“Comedy films are a good indicator of where a country is,” argues film commentator Karan Mirchandani. He names a list of films that defined a generation and highlighted its problems: Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983) and builder corruption; Munna Bhai MBBS (2003) and systemic issues and red tape within our education system; Hera Pheri (2000) and the struggles of a common man; Badhaai Ho (2018) or the plethora of films from this genre which tacked socio-familial issues.

The 2020s have not been able to produce a generational comedy. What’s changed? Actor Pratik Gandhi, from Madgaon Express (2024), says that it’s the audiences. The inherent nature of comedies is that they offend, but “today, anything can offend anybody. And in comedy, you have to just let loose. Only then, it’s fun,” says Gandhi.

“Censorship has also become wild,” Gandhi says, “You’ll hear things like, ‘Don’t say sex, instead say sambhog, then it’s fine’.”

Actor Abhishek Banerjee, who was last seen in Stree 2 (2024), also agrees. “The 1990s comedy style is no longer funny. I don’t think today’s generation will enjoy it the same way,” Banerjee says, “Comedies like the ones David Dhawan and Govinda made, or Andaz Apna Apna (1994), or Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro — those are evergreen.”

What does it take to make an evergreen comedy? “They have satire. They have irony. I think what we lack today is satire,” Banerjee answers.

As soon as we realized not-so-politically-correct humour doesn’t work, we stopped trying to find other forms of comedy. Gandhi adds, “Comedy has many sub-genres, and we still haven’t explored them fully. For example, survival comedy. Most of the time, films fall into slapstick comedy. That’s usually the first instinct. But there are many more genres as well.”

Banerjee says, “Situational comedy is becoming more important than dialogue-based comedy. It’s not about saying a funny line — it’s about being in a serious situation and saying something completely unexpected. Layering that with intelligence helps even more.”

The 2020s have also been the decade of the Reel. Banerjee says, “I keep watching comedy Reels and they’re genuinely funny.” When people already have their appetite for funny filled on their phones, why should they come to the cinema for it? Gandhi says, “I never thought a two-hour film would have to compete with a 30-second Reel. But here we are.”

In the last few years, one comedy has broken into the 100-crore club — Crew. Director Rajesh A Krishnan tells us, “If you open social media, you’ll get a laugh. And Instagram doesn’t even need a subscription.”

Throughout the country too, laughter is not dying. “It seems like comedies are reducing but how much comedy content are you actually also consuming from Kerala? If you isolate comedy films coming out of the Hindi film industry, then it starts feeling like there is less comedy. Otherwise, people have been making comedies,” he says, “The scope of comedy has also changed. It’s crossed genres now like comedy-thriller, action-comedy, or horror-comedy.”

In the Hindi film industry, comedy films are surviving on franchise fame. “If we think from the producer’s perspective, franchises have been working well,” Krishnan says, “Sometimes standalone projects work so well that they get turned into franchises.”

The onset of OTT has meant that the theatre is saved for larger-than-life spectacles. So why should you step out to watch a comedy today? “I always feel like great comedies are a tool or even a weapon to critique the establishment. It has a softer touch to do it. And it’s one that lasts with you.”

From the times of the Angry Young Men, films have centred around the common man and his problems. Today, he is no longer at the core of our cinema, instead he is a “big, bearded, angry man on screen,” says Mirchandani.

Mirchandani also points out, “Films today exist in a kind of hyper-reality. They’re not rooted in a specific time or context. Because the moment you ground them — show real problems or systems — you’re also making a critique, and that’s something people are avoiding.”

A lot of comedies like Andaz Apna Apna, though were box office flops, found a second life on DVD. “That pipeline is gone today,” Mirchandani adds. Nothing comes close to a theatre for Gandhi, though. He says, “Any comedy film works best in theatres. Three hundred to 500 people laughing together — it is very, very contagious. You have a lot of fun in those two hours.”

The comedy genre is an evolving one, says trade analyst Taran Adarsh. “Right now, we’re seeing a lot of horror comedies. But the out-and-out comedies excelled by Akshay Kumar and before him the Govinda-David Dhawan style really worked. But there has been a vacuum since then.”

But is there money to be made in this genre? “Lots. Who doesn’t want to laugh, smile, and come out of a film feeling happy? That’s what cinema is about.” Then why is the genre slowing down? “The market scenario has changed. Profits, losses, hits, and flops dictate the industry more strongly now. Especially since the stakes are higher,” he says, “Actors also tend to follow what’s working because everyone wants to stay relevant, popular, and deliver hits.”

All hope is not lost though. “In the last couple of years, Madgaon Express has done well,” with a box office collection of Rs. 49 crore, “Crew (2024) was a smashing success,” as it sits happily in the Rs. 100-crore club with a box office run of Rs. 157 crore. 

Niren Bhatt, who’s written films like Stree 2 (2024), Bala (2019), and Bhediya (2022), says, “Comedy is highly subjective. What lands for you, might not land for me.” He adds that what appears effortless on screen is often the hardest to write. “You can’t just have characters delivering one-liners. That’s stand-up. It has to be woven into a story, with conflict, world-building, and character arcs,” he explains.

“You might write 10 lines and only one works,” he says, noting how audiences respond differently to the same jokes. While some enjoy meta humour or wordplay, others dismiss it as overdone or “too literary”.

For actors too, comedy is all about instinct. Pratik Gandhi says, “All other emotions have a range. On a scale of one to 10, you can adjust. But in comedy, if it has to land at two, it has to land at exactly two. Unlike drama, where intensity can fluctuate, comedy requires precision down to 0.0001 and years of riyaz.”

Abhishek Banerjee adds that the genre leaves actors exposed. “In comedy, you’re on your own. You have your dialogues, your co-actors of course, but timing is everything. Nobody can teach you comic timing. If you don’t have the funny bone, it will fail.”

Over a theatre career spanning more than two decades, actor Pratik Gandhi has experienced several on-stage highs. But his favourite unarguably dates back to 2005, when, while doing cartwheels for an experimental, no-dialogue rendering of an Anton Chekhov play, his eyes, for a brief fraction of a second, fell on a woman in the audience watching him with a mix of awe and amusement. In that fleeting moment, a thought crossed his mind: “I’d like to know her.”

