Actor Pratik Gandhi hopes the viewers is open to the ethical dilemma on the centre of his upcoming movie Bhavai as a result of what is correct or improper modifications with time.
Gandhi, who shot to fame following his acclaimed efficiency as infamous stockbroker Harshad Mehta in final 12 months’s hit SonyLIV collection Scam 1992, mentioned info explosion via the Internet provides to the complexities of India as a rustic.
Bhavai is a movie about two individuals who work in a Ram Leela presentation and the way it impacts their private life off stage. Its title initially was Raavan Leela (Bhavai) however was modified to respect the emotions of a piece of viewers.
“It’s very straightforward to color the ideas of individuals within the age of social media. If you’re being bombarded with some lies always, you are likely to consider it’s true. That is what is occurring all internationally.
“There is so much diversity in India in terms of religion, schools of thought, everything… that makes it easier to colour people using these things. The internet is cheap and people have a lot of spare time; it is a big evil that we are fighting. These are such complex times that no one has any answer to this,” the 41-year-old actor informed PTI in a Zoom interview.
In Bhavai, Gandhi performs Rajaram Joshi, a stage artist who essays the position of Raavan in a Ram Leela, the dramatic folks re-enactment of the Ramayana.
Traditionally, a Ram Leela makes use of song-and-dance sequences to showcase the legendary struggle between Good and Evil, symbolised by Lord Ram and Raavan.
The actor mentioned that whereas he isn’t justifying the actions of Raavan that led to his eventual fall, he’s open to viewing the character as gray.
“When Valmiki wrote Ramayana he could have described him as a ”black” character or talked about solely his shortcomings, however he didn’t. When this hasn’t occurred proper from the start, who’re we to assert what is correct and what’s improper? Why was Raavan referred to as a ‘prakaand pandit’ (realized scholar) or a Shiva devotee then? Perhaps he additionally wished the individuals to grasp the greyness and didn’t wish to paint him simply as a demon,” he mentioned.
There are a number of interpretations of the epic Ramayana throughout India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Malaysia, and it’s attention-grabbing how individuals belonging to those completely different international locations have “tweaked the story a lot and believe in their versions,” Gandhi identified.
“Even if I have a look at it as a metaphor, each Ram and Raavan exist in every considered one of us. It’s all about one’s mindset. All the goodness is Ram, all evil is Raavan. But we live in a world which is gray. So there’s a fixed battle between Ram and Raavan that goes on inside us.
“That is a moral dilemma. What is right and what is wrong keeps changing according to time… Having said that, I’m not trying to justify what Raavan did. But what I’m saying is let’s be open to interpretation.”
Hailing from a non secular Gujarati Vaishnav household, Surat-born Gandhi mentioned whereas he has grown up with ‘pooja-paath’ throughout him, he considers himself a “spiritual person”.
“As an engineer and a student of science too I believe that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. If that is the case, then energy is universal,” he added.
Calling Bhavai an “important film of his life”, Gandhi revealed director Hardik Gajjar provided the position to him even earlier than Scam 1992 got here to him. Had it not been for the coronavirus pandemic, the movie would have been launched method again.
Set in opposition to the backdrop of Bhavai, a well-liked folks theatre type from Gujarat, the film marks his first Hindi function movie as a lead.
“I can’t thank Hardik and the team enough for having me as a lead before ‘Scam’ when no one knew what was going to happen. We were going just by the script, the faith in each other,” the actor, who is ready to reunite with Gajjar within the horror comedy Atithi Bhooto Bhava, mentioned.
Another cause he agreed to take up the musical drama function, Gandhi mentioned, was as a result of Bhavai was an ideal mix of his two loves — theatre and cinema.
“I get to carry out on the stage within the movie. Both these mediums are near my coronary heart. Theatre being my old flame, it was a deal with for me to carry out (the position of) Raavan on stage for the movie. So it was a really attention-grabbing journey for me, I had a whole lot of enjoyable.
“People often ask us to comment on the difference between acting on stage and in films. There is a certain change in the personality of the actor when they leave the stage because that’s his real life,” the actor, a identified face in Gujarati theatre and movies, mentioned.
Gandhi mentioned he always wished to boost the bar for himself.
“I want to give the audience a new character every time so that they can think about something different every other time. I’m excited that people want to see more of me. We are in the business of experimentation. What is fun in this line is that you can truly enjoy the process when you experiment without pressure.”
The actor reiterated that the movie doesn’t have something that may damage the non secular sentiments of the general public.
“Please watch the film first and then decide,” he appealed.
Bhavai additionally stars Aindrita Ray, Rajendra Gupta, Rajesh Sharma, and Abhimanyu Singh in pivotal roles and is ready to launch theatrically on October 1.
The movie is introduced by Dr Jayantilal Gada (Pen Studios) and produced by Dhaval Jayantilal Gada, Aksshay Jayantilal Gada, Parth Gajjar, and Hardik Gajjar movies in affiliation with Backbencher Pictures.
Gandhi will subsequent be seen within the Disney+ Hotstar collection Six Suspects and Dedh Bigha Zameen, a drama function.
