seriously think that movies can change lives, movies can change the thought process of the nation, or one movie can actually move a lot of things socially, politically, personally, if we believe in all that, then Phule should move people,”

What was your first reaction when the makers approached you to play Mahatma Phule?

I was really excited. It was great to be given this opportunity to portray the first Mahatma of our country. It’s always exciting to create something like this.

You play a Maharashtrian in this film. Being a Gujarati, how did you familiarise yourself with the milieu?

Marathi is very close to Gujarati. My aunts and uncles are from Mumbai, so we visited Mumbai since childhood. In fact, I was born in Mumbai. So I have heard Marathi since a young age. I completed my graduation from North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon. That dialect is a little different than the Marathi you hear in Pune. I always felt that proximity and closeness to the language. It’s just that I can’t speak it fluently but I understand everything.

Most people would know Jyotiba Phule as a social reformer but he was also a businessman, a trader, a teacher and a playwright.

What was your process to assimilate such a diverse personality?