We are in the study of Pratik’s Juhu apartment when he relays the incident to this writer. His wife, Bhamini Oza, walks in a few minutes later. Their eyes meet and they exchange a knowing smile — it almost feels like a replay of the story, requiring little imagination once I am told that it was, in fact, Bhamini whom he had noticed from across the stage.

“I’d never seen anyone do cartwheels before,” she says now, admitting she was blown away by his performance. She also remembers feeling mildly embarrassed when she caught him staring at her. “As a theatre actress myself, I thought it was not very professional of him,” she adds, blushing.

Last December, the couple celebrated 17 years of marriage, a milestone that also marks a new phase in their professional lives. Pratik and Bhamini, who were previously seen together in the short documentary Shimmy (2021) and have collaborated on several plays, including Sir Sir Sarla (Gujarati), will now share screen space as husband and wife on celluloid for the first time, portraying Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba in Hansal Mehta’s Gandhi. The web series, which recently had its world premiere at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival, is set to release on OTT this year.

It’s the kind of collaboration the two had been hoping for, for years. “We’re always looking forward to each other’s projects. Every new work feels like a joint initiative — discussions about how we’re going to approach a character, how it will land with the audience, all of it,” says Bhamini.

Working together in a film or web show, they knew, would make these exchanges richer. “I was only waiting to get something substantial,” she adds.

Both Pratik and Bhamini have a rich theatrical repertoire, supplemented by the work they’ve done in television and film. Bhamini made her acting debut in 1999 and went on to be part of several acclaimed Gujarati plays such as The Waiting Rooms, Ek Chhokri Saav, Dastaan Goi, and Bombay Flower, as well as Hindi shows like Sarabhai vs Sarabhai and Khichdi.

Pratik, who grew up in Surat and was involved with the stage since childhood, moved to Mumbai in 2004 after landing a corporate job. He also used this time to explore opportunities in theatre — his work in Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon (a Hindi adaptation of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well) and Mohan’s Masala, a monologue in which he plays the role of MK Gandhi and which he has performed in three languages since 2015, remains unparalleled.

Their paths crossed because of their connection to theatre and a few common friends. “But it took me another two years after I saw her in the audience to really ask her out for coffee,” says Pratik. It wasn’t that he didn’t pursue her during this time, shares Bhamini. He would try to get to know her on the pretext of sharing audition dates for different plays happening in the city.

“I thought, let’s start from somewhere,” he says, smiling. Not a huge fan of staged meetings, Bhamini kept a comfortable distance from him. “I was already very busy working, doing theatre and television simultaneously. To be honest, I also wanted things to happen organically.”

After months of giving chase, Pratik finally found the courage to ask Bhamini out. They met at a suburban outlet of a fancy coffee chain, sometime in 2007. “I was a tea drinker, so I didn’t even know what to order on the menu,” he says. “And I drank neither coffee nor tea,” adds Bhamini. Between them, they settled for one cappuccino, which they loaded with sachets of sugar, because of how much they disliked it. A year later, they were married.

For Pratik, his breakout moment came with Mehta’s Scam 1992, a biographical drama on stockbroker Harshad Mehta, which released five years ago, in the middle of the pandemic. By then, it had been four years since he had quit his freelance consultancy job in the corporate sector. He credits his father Jayant Gandhi — an educator and trained classical dancer — and Bhamini for giving him the courage to follow his dreams.

“She was the first one to say, ‘Just go for it.’ If not for her support, I wouldn’t have been able to take that leap. We had a huge home loan to pay, we had a young daughter, and my father too had been diagnosed with cancer,” he says, adding, “For the longest time, I was balancing both these lives together. What I did in the process was almost take away the time that I was supposed to give her for the craft. I think it was selfish of me,” he says, in hindsight.

Bhamini disagrees, telling him, “Even if I hadn’t been there in your life, you would still be where you are today — purely because of your consistent work. When a person works in the same direction, with the same passion and positive hard work, it is bound to pay off. There’s no two ways about it.”

Playing his wife on screen — and that too, the role of Kasturba, for which she went through the rigours of auditioning — she says, was exciting. “While there are so many books on the Mahatma, we know so little about his significant other,” says Bhamini.

“This show really does justice to her life,” she adds, without revealing too much. Pratik remembers how effortless the first day of shooting together was. “I think years of doing theatre prepares you for this moment. It felt like we were back on stage. The lines came so easily to us,” he says, adding, “There are, however, a couple of scenes that I can’t wait for the world to watch, both the ones we share and some of Bhamini’s on her own. It’s going to be an explosion.”

Pratik Gandhi, Rajkummar Rao or Ayushmann Khurrana — producer Anand Pandit is spoilt for choice. He has three candidates in mind to headline the Hindi adaptation of his hit Gujarati film Chaniya Toli (2025), which released last Diwali. While the Hindi adaptation is in the works, the producer also plans to make versions in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada.

Directed by Jay Bodas and Parth Trivedi, Chaniya Toli revolves around a teacher who enlists the help of seven women to rob a regional bank and deliver his own version of justice against corruption.

“I have Pratik Gandhi, Rajkummar Rao, Ayushmann Khurrana on my wishlist as all three are excellent actors and suit the role of the teacher,” begins Pandit, adding that scripting for the Hindi version is underway.

“We will finalize a director from the Hindi film industry after [the script is ready]. We are also exploring the opportunity of making it in four South languages with a South star and director. Despite being an independent production, [we may join hands] with somebody. It is the first time that a Gujarati film of mine is being remade in Hindi and other languages,” he smiles.

The film, which tackles middle-class financial woes, will resonate with audiences across regions, believes Pandit. “The story is universal. A bank heist can be shown in any language. It is loosely inspired from a true story in the 1970s when farmers faced a massive drought in Gujarat. While localised banks lent money to the farmers, [they charged huge interest rates].”

While he hopes to cast an established actor as the mathematics teacher, the seven women in the heist gang will be fresh faces — “from 20-year-olds to a 70-year-old daadi who will be an expert in some field”. “I plan to cast seven new faces from across India for the female roles. We took unknown faces but good female actors even in Chaniya Toli. Our hero is the story; the social message will be a suspense,” he concludes.

