Pratik Gandhi’s Great Year

This was a great year for Pratik Gandhi. He says he got roles that let him experiment. He was in Madgaon Express, where he played one of a goofball trio; Do Aur Do Pyaar, as Vidya Balan’s soon to be ex-husband; and Agni, where he was a firefighter. Having studied engineering, he knows the state of infrastructure in the country. “There is so much being built in Mumbai that is changing its face. Everything has been uprooted. I go outside, and no one looks happy,” he says. Playing a firefighter has given him new respect for the community. “Their uniform weighs about 10-12kg, and their toolbox has so many instruments that are needed,” he adds. As he worked in an infrastructure company, he is careful about safety. “I bought a house recently and wherever I looked there were no fire safety provisions. India is the only country where we fine people for their own safety on the roads,” he says. Next year Gandhi will play a young Mahatma Gandhi in Hansal Mehta’s adaptation of Ramachandra Guha’s book. He will also play a spy in the upcoming ‘For Your Eyes Only’, and star in a movie on Jyotirao Phule.

Richa Chadha’s Mommy Time

She is in the midst of feeding her baby but Richa Chadha still completes a Zoom conversation about her other baby, Girls Will Be Girls, a Sundance Film Festival hit that she produced. The film is about mothers and daughters and lonely women. Directed by Shuchi Talati, the film is set in a boarding school. Chadha feels Talati treats all her characters with compassion, even the young man who disrupts the peace in the home of the mother (Kani Kusruti), and her daughter (Preeti Panigrahi). Chadha had a great year, playing Lajjo in Netflix’s Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, who annihilates herself for love. “I’ve got so much love for the character. I think people are not used to me playing a soft character because I get accused of playing only powerful women,” says Chadha, who has won acclaim for playing strong women. “It made us understand our mothers better,” she adds. The gaze of the film has tenderness and dignity for the young mother and daughter. Says Chadha, “When I looked at the women in the past, the gaze was never male, even when the woman was dancing with abandon, whether she was Waheeda Rehman or Helen. But now the male gaze is everywhere.”

Soni in Dalgliesh

She is a fan of the show Dalgliesh, based on PD James’ detective novels, so it’s fair that she got a major part in Season 3. Soni Razdan plays Mrs Mehta, a troubled matriarch in 1970s England. Mrs Mehta goes head-to-head with Adam Dalgliesh when he comes to her mansion to investigate her maid’s murder. These episodes were directed by the show’s star Bertie Carvel. Says Razdan, “He’s great, inspiring. Being an actor, he understands actors very well. And it’s great to watch him perform because he’s got an incisive, understated, but clear gaze when he performs this character.”

Faasil’s Pushpa Call

Why would Fahadh Faasil, one of India’s best actors, agree to play a caricature in Pushpa 2: The Rule, after having experienced the exact nature of the work in Pushpa? One explanation is professionalism. Having played the ridiculous IPS officer Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat in the first part, perhaps he had to continue in the second. Perhaps Faasil thought the film would give him national recognition, which it does, given his multilingual skills, which he displays in the brilliant Aavesham as well.

Sharvari Comes of Age

She is the late Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi’s granddaughter but Sharvari has never let it affect her work. She started working as an assistant director when she was 16. Sharvari started shooting for her first job, for the role of Maya Srinivasan in Kabir Khan’s The Forgotten Army: Azaadi ke Liye (2020) for Prime Video. Sharvari played a Zumba instructor in the horror comedy Munjya; was a wannable journalist in the Netflix period drama, Maharaj; and a Dalit boxer in Nikkhil Advani’s Vedaa. She is all set for bigger things with a role in the next movie in the YRF female spy franchise, Alpha, as a spy who is sabse pehle, sabse tez, and sabse veer (first, fastest and fiercest).

BollywoodcinemaFahadh FaasilPratik GandhiRicha ChadhaSoni Razdan