Scam – 1992 famed actor Pratik Gandhi shared his early life and college days in Jalgaon ‘s North Maharashtra University which was 6 hours away from his hometown Surat.
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Pratik Gandhi Early Life and Biography
Pratik was born in Surat, Gujrat. His whole family was in the business of teaching. His mother and father were teachers and he belonged to middle class Gujarati Family. He was active in theatre and plays from his school days. He was passionate about theatre but at the same time was also focused towards his education. Pratik completed his diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Surat. But, after completing diploma, he realised that he need degree education in engineering too. So, Pratik Gandhi has to moved to Jalgaon ‘s North Maharashtra University to complete his bachelor degree in Industrial Engineering.
Pratik Gandhi on his admission & education in North Maharashtra University Jalgaon
Pratik said, ” We used to have limited seats for a degree in Gujrat after Diploma. Only the first two rankers in diploma used to get admission in degree. And, I was not one of them. A lot of people suggested me to settle down with a diploma because a degree of education would be a long path to complete engineering. So, I worked as a salesman for a year. But, being an engineer, I was not satisfied with a salesman job. So, I decided to pursue engineering. There were only limited seats in Gujrat and I was not able to pay for any management quota for admission too. So, I made a call with Jalgaon ‘s North Maharashtra University and directly spoke to principal”.
“I told the college principal that I want to take admission in degree but I don’t have enough money. Also, I am a distinction student. The principal told me that you come to our college, we will settle down.” So, this is how Pratik Gandhi got admission to the North Maharashtra University of Jalgaon.
Pratik on doing theatre along with job and degree education
Pratik worked as a salesman for one year. But, the job was frustrating. So, to keep entertain himself, he followed his passion by side. He joined one of the theatre group in Surat. Pratik used to rehearse at night from 9:30 to 12:30 due to his day time job. In such a way, he continued his theatre and plays along with his job.
After a year, Pratik moved to Jalgaon for his degree in education at North Maharashtra University. So, at that time, he used to do college from Monday to Friday. On Friday night, he used to live in Surat which was 6 hours away from Jalgaon. And then, on Saturday and Sunday, he used to Theatre in Surat. Again, on Sunday night, he used to live for Jalgaon to continue his college from Monday. This went from 3 years until he completed his degree education. In such a way, he managed his degree education along with Theatre.
Pratik’s journey as an engineer and struggling actor in Mumbai
After the degree, Pratik wanted to do both jobs and acting. So he moved to Mumbai. He started going for auditions in Mumbai but always rejected for not having a good looking face. In 2008, he got his first corporate job in engineering. Along with the job, he started doing Gujarati plays and theatre. It was not possible to do a commercial theatre because of the job. So, Pratik started doing experimental theatre. One day he received a call from Filmmaker Abhishek Jain from Ahmedabad. Abhishek wanted to meet Pratik for his next Gujarati Movie Project. He auditioned Pratik and selected him for his Gujarati Movie ‘ Bey Yarr’. This became a hit debut film for Pratik Gandhi.
Pratik took 25 days of leave from his job to complete the shoot of his movie ‘ Bey Yarr’. After shooting, he went back and continued his corporate job. The film released and got so much appreciation. Pratik also started getting an offer for other projects but still, he continued his corporate job for the next 2 years until he gets a good movie script. In 2016, he got a good script, and the Gujarati movie ‘ Wrong Side Raju ‘ happened. It also became a big Gujarati hit movie. Then, Pratik left his job and became a full-time actor.
In 2020, director Hansal Mehta approached Pratik Gandhi for Scam 1992. Pratik has a Gujarati tone in his language and also Hansal Mehta was aware of his work. So, he cast Pratik for the role of Harshad Mehta. The series Scam 1992 became the blockbuster on the OTT platform. This series has ranked in the Top-ranked 20 web series on IMDB. It has ratings of 9.6 out of 10. Pratik Gandhi always says that he doesn’t get attached to fame. Because it restricts him to get into the role of a character.