Few actors have consistently embodied Mahatma Gandhi as Pratik Gandhi has, across both stage and screen. The 45-year-old has portrayed the ‘Father of the Nation’ for years on stage and even has a web series coming up, titled Gandhi, in which he plays the role. And to add to the coincidence, he is also performing a stage play today on Gandhi Jayanti, where he plays him yet again.

The actor believes it was destined: “Me playing Gandhi was written the day I was born in a Gandhi family. It has been an extremely important, poignant, and rewarding experience in itself.”

He says, “Gandhi is more relevant in these times than he was ever before for the whole world. We need over a thousand ‘Gandhis’ in this world today, considering everything that we see. And what a coincidence it is that this year, Gandhi Jayanti is on the day of Dussehra. There are so many ravanas that we need to burn and kill within ourselves with the Gandhian approach.”

Ask if Pratik himself imbibed any qualities from Mahatma Gandhi’s life, and he is quick to respond: simplicity and self-belief. “Achieving simplicity in today’s complex and hyperdigital world, is a virtue and a privilege to a lot of people. Gandhi ji also said that true strength does not come from physical power, it comes from indomitable will. After performing the character for a long time, I actually understand where it comes from,” he shares.

“Navratri certainly feels more special this year,” says Pratik Gandhi, who is back to Mumbai after attending three prestigious film festivals abroad. Gandhi, co-starring his actress-wife Bhamini Oza Gandhi, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Phule was screened at the India Film Festival of Alberta (IFFA) 2025 and Ghamasaan was showcased at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival (CSAFF).

He adds, “It happened for the first time in my career that three of my projects were screened at prestigious festivals, and I could attend all of them. I guess I have some special connection with Ganesh Chaturthi too. Right since Bey Yaar (2014), my debut Gujarati film, some of my major films have been released around the festival and done well.” Excerpts from a chat:

This year, it has rained a lot in Mumbai, and it has impacted some garba venues adversely. I have been busy shooting and will also have to attend some events, but I hope I get to play garba with friends for a day or two. You need a group of friends to enjoy garba to the fullest. If nothing works out, I will invite friends and play garba at home this time. When it comes to garba songs in films, my personal favourite is Gori Radha Ne Kalo Kaan from my film Wrong Side Raju. I also love all songs from Hellaro, especially Vaagyo Re Dhol. I have grown up listening to Falguni Pathak’s garba songs. Bachpan mein toh cassettes play karte thay, and mujhe abhi bhi chronology yaad hai! I also love Bhoomi Trivedi and Aditya Gadhvi’s garba songs.”

What I love the most about the festival is the positive energy all around. Everything feels really vibrant. Miraya (his daughter) loves playing garba too, although she is still not a pro when it comes to garba steps. I think I could last play garba properly about three years back, when we visited a couple of garba venues, where Parthiv Gohil and Bhoomi Trivedi performed. I prefer wearing something comfortable while playing garba-like kurta-pyjama, or a loose dhoti.

In 2016, while promoting my film Wrong Side Raju in Vadodara, I visited the United Way of Baroda during Navratri, and it was just magical. I will never forget that experience. I think there were 50,000 revellers playing garba together, in huge circles, and all of them were in sync and doing the same steps. I have never seen anything like that till date. I was mesmerised.

Attending the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was an experience of a lifetime because it is one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, and Gandhi became the first Indian series to premiere at the TIFF’s Primetime programme. Be it as a subject or character, Gandhi has played a special role in my career. I met several distinguished cinephiles at the festival and when they had such good things to say about the series and we got a standing ovation, it felt surreal. It gave me a lot of confidence and interacting with people there was a very enriching experience.

Pratik and Bhamini, who tied the knot in 2008, have been living in Mumbai since then. Pratik says that he really misses playing garba in Surat, his hometown. He shares, “We had a group of 25 friends, and we visited multiple garba venues every day. I loved learning new garba steps and we would play till 2am. I was very fond of Surat’s sheri garbas. I really miss it.”

He adds, “Also, I loved attending the evening aarti at our housing society and I would discuss with my mother about what to offer as prasad. I also visited two famous temples in Surat with my mother every year. Those childhood memories remain very close to my heart.”

Actor Pratik Gandhi recently led the patriotic series Saare Jahan Se Accha, released just before Independence Day. Set during the Indo-Pak tensions of the 1970s, the series explores a spy’s story. With the show premiering shortly after the recent India-Pakistan conflict, Pratik admits the timing made promotions tricky.

The 45-year-old says, “We were very clear when we shot that it’s not about jingoism. But the concern did arise. Once we learned the release date — and considering what had happened recently — the context shifted in the audience’s mind,” adding, “That’s when you have to be very careful while talking about your project, because you know there’s no agenda, propaganda or jingoism involved. But how do you convey that to an audience whose mindset has already shifted?”

Producer Sejal Shah echoes the sentiment, emphasizing that the aim was never to push an agenda. “The storytelling in the show was always about emotions. It’s a story about love for one’s country and the sacrifices people are willing to make for it. The goal wasn’t about revenge or violence; it was peaceful — aimed at stopping a war.”

Pratik adds that the team consciously avoided loud patriotism. “There is a fine line between patriotism and jingoism, and we were clear that we didn’t want to make it jingoistic. In today’s hyperactive social media world, if something is repeated enough, people start believing it. I believe patriotism is an emotion you carry within, and there are multiple ways to express it – the easiest being to shout about it. But when you add depth, make it interesting, intriguing, and relatable, that’s where the real difference lies,” he says.

The actor adds, “When you feel ‘Mera Bharat Mahaan’, just communicate it. Actually, even without you saying these words, I should feel that oh my God, this guy feels a lot about his country.”

(From left) Actors Suhail Nayyar, Kritika Kamra, Anup Soni, Sunny Hinduja, and Pratik Gandhi at the special chat moderated by mid-day’s Priyanka Sharma, at St Xavier’s College in Mumbai. Pics/Kirti Surve Parade

To celebrate India’s 79th Independence Day on Friday, mid-day and Netflix India brought a slice of the country’s past to St Xavier’s College in Mumbai. The auditorium was packed with eager students, their eyes glued to the stage, where the cast of Saare Jahan Se Accha — a spy thriller inspired by real-life events of the 1970s — sat down for a chat with mid-day.

