The Man JULY'11
Section: Cover story
THE GYPSY KING, UNLEASHED
Sans his heavyweight second name, sans a fear of failure and sans loyalty to anyone but himself and god-honestly good cinema, Anand Chandy thinks Prateik is ready to turn your notions of Indian actors and cinema on its head
Sans his heavyweight second name, sans a fear of failure and sans loyalty to anyone but himself and god-honestly good cinema, Anand Chandy thinks Prateik is ready to turn your notions of Indian actors and cinema on its head
On a moonless night, Prateik walks towards the middle of an empty ground. Outside a studio somewhere in Mumbai, with a couple of stray dogs wrangling for an empty cigarette pack for company, he pauses. Making sure he’s far enough from us, yet close enough to hear him scream, “Yeah!” he quivers and farts. “You shouldn’t hold anything in. What a relief,” he says running back to us. Yes, he’s real. He’s not guarded. He’s afraid, though - that you won’t perceive him as a friend, that you won’t look beyond the makeup and the celluloid mould; beyond everything that he tries to be, just to be different – just to break out of the chains that once bound him.
Just months ago this strapping young lad with washboard abs posed for pictures at the Toronto Film Festival. Flanked by his co-stars from Dhobi Ghat; Aamir Khan, Monica Dogra, a musician with Shair & Func before she became an actress, Kriti Malhotra and director Kiran Rao, he seemed rather out of place. While some vaguely recognised him and others couldn't get over the similarities with his mother, Smita Patil, I can only picture a young, irreverent, cool kid, swinging his legs outside an open window, in his 45-second but iconic debut in Jaane Tu Na...Jaane Na. It was a strong statement that he had arrived and didn’t really give a f**k about what the world deemed cool. It was about keeping it real.
“I just care about acting, man. The only space I’m looking at is good content. I want to try out every role there is on offer if the content is good.” Now on the sets of Gautam Menon’s Prem Katha, a remake of Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya, a Tamil movie, Prateik is jumping around and mouthing the lyrics for the music video in the film. While music videos aren’t a favourite with Gautam or with Prateik, the latter still seems to be having fun with it. Despite the searing sun, he does retakes without complaining, before spotting me in the crowd that’s gathered. Overjoyed that he’s got more than three of his friends on the set, he runs over during the break and puts me in a headlock for laughing throughout his shoot. Unbridled, he’s not one to hold back his emotions.
As we walk to his vanity van to complete the interview we abandoned a week ago, heپfs now pretending to be a Mexican from South Central Los Angeles. Last week he was physically and emotionally strung out thanks to a few questions thrown his way by a television channel, about his absence at events featuring his father and step-brother – his other family. Today, پfChicoپf and پeVatoپf replace his makeup manپfs name. Still full of energy and pacing about, heپfs adamant about sticking to his Spartan diet and decides to skip lunch to do the interview instead. Seated on the floor of the makeup van, he seems at home. For someone who lived vicariously through his parents' screen personas, this is a dream come true for him. پgOf course, I wished my parents on-screen personas was my reality.پh The son of the iconic Smita Patil and Raj Babbar, he grew up without them. Living with his motherپfs family, he never knew his beautiful mother, who passed away soon after he was born.
He didn't really see much of his father, who left him with his motherپfs parents, going back to live with his first wife, Nadira Zaheer and their two children. پgI am closer to my motherپfs side of the family. Theyپfre extremely sweet and would probably have a nice thing to say even if I made the crappiest films. Iپfm a lot closer to my parentپfs on-screen personas. I didn't know my mother and my dad is busier than ever with his political career now. I barely see him. But thatپfs true of anyone whose parents are in the industry. Itپfs nothing special, man.پh Itپfs not that this reality is insignificant to him. Aware of who he is and his lineage, heپfs dropped his second name and stays away from Aryaپfs and Juhiپfs massively sold premiere nights. Itپfs the only way he can break away and define who Prateik is sans the drama, excess baggage left behind, the پeoddپf comparison here and there – itپfs the only way he wonپft be confined to a space where he wasn't. Itپfs the only way he can be his own man.
Soft-spoken and briefly polite, he becomes boisterous and not-so-politically-correct when he gets comfortable, and he loves being the centre of attention. Itپfs not a self-defence mechanism; he isnپft a schmuck who dwells on his past for sympathy – itپfs what comes naturally to him considering where heپfs coming from. Fiercely protected by his aunts and grandmother, itپfs only in the past few years that this 24-year-old started watching his motherپfs films and those which starred both his parents in lead roles. Itپfs a deeply emotional process for him evidently – his voice softens and his eyes well up a bit when he talks about it. Itپfs a process though, that heپfs grown to love as a part of who he is.
