In 2004, when he arrived in Mumbai, from his hometown Surat, Gujarat, with an engineering degree and “some theatre experience”, little did Pratik Gandhi aka Harshad Mehta from Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story know that destiny had engineered a not-so-rosy path for him.

“To survive in the city, at the start, I did a lot of things — from doing compering at birthday parties to installing mobile towers. Then, I got a full time job in a large corporate house as an assistant manager. I worked there for 10 years until I resigned in 2016 as general manager,” he says. But all along, he kept doing theatre.

“Back in mid-2000s, TV was the biggest thing in India, so I also gave a lot of auditions. But things were just not working out. I was told ‘lead role ke liye aap look and feel mein nahi match kar rahe ho’. But I didn’t know any other way,” he says.

So, Gandhi, 31, continued to work in Gujarati films, including the National Award-winning Wrong Side Raju, besides doing smaller parts in Hindi films like Loveyatri and Mitron (both in 2018). “To many, my success may seem sudden after Scam 1992, but if you ask me, nothing has happened overnight. I was always on this path. And I believed that sooner or later, things would work out,” says Gandhi, adding that he never ran after money “because mere itne needs hi nahi hai since mera lifestyle bahut simple hai.”

After a smashing response to Scam 1992, is there any pressure vis-a-vis living up to people’s expectations? “I don’t want to take any pressure as that can be counterproductive for an artiste. Anyway, there is no guarantee as to how good or bad an actor’s next offering can be. Till now, I have steadfastly trusted my gut instinct and that’s what I would do now too,” concludes Gandhi.