The show — starring Pratik Gandhi, Sunny Hinduja, Kritika Kamra, Anup Soni, and Suhail Nayyar — dropped online only a day before Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR’s ambitious spy offering War 2 opened in cinemas.

Pointing out that the series and the YRF spy films hail from dramatically different worlds, we posed a hypothetical scenario to Gandhi: What would Vishnu Shankar, his intelligence officer character in the show, chat about with Roshan’s Kabir Dhaliwal, Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan, and Salman Khan’s Tiger if they crossed paths?

“I don’t think I’ll recruit them ever. I’ll ask them to join the entertainment industry,” he quipped, eliciting uproarious laughter from the audience.

Gandhi had his reason for the choice. When we mentioned that the treatment of spies and their lives in Saare Jahan Se Accha is gritty and real, a marked difference from that in films, the actor elaborated, “War 2 and all those films talk about wars. The heroes are fighting the wars, whereas real-life spies’ job is to avoid wars.”

The actor pointed out another difference — the agents on the big screen look too dashing for their own good. “These agents are not supposed to look like heroes, because then they will [draw] attention. They should be able to blend in. If they can do any kind of stunts, I guess the world will know that this guy is up to something,” he said.

Given the occasion, we asked the actors what freedom means to them. Kamra said, “Freedom is the ability to dissent. You are truly free with someone, or as a citizen, if you can speak your mind fearlessly.”

Soni added, “If we can hug each other, say what we want, eat whatever we want, that’s freedom.”

Pratik Gandhi at Aga Khan Palace (Pic: Jignesh Mistry)

Apart from getting the country vibing to a banger opening theme, Hansal Mehta’s Scam 1992 also gave the audience an actor to look forward to – Pratik Gandhi. With a body of work that spans Gujarati films, Hindi plays, OTT shows and movies, Pratik has become a name to reckon with, more so in the last two years with projects like Do Aur Do Pyaar, Agni, Madgaon Express, Dhoom Dhaam and Phule. In a chat with us, the actor speaks about his love for theatre, his takeaway from the Phule controversy and why the struggle of Bollywood films is more complex than it looks. Excerpts:

“Theatre is an actor’s gym,” says Pratik, who was in the city to stage Mohan Ka Masala, in which he played the role of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. “It is a place where you can work on different prototypes. When you perform in a play, you go through the same story and emotions multiple times. I live that character more than once and it gives me the chance to rehearse my craft,” says the actor. 

Highlighting that tools and theoretical knowledge are of no use if you can’t implement them, Pratik adds, “Film institutes can teach you about the tools you can use as an actor, or about the theory part of the profession, but theatre gives you a platform to implement that knowledge practically. That’s something no other place can give you.”

Bollywood has been trying to figure out what really clicks with the audience post the pandemic. While experts try to decipher that, Pratik shares a different take on why the industry is struggling. “It’s a very complex thing. You can’t look at the problem from just one lens – of content, marketing, etc,” says the actor, adding, “I feel that for the longest time, filmmakers and the audience were evolving together, almost in sync with each other. But during the pandemic the exposure to global content happened and the audience suddenly evolved multifold. Makers, on the other hand, could not evolve that fast and that created a huge gap which we are all trying to fill up. It’s happening, but it will take some time.”

Pratik also feels that the audience’s evolution was unprecedented. “Earlier, India was looked at as a less English-speaking market and makers would be told to dumb stories down. Now, people are watching Korean and Spanish shows. Someone sitting in a remote area is watching an English show on their phone. This was something no one predicted. We keep saying art has no barriers. The audience just proved it.”

Another enemy everyone is fighting nowadays is the overuse of data in filmmaking. If you are creating a film or show on the basis of data interpretation, then you don’t need human brains to work in this industry

A few months ago, Phule, which featured Pratik and Patralekhaa as Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule, respectively, had a brush with controversy after certain groups opposed the film’s release. While the film did get a stamp of approval from critics and viewers after it released, Pratik says he wasn’t surprised with what happened.

“The world has become impatient. We want to react and jump the gun before watching or understanding anything,” he says, adding, “In the chaotic world of social media and hyperconnectivity, nobody has the time to process anything. I keep giving this example to people that in the Doordarshan days, news anchors would read the news to you, without added emotion or a specific tone. This was so you could interpret the news the way you wanted to, without being biased. Now, news is interpreted and given to you. You are not supposed to use your brain. Looking at everything, I was not surprised by the people’s reaction to Phule. I faced the same issues during Bhavai (2021). What people think and what can offend them, that’s something nobody can gauge.”

Having played Mahatma Phule on screen and Mahatma Gandhi on stage, Pratik says that so many things from these legendary figures’ lives are relevant even today. “We hear about discrimination, wars and people justifying violence in different ways every day. These are things that these prominent figures in Indian history fought against. I think they were visionaries because they could visualize that the world would need guiding thoughts in difficult times even if they weren’t around. That makes them significant even today,” he says.

Speaking about his play Mohan Ka Masala, Pratik adds, “We tend to think that Gandhiji was born with qualities of a Mahatma but it’s not like that. He was a common man like any of us who made mistakes and learnt from them. The message you can take away from the play is that everyone has been given qualities to become a Mahatma. It is the choices you make that define your journey.”

In his next OTT show, Saare Jahan Se Accha, Pratik plays a spy. Speaking about the same, he says, “We’ve often seen spies as these super-special, heroic people who can do anything. That’s not the case in real life and we have tried to show that with our next. Spies six-packs wale thodi hote hai!”

On the topic of six-pack abs, we ask him about his shirtless act in Dhoom Dhaam and whether he would do it again. Pratik laughs and shares, “I don’t mind at all! I have always looked like that. Just that I had never taken my shirt off on screen before Dhoom Dhaam.”

On a concluding note, we ask the actor if he and the team are open to a Madgaon Express sequel. To that, Pratik says, “The whole team is super excited to do it again. We are all just waiting for Kunal (Kemmu) to come up with an idea. It was a crazy, mad film.”

