It was a moment of reflection and revelation as actor Pratik Gandhi took the stage at FICCI Frames 2025 on Day 2 of the event. In a candid conversation, he opened up about the transformative impact of Scam 1992 on his life—both professionally and personally.
“Initially, the years right after Scam were incredibly exciting,” he began. “Suddenly, when people saw me especially the wider audience and even filmmakers there was a visible change. The biggest shift was that I started seeing trust in their eyes. Earlier, there was always a question mark. Now, they were sure.”
That sense of certainty altered the trajectory of his career. Filmmakers began to imagine him in roles far beyond the serious stockbroker persona that made him a household name. “They could now see me in different characters. They were confident enough to mount entire projects with me. That changed a lot of things.”
For the first time, Gandhi found himself in a place many actors only dream of: having the luxury to choose. “I was finally in a position where I could select and reject scripts. That’s a huge shift for any actor to go from being one of many to being the first choice. It’s something we all aspire to.”
But with success came a new, quieter challenge: the fear of losing it. “Right after success, you often feel this fear creeping in—the fear of not being able to repeat it, the fear of failure. It can actually hold you back from trying something new,” he admitted. “But I’ve tried to resist that fear.”
Breaking out of the intense, dramatic mold he was first cast into wasn't easy. “No one had seen me in a comic role before. But then Kunal (Khemu) saw Scam and offered me Madgaon Express. That changed people’s perception. Suddenly, they saw I could do comedy too.”
This opened the door to roles he had long dreamed of but didn’t know how to reach. “Like Madgaon, I got Dhoom Dhaam, a rom-com with some action and humor. Then came Do Aur Do Pyaar with Vidya Balan—a full-on romantic comedy. These were the kinds of stories I had always wanted to explore. But earlier, I didn’t even know whom to approach.”
Gandhi’s journey, post-Scam, is not just a story of stardom but of creative liberation. “Now, with these stories coming to me, I realise people are finally seeing me differently,” he said with a quiet sense of satisfaction.
As the audience at FICCI Frames listened intently, Gandhi’s words offered more than just an insight into one actor’s rise—they echoed the hopes of many artists waiting for that one breakthrough to change everything.
And for Pratik Gandhi, Scam 1992 was exactly that.