After playing against type and scoring a hit with Madgaon Express, Pratik Gandhi plays a man caught in a bizarre situationship (estranged from his wife, he falls in love with another woman only to fall back in love with his wife) in Do Aur Do Pyaar, releasing in cinemas today. Directed by debutant Calcutta girl Shirsha Guha Thakurta, the film boasts an eclectic cast comprising Vidya Balan, Ileana D’Cruz and Sendhil Ramamurthy. A t2 chat with Pratik, who shot into the national spotlight as Harshad Mehta in Scam 1992.

First Madgaon Express and now Do Aur Do Pyaar... you are on a roll! What drew you to this film which is unlike anything we have seen you do in the Hindi space before?

What drew me to it is what the audience is saying after watching the trailer. That it is different and fresh. It is always nice to watch a romcom, something which is easy to watch. In Do Aur Do Pyaar, there are no spies, no bomb blasts, no guns being fired, there is no major drama.

This film is about today’s situationship. Globally, there is a lot of excitement about this genre. As a country, we are suckers for romance and comedy. Romantic comedy is a genre that won’t go out of existence even in the next 500 years.

And the more complicated it is, the more relatable it is...

Yes, I have seen such things happening to people. A friend of mine is married but has fallen in love with someone else. I told him that he should at least let the family know. His reply was: ‘I am very confused who I should tell... the wife or the girlfriend’. When I was given the same line to deliver in the film, I couldn’t help laughing.

If I hadn’t experienced this situation through my friend, then I would have actually said that this is such a filmy line! If you have fallen out of love with somebody and fallen in love with somebody, you should be clear in your mind. It is a situation pretty close to the real lives of many people.

It could happen to anybody. The thing is that in such a situation, in general, no one is the villain... there is nothing like one is right and the other one is wrong. It is just the circumstances that all the players are victims of. In this film, you will sympathise with all the characters and their situations.

What spoke to you the most about the film?

The story itself is very intriguing. It’s not that we have not seen romcoms, but the situation in this film is fresh and unique. I like how the writing unspools the various layers of the characters.

I have done a couple of romcoms in Gujarati, but in mainstream Hindi, this is my first experience with the genre. Vidya Balan and Ileana D’Cruz are such accomplished actors. The film is the directorial debut of Shirsha Guha Thakurta. This story being told from a female director’s perspective is unique and for me, it was very interesting to explore that world. Ani is a non-confrontational kind of guy. He keeps delaying stuff and dodging tricky situations till the time it reaches its tipping point.

Both you and Vidya are very spontaneous actors. Did you have fun playing off each other?

Yes. That made it easier for the two of us. It was almost a star-struck moment when I was told that I would be working with her, and even more so when I was informed that we would be playing husband and wife.

Vidya and I had to look like a couple who have been married for the last 10-12 years. That kind of physical comfort had to be created. That can only happen with easy and seasoned actors like Vidya. There are some casual touches between the two characters and Vidya made me so comfortable. In many scenes, the physical chemistry between us had to be conveyed even without touching each other. We had to have that kind of familiarity and comfort. Only that kind of chemistry, if both the actors can build on it with each other, translates to the audience.

And we all know what Vidya is like — always happy-go-lucky, always laughing. That made things easy for me.

Her laughter is very infectious!

Oh, my God, yes! It was sometimes very difficult in a scene to not laugh when she would laugh!

Your character Ani is Bengali. Do you speak any Bangla in the film?

Just a couple of lines. Shirsha is from Bengal. Vidya knows Bengali very well. There were also a lot of Bengali crew in this film. The writer Suprotim (Sengupta) is also Bengali.

I asked the makers if they wanted me to pick up the language.
But they said that I didn’t have to get deep into it because Ani is Bengali but he has stayed in Mumbai for the longest time. He studied in Ooty. So that way, there is no heavy Bengali accent. But whenever he spoke Bengali, it had to be clear. There were only a couple of lines and references that I had to pick up.

With Madgaon Express, have you been able to shed the serious image you acquired as Harshad Mehta in Scam 1992?

To be able to do these kinds of light roles is very liberating. I am glad that the audience has accepted me in Madgaon Express. It is a little difficult for an actor like me who suddenly came into the limelight with a serious and intense role like that of Harshad Mehta to be accepted as somebody else.

People still have a fresh memory of Scam 1992. Even today, every social media post I put up will have comments about that series. People write in dialogues of Scam and a huge set of the audience calls me Harshad Mehta even now! (laughs)!

From that to get into Pinku’s character in Madgaon Express and getting appreciated for it is very satisfying and liberating. The audience is ready to see me in different characters and I am very happy about that.

In Do Aur Do Pyaar, they will see a different side of me and I am hoping to surprise the audience because the character, the world, the mannerisms are all different.

Did you enjoy letting go and doing comedy in Madgaon Express?

It was a very freeing experience. The sad thing is that comedy doesn’t get the respect it deserves... I have seen that even in my theatre days. In competitions, only serious plays would get prizes, comedy was never in contention.

Most people think it is easy, it is frivolous, that it doesn’t make a statement and it doesn’t change the world. That is the general understanding about comedy. But from an actor’s perspective, comedy is the toughest genre. You have to be 10 times sure before you create a joke and it has to land with a micro-mini second of precision. A little bit here or there and it will fall apart. It needs a lot of practice and experience.

The kind of humour that you will get to see in Do Aur Do Pyaar is brilliant. I have watched it as an audience member and I have laughed my heart out. There is this hilarious scene — which is also there in the trailer — where my character pretends over the phone that he is playing football, but he is actually somewhere else. People have laughed at that segment in the trailer and in the film, with context attached to it, it is even more funny.

What kind of roles are you most eager to play now?

I want to do films which are close to life. I like the fact that I got an age-appropriate role in Do Aur Do Pyaar. I am in my early 40s and the character is also more or less the same age. These days, everybody wants to look good, everybody wants to look young, everybody wants to tell stories for youngsters. Forty is not old but people in their 40s are still playing 20-year-olds. When I did my first play in the eighth standard, I played an 83-year-old Dadaji! That is how I started my journey.