When Netflix India unveiled its 2025 slate in February, one of the shows that caught attention was Pratik Gandhi's Saare Jahan Se Accha. Set in the 1970s, the spy thriller — which also stars Tillotama Shome, Rajat Kapoor, and Sunny Hinduja — revolves around an Indian undercover agent who is sent to Pakistan to stop it from becoming a nuclear force. Sources indicate that with a chunk of the series set in Pakistan, director Sumit Purohit and his team had to recreate parts of the country in India.

A source said, “More than half the story is set in the neighbouring country. As the unit couldn’t travel to Pakistan, massive sets reflecting Karachi were made in Mumbai and Chandigarh. One was built at the Golden Tobacco Factory in Vile Parle, Mumbai, and a Karachi marketplace was recreated at a local market in Chandigarh.”

Sejal Shah and Bhavesh Mandalia, who recently backed Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Costao, serve as the series’ producers and showrunners. “It is one of Netflix India’s biggest series, with a budget of around Rs 100 crore,” added the source.

Saare Jahan Se Accha comes as the latest offering from Gandhi, who is on an upward streak with Madgaon Express (2024), Do Aur Do Pyaar (2024), and Dhoom Dhaam earlier this year. But unlike these projects, the spy thriller will see him step into a grey role — something that he excels in, if his breakthrough show Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020) was any indication.

“The makers needed someone who could give a strong performance, and Pratik fit the bill. He is playing a complex character — under the cover of being a diplomat, he is an R&AW [Research and Analysis Wing] agent who stops Pakistan’s nuclear program. The role has been inspired by different real-life Indian spies. The show depicts the period when late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was at the helm, and R N Kao was heading R&AW, as India and Pakistan were trying to edge out one another in the nuclear arms race.”

Initially, the six-episode series was titled For Your Eyes Only. What brought on the rechristening? The source added that it was a mutual decision between the makers and the streaming giant. “All the stakeholders felt Saare Jahan Se Accha was a better fit as it’s desi and reflects the show’s patriotic theme.”

There are roles that are all too familiar for an actor, and then there are those that take them on a path of discovery. While stepping into the role of Mihir Virani for Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2 came naturally to Amar Upadhyay, being part of Hansal Mehta’s Gandhi led him to a novel character. The actor reveals that he plays Dr Pranjivan Mehta in the Pratik Gandhi-led web series that examines the man behind the Mahatma. “All I can say is the audience will see me in a different look and performance,” says Upadhyay.

Little is known about Pranjivan, who was among the Mahatma’s closest friends. A Doctor of Medicine (MD) and lawyer by education, and a jeweller by profession, he met Gandhi when the latter arrived in London in 1888 to study law. That encounter at Victoria Hotel marked the start of a deep friendship, and later Pranjivan provided financial and moral support to the leader’s movements in South Africa and India, including the Satyagraha movement. Some historical accounts suggest that he was the first to refer to Gandhi as Mahatma in 1909, when he used the term in a letter addressed to Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Gandhi’s book Hind Swaraj is said to be based on the exchanges between Pranjivan and him. 

Upadhyay is thrilled to portray a man who deeply influenced the leader. Interestingly, the actor had auditioned for another part. “But Hansal sir felt I should play Dr Pranjivan Mehta. Many are unaware of Dr Mehta, but after the show releases, people will know his role in Gandhiji’s life. It was a challenge to put myself in that era. But when I got into the attire, I slipped into that persona automatically. Plus, Hansal sir was always there to tell us if we went overboard.”

For the actor, who was briefly seen in Scoop (2023), reuniting with Hansal is always a joy. He notes that the filmmaker has unusual trust in his artistes. “He can gauge whether an actor can manage on his own or needs help. Sometimes, when he knows that two actors are capable of taking the scene [in a particular direction], he may change their style. He can calmly handle any situation. In the worst of situations, he will say, ‘No problem, ho jayega’.”

Upadhyay is equally impressed by his co-actor Pratik. “He is a simple and down-to-earth actor who is very involved in his craft,” he shares.

Pranjivan Mehta was an MD who first met Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, then 19, when the latter had arrived in London in 1888. The two became friends. Over the years, he provided financial and moral support to Gandhi’s movements in South Africa and India. He is credited as the first to refer to Gandhi as Mahatma. Historical accounts suggest that in 1909, he used the term in a letter addressed to Gopal Krishna Gokhale.

The Hindi film industry is struggling to rake in the moolah at the box office, and actor Pratik Gandhi, whose recent release, Phule, too faced a similar challenge, sees it as an imminent phase. “Any industry will come to that flash point once, where innovation will happen and things will change for good. It will settle down and will again go up to that flash point. So, it’s a cyclic thing that will keep happening,” he says.

The actor prefers to look at the positive side of it though, crediting the presence of different mediums and kinds of work.

“It is a good time to be an artiste, as there are so many avenues. Even if you have a story for a short film, you have an audience for that, because there is a platform to showcase it. Earlier, it used to be a problem, as you didn’t have a medium to show it. Now you have such opportunities. So, it is a great time to be an artiste, a writer, director or anybody,” he says.

However, Pratik acknowledges that while getting work might not be difficult, the main challenge lies in bagging big, commercial Bollywood outings.

“It is very difficult to breakthrough in the mainstream industry. It’s highly competitive, as there are so many actors. Apart from that, it’s very difficult for anyone coming from out of the industry, who doesn’t know anybody. You don’t know whom to approach, who to meet or ask for work. You don’t even know where to go and give an audition,” he says.

Two weeks ago, Pratik Gandhi was at the same point where he is today, on the cusp of a movie’s release. Unfortunately, Phule—a biopic on Mahatma Jyotirao Phule—didn’t hit the theatres then as some sections of the Brahmin community opposed the film, believing it showed them in poor light. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) demanded certain changes, too. Today, as the Ananth Narayan Mahadevan-directed venture lines up for an April 25 release, the leading man says the resistance didn’t surprise him.

“Given the sensitive nature of the subject and the current climate, I wasn’t entirely surprised by the possibility of some form of reaction,” he smiles sardonically, before adding, “When you’re dealing with historical figures and social issues that are still relevant and sometimes contentious, different perspectives are bound to arise. Our intention was never to create unnecessary controversy, but to tell an honest and factual story. We approached it with a sense of responsibility.”

Phule, also starring Patralekhaa, chronicles how the 19th century social reformer and his wife Savitribai Phule fought against the rampant casteism and championed women’s education. Gandhi admits that the deferral of its April 11 release disappointed him.

“We were aiming to coincide it with Jyotirao Phule’s 197th birth anniversary. That was a way to honour his legacy. So, the postponement, due to a combination of certification changes and the initial reactions, was a setback. However, my primary concern was always that the film’s message should reach people effectively.”

Even as two centuries separate the social reformer and us, the actor believes that his ideas depicted in the film have “immense” relevance today.

“While the film is set in the 19th century, the core issues it addresses—caste discrimination, the fight for equal rights, and the importance of education—are still very much alive in our society. Phule’s emphasis on reason, questioning social norms, and striving for a more egalitarian society continues to be relevant in a world divided by prejudice and misinformation,” he states. 

As we continue to fight different forms of social ills, is there a social reform he’d like to see today? “The eradication of all forms of discrimination, whether based on caste, religion, gender, or any other social marker,” Gandhi says, in a heartbeat.

“We’ve made progress, but the subtle and sometimes blatant ways in which discrimination still operates in our society is concerning. I believe in fostering an equitable society, where every individual is treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their background.”

In January, mid-day had reported that the shoot of Saif Ali Khan’s film with director Rahul Dholakia had to be deferred from its January 20 date after the attack on the actor in his Bandra home earlier that week (Saif’s health above all else, Jan 19). Three months on, the period piece, which chronicles India’s first general election, has gone on floors. Sources tell us that the yet-untitled film rolled on April 20 near Grand Hotel in Ballard Estate, with Khan expected to join this week. It will mark his first shoot since his attack.

The actor plays Sukumar Sen, India’s first Chief Election Commissioner, alongside Pratik Gandhi and Deepak Dobriyal in the Nikkhil Advani production. The director is said to have kicked off filming with a crowd scene.

An insider tells us, “The set had over 200 extras who formed the crowd. It was a charged sequence with Pratik and Deepak. The unit will shoot across different locations in the city over the next few weeks. Saif and the director intend to shoot a chunk of the drama by May-end. The actor has wrapped up the promotions for Jewel Thief, and will turn his attention to this project in the coming days.”

In their first collaboration, Dholakia and Khan will offer a retelling of how Sen orchestrated the country’s inaugural general election that was held between October 1951 and February 1952. The Indian National Congress secured a majority, leading to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s appointment as the first Prime Minister.

The source adds, “The period is vital to the storytelling. The production design team will build massive sets depicting India of the 1950s.”

Sukumar Sen was the first Election Commissioner of India, who oversaw the first two elections in the then-newly independent country. While the inaugural general election was held between October 1951 and February 1952, the second took place between February and March 1957.

Anurag Kashyap’s post about the CBFC’s alleged approach to films about the caste system in India added fuel to the already raging fire around the release of Phule, a film based on the life of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule. While the CBFC granted Phule a ‘U’ certificate on April 7, it had asked for certain edits, including the removal of references like ‘Mahar’, ‘Mang’, ‘Peshwai’, and a modification of the phrase “3,000 saal purani ghulami” to “kai saal purani ghulami.” But did CBFC suggest any cuts in the film?

“No, just these tweaks,” filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan tells us, adding that the suggestions were implemented. In a chat with us, the filmmaker addresses the controversy and speaks about the role of censorship in filmmaking.

Fortunately, there were no cuts suggested by the CBFC. The so-called amendments, or tweaks as I call them, were inconsequential. Even if those weren’t implemented, it wouldn’t have made a difference. I guess we’re all becoming a little over-sensitive and want to soften things. But the audience is knowledgeable. Even if you remove certain words or modify phrases, they’ll understand it. I think some people watched the trailer and jumped the gun. They concluded that the film is against a particular community. It's not. Yes, there are conflicts, but the beauty of Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule’s life is the harmony and interaction they had with all communities.

I am quite amused at these things, because it was not something so major to be labelled fair or unfair. As a filmmaker, I would not like my film to be touched, and that too with such insignificant and innocuous changes. I don’t understand why we are so nervous about how people will react, or how sensitive they are. I think we should respect the sensibilities and the sensitivities of the audience. This film does not exaggerate or fictionalize history. It does not even interpret history. All it does is represent history. When you're so honest about a particular subject or with the people while making the film, you should also respect the intelligence of the audience.

Fortunately, all this hasn’t reduced the impact of the film. It still conveys everything it has to without hiding or making anything subdued. That said, the original word always is stronger than a synonym or alternative for it. And I would always prefer the stronger words to convey what I want to.

Yes, there’s been a lot of support, even from political parties, saying the film should be shown in its entirety. I think that’s encouraging and positive. There will always be disgruntled voices but that has been virtually eclipsed by this unanimous support.

The only thing that I felt a little upset about was that we wanted to release it on April 11, which was Jyotiba’s birth anniversary. That would have gone down in history for posterity. But we had to sacrifice that for the betterment of the film and to help it reach the maximum number of people. It was necessary to address these concerns of those who had an objection. So, we took that little time for things to calm down.

I don't think so. Not even in the future, because we are an immature society. This comes forth either through some unnecessary prejudices or provocations or whatever, but we do not seem to have progressed. In fact, we seem to have regressed in many ways, despite many things that Jyotiba and Savitribai fought for, like women’s education and independence, being achieved. But caste discrimination and gender discrimination continue to plague our society. These issues are not going to be solved so easily. So, the revolution continues. We are still so self-centered and materialistic. Technological advancements do not cover up your social regressions. What about conscience? What about social relevance?

See, if you're an honest filmmaker, if you're a socially relevant filmmaker, and if you are a responsible filmmaker, you will not harbour any fears of how society is going to react or what impact it's going to have on minds. For me, it is very important to not let these things bother me. I delve into a subject, treat it the way it deserves to be treated - with honesty and with the passion that I always had, and then leave the rest to the audience. My duty is to make that film the way it should be made.

Yes, certification happens abroad where films are certified as per their content – universal, with parental guidance, restricted viewing and strictly for adults etc. In India, we did try to amend the process, but the problem is that with the certification, we retained the censorship too. I agree that there should be self-censorship while making a film and there is a cinematic language that one must use for that. I do it too. But by suggesting cuts in a film, you are just defeating the very purpose of certification. Then you might as well call yourself a censor board and not a board of film certification.

Stepping into the shoes of a revolutionary for a biopic can be exhilarating as well as daunting. For Pratik Gandhi, it’s doubly so, as he will be seen essaying two leaders—Mahatma Gandhi in Hansal Mehta’s web series, Gandhi, and Jyotirao Phule in Ananth Mahadevan’s Phule—soon. As he offers a retelling of Gandhi leading India’s freedom fight against the British, and Phule’s anti-caste movement, Pratik highlights that the two social leaders had a similar starting point.

“The one thing common between them is that before they did what they did, they were like us. My journey to create these two characters starts when they weren’t Mahatmas. So, I have explored them as humans, with their passion, zest, and that fire from within,” shares the actor.

Besides the two releases, the year ahead looks creatively exciting for Pratik, who has three films and a new play in the pipeline. Since breaking out in Hindi entertainment with Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020), he has steadily become among the most talented and reliable actors of the current crop. But the actor reveals that even today, he faces rejections.

“When discussing their next theatrical film, the [makers] tell me, ‘We need an actor who can get the audience to the theatres. You have done very well, but on OTT.’ So, the onus is on me to prove myself in yet another medium,” he says. This comes even after he delivered a theatrical hit in Madgaon Express last year. “But the fact that I have to mention my success says a lot. If I have to blow my own trumpet, what sense does it make?”

It could make one bitter, but not Pratik. The actor admits that years of rejection, before he found success, have prepared him for such curveballs.

He reflects, “If success had come in the first attempt itself, it might have been difficult to be realistic. But rejections have prepared me for fame and handling success. They have also prepared me to stay away from negativity and think differently, where I take the onus of everything. [I think that] I haven’t given the other person enough reasons to cast me. So, I want to excel to a level that even without any leverage, people would want to work with me.”

While Mahatma Gandhi led India’s freedom fight against the British, Jyotirao Phule fought the rampant casteism in India. Despite their different causes, Pratik Gandhi notes that both leaders, in their own way, believed in the philosophy of non-violence.

“Gandhi’s circumstances and motives were incidental. Phule was victimized because of casteism and took a stand through education. He believed that people could only fight with education. So, in a way, he, [like Gandhi], promoted ahimsa; he might not have called it that,” he states.

Who is a hero? The one who leads from the front, or the one who always has your back and provides unwavering support? Both, says Pratik Gandhi. With this approach, he signed Dhoom Dhaam, which sees him as a shy, faint-hearted Veer in love with a fierce Koyal, played by Yami Gautam.

Drawing parallels with bungee-jumping, Gandhi says, “In bungee jumping, the one who jumps is a hero. But the rope that is saving you from falling is an equal hero.”

It’s rare and refreshing to see a man on screen being a quiet support to the woman as she unabashedly takes the lead. On that count, Rishab Seth’s directorial venture offers a delightful role reversal. But Gandhi says he has seen such men in his life.

“We don’t always see men fighting or taking the lead. I have so many friends and men in my family, who are not so-called alpha male. But they are alpha in their own ways. They want to be a strong support. Veer is the kind of a man we see all around us—someone who is vulnerable, who is not afraid to say, ‘I have phobias. I don’t want to fight. I don’t even want you to fight,’” he laughs.

Even before the Netflix rom-com, Gandhi didn’t shy away from exploring different shades of masculinity —be it as the timid friend in Madgaon Express (2024) or the diffident husband in Do Aur Do Pyaar (2024). Interestingly, he made these choices after breaking out as a confident anti-hero of sorts in Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020). While such a change in career trajectory might be viewed as a risk by some, Gandhi says the time to experiment is now, when he is at the peak of his success.

“As an actor, there is nothing called ‘safe’. That can happen in a job where if one PPT fails, you’ll have to make another one. I’ve worked in the corporate world. It was a difficult time to break those shackles of safety and come into the field where there is no safety. I call it a field of experiments. The more I experiment, the more I grow. I want to do something different constantly, to the point where the audience feels that this actor is in the film, we don’t know what will happen. Otherwise, they think, ‘If he is there, then action is guaranteed’ or ‘He will say dialogues in this way.’ I don’t want to cage myself in that.”

Thursday afternoon brought relief to Saif Ali Khan’s family and fans as the team of doctors at the Lilavati Hospital, following the surgery, issued a statement that the actor “is out of danger”. He had suffered six injuries after being stabbed by an alleged burglar at his Bandra residence in the early hours of January 16. The actor, who is on the road to recovery now, has a packed 2025 ahead. In the next few months, he is expected to kick off promotions for his summer releases, Jewel Thief — The Red Sun Chapter, and Kartavya.

It is heard that Jewel Thief, also starring Jaideep Ahlawat, is targeting a March-end release. An insider tells mid-day, “The heist thriller, which is directed by Robbie Grewal, with certain sequences helmed by Kookie Gulati, was wrapped up late last year. The project has now moved into the final post-production stage. While Saif had finished a chunk of the dubbing in November, he only has two days of dubbing left. The team is likely to begin promotions in mid-March before its March 27 release.” Meanwhile, Kartavya, an OTT film helmed by Pulkit of Bhakshak (2024) fame, is slated to release mid-2025. “The promotions will begin after May,” adds the source.

On the shooting front, Khan’s next will be Race 4 that is expected to roll in August. A source says, “The producers are currently finalizing a director.” The actor also has Priyadarshan’s yet-untitled next and Devara: Part 2 in his kitty.

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On Friday, Saif Ali Khan, who suffered multiple injuries after he was stabbed by an intruder in his Bandra residence a day earlier, was shifted out of the intensive care unit of Lilavati Hospital. The actor has been advised rest and restricted movement for a week by his team of doctors. With Khan’s recovery being the top priority of his family and collaborators, we have heard that director Rahul Dholakia and producer Nikkhil Advani have deferred their yet-untitled Netflix film with him that was to kick off on January 20.

Sources tell us that a set was built at Madh Island for the project that also stars Pratik Gandhi and Deepak Dobriyal. But in light of recent events, the makers informed the team that the shoot has been pushed until he recuperates. A unit hand tells us, “Originally, we were supposed to shoot in April, but because things progressed fast, the filming was advanced to January 20. Given the unfortunate incident, the team has reverted to the original plan of shooting by March-end or early April. It can be pushed further ahead as the makers want to give Saif sir as much time as he wants for his recovery. After he has healed, Nikkhil sir and Rahul sir will meet him and chalk out the plan as per his convenience.”

The film is reportedly a historical drama chronicling India’s first general elections that were held between October 1951 and February 1952. Khan will portray Sukumar Sen, India’s first Chief Election Commissioner, who played a pivotal role in executing the country’s landmark democratic process.

At a time when the volume of content being churned out by the film industry often leads to a tussle for screens across India, releasing a small-budget offering alongside three big-budget productions may seem like a poorly calculated move. But April 11 is a date of significance for Ananth Narayan Mahadevan, given that it coincides with the 197th birth anniversary of social activist Jyotirao Govindrao Phule, on whom his film, Phule, is based.

Mahadevan acknowledges that releasing the movie merely a day after mammoth productions like Prabhas’s The Raja Saab, Yash’s Toxic, and Akshay Kumar’s Jolly LLB 3 hit the theatres may seem daunting for a filmmaker, but he is certain that the Pratik Gandhi and Patralekhaa-starrer will catch the attention of the audience he intends to target.

“April 11 is a milestone; a date to celebrate. It is relevant for us to release the film on that day, regardless of which other film is also released. Our date is finalised. In March, we will begin promoting Phule, and ensure that people belonging to each corner of India know what the film is about. I have shot at actual locations, like at a wada [fortress] in Bhor, Kolhapur, and Satara. I did not shoot on a set because my producers, Ritesh and Anuya Kudecha, insisted that the film be made as authentically as possible,” says Mahadevan.

Celebrating the socialists, Phule, and his wife Savitribai (played by Patralekhaa) for their innumerable contributions to society, Mahadevan calls the former the “Abraham Lincoln of India.”

“When Jyotirao learnt that Lincoln abolished slavery in America, he was deeply inspired. He was fighting a battle on two fronts—against the British, and [against society]. The fight was to dispel practices like gender and caste discrimination and promote the education of the girl child. Today if women have an opinion, are educated, and are taken seriously, [it is because of them]. Savitribai and Fatima Sheikh [Indian educator] were the first female teachers in India.”

Ask him if he considered casting Rajkummar Rao as the film’s leading man to have the husband-and-wife duo Rao and Patralekhaa reprise the relationship on screen, and he responds in the negative. “Pratik is an effortless actor,” he backs his leading man.

“He is a chameleon, and we can all just marvel at him. He works hard on each role, but that effort isn’t made obvious on the screen, and that is what acting is all about. Of course, Rajkummar is very accomplished, and I could have approached him via Patralekhaa, but when I saw Pratik and Patralekhaa together, I felt the real characters had come alive.”

When Dedh Bigha Zameen came his way, Pratik Gandhi’s first reaction was to the title, and an unfavourable one at that. Director Pulkit made him see that it had nothing in common with Bimal Roy’s classic, Do Bigha Zameen (1953). “After my first reading, I realized that it couldn’t have had any other name,” says Pratik.

In Dedh Bigha Zameen, the actor plays a common man who intends to sell his ancestral land, only to realize that it has been illegally possessed by a corrupt official. The hero battling an oppressive system is a common trope in Hindi cinema. But Pratik credits Pulkit of Bhakshak fame for developing a moving and essential story.

“Pulkit’s approach and writing are organic. Bhakshak disturbed me; I couldn’t sleep all night. He has the tendency to touch your core while asking questions that others don’t. We would create many scenes on the set. While performing, some lines hit differently, and Pulkit allows you the space to tweak a scene to your liking.”

Pratik showed his acting prowess with Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020), and with the success of Madgaon Express, his star is on the rise. He considers himself a switch-on-switch-off actor. 

“When I am performing, I have two people inside me—Pratik and the character. The character is telling the story, Pratik is objectively looking at the performance. I’m critical of myself to the point of overthinking.”

His next big project is Gandhi, a multi-season series on Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that the world did not know of the Mahatma until the film, Gandhi (1982), was made. The remark has been condemned by many across the country. The actor says the Mahatma has become all the more relevant today.

“The world needs Gandhi now more than ever before. Gandhi is not a person, he is a thought process. It’s necessary to know and understand where he comes from. With this show, we’re making a digital footprint of him. What we’ve read in school is only a portion of his life. Our series is delving into many aspects that people have not known. It will help them see Gandhi in a different light, even make him more human.”

Actor Eijaz Khan, who broke up with actor Pavitra Punia last year after a three-year relationship, doesn’t need generic affirmations to stay positive. “No bulls**t about being happily single and no statements like ‘I am having the best time of my life’, for me. I would just say that I’m growing and understanding myself more than ever before,” he stresses.

Thankful that “God has been kind” amid what could have been a phase of upheaval for him, the actor says that work kept him focussed.

“At a very crucial time in life, the universe made sure I was busy and working. If I was sitting at home, I don’t think I would be alive by now. I believe that one can overcome any adversity and dark phase in life by aligning it to a better purpose,” explains Khan.

The zeal for growth could be seen in the 48-year-old’s refusal to limit himself to being a TV actor. “That’s the thought I am fighting — breaking the TV image. I did the show Moh Moh Ke Dhaage in 2015, three successful seasons of the web series City Of Dreams. Then I did a cameo in Jawan (2023). Where does a transition in my body of work appear in the audience’s mind?” he says.

Khan is now looking forward to his upcoming film Dhoom Dhaam with Yami Gautam and Pratik Gandhi and will start filming another project “with a top actor” soon.

“These big actors (cast members) call me sir. They don’t have any recollection of me from television. They know me from City of Dreams. They know me from the Tanu Weds Manu franchise. Honestly, it can prove to be a game-changer in my life,” he signs off.