Spending most of his life more like a ghost that the media occasionally whispered about, he was kept out of the limelight. He admits, پgI had an outsiderپfs perspective of the industry. I saw its ups and downs. I know what it takes to be here. Itپfs cool. Itپfs a lot of fun, now that Iپfm here.پh Growing up alone, thereپfs a part of him thatپfs proud of where heپfs from – his roots. پgBANDRA!پh the scream of solidarity to a certain suburb in Mumbai has the crowd outside briefly turn away from the skinny models chilling on the set. Theyپfre now staring at the black vanity van housing Bollywoodپfs next big thing. پgItپfs all good, Iپfm doing an interview. Donپft judge me,پh he jokes with an assistant who's come in to check on us.
Living in an apartment in the suburb, Prateik spends most of his watching his favourite sport, cricket. Like most of India’s youth, he grew up idolising Sachin, Sourav, Azhar, Dravid and the rest of the gang. “I wanted to be all of them. Sometimes I was Srinath, at others I was Venkatesh Prasad. I love the team now but I’m old school. I’m an all-rounder.” An avid cricketer, he claims to have started out like Harbhajan Singh playing the odd but useful cameo in every match he played. Winning – that’s all that mattered to him. It’s that eagerness to win that drives him in cinema, as well. It’s that eagerness to see his team win that had him locked up in his house alone on April 2, when India won the World Cup. It’s that eagerness, which made him cry when they did. “I captained the team in school and college occasionally. I didn’t try for the Mumbai team. Who knows? If I had, I may have been playing for the national team now.”
But he always knew he wanted to be an actor, one of substance who would make a name for himself, just as his mother did, and do her proud. He’s not far off the mark with his role in Dhobi Ghat that made you think about living life beyond the insecurities of the social divide, in a metro like Mumbai. In Dum Maro Dum, as the sporty youngster driven to drug dealing to support his dreams, he was beyond the clichés of the given role. Then there’s the upcoming Aarakshan, which touches on the sensitive case of reservations in India. For most, Prateik’s dream run in Bollywood and his being cast alongside the big guns like Aamir Khan, Abhishek and Amitabh Bachchan and Saif Ali Khan is like a slap in the face. His starring role in Prem Katha is a shot in the gut. “I decided to be an actor after people liked me in Jaane Tu. I used to clean the lady’s room in Prahlad’s studio before that. It happens to those who really weren’t interested in the work. He made me audition for the part and I got it. I signed two films after that.”
But he always knew he wanted to be an actor, one of substance who would make a name for himself, just as his mother did, and do her proud. He’s not far off the mark with his role in Dhobi Ghat that made you think about living life beyond the insecurities of the social divide, in a metro like Mumbai. In Dum Maro Dum, as the sporty youngster driven to drug dealing to support his dreams, he was beyond the clichés of the given role. Then there’s the upcoming Aarakshan, which touches on the sensitive case of reservations in India. For most, Prateik’s dream run in Bollywood and his being cast alongside the big guns like Aamir Khan, Abhishek and Amitabh Bachchan and Saif Ali Khan is like a slap in the face. His starring role in Prem Katha is a shot in the gut. “I decided to be an actor after people liked me in Jaane Tu. I used to clean the lady’s room in Prahlad’s studio before that. It happens to those who really weren’t interested in the work. He made me audition for the part and I got it. I signed two films after that.”
How on earth did a guy cleaning loos in Prahlad Kakkar’s studio, aimless and fresh out of rehab, not gifted with the standard Bollywood Greek-god looks make it this far, this fast? The dark horse, he doesn’t dwell on these questions. His only focus is to live beyond whatever legacy people claimed he had, to break free of all the clichés and to live with his demons – to live the dream he’s in now.
“People think I’m shy. I’m not shy, man. I guess being an actor gets you in touch with your deepest emotions – like, you know they were there, but you never really tapped them. I like living with the knowledge these emotions exist. I like living with my darker side.” Everyone’s got one, but he’s learning to live with his. He’s using it to rise above everything else. It’s not about the money right now nor the women. It’s about discovering his capabilities as an actor. Barely out of the shadows of his past, Prateik prefers to be naughty and entertaining instead of depressed and angry at what he never got to enjoy as a child. At 5.7”, his impishness is positively hilarious. Hugely possessive, he keeps his friends close. And they love him for it. To them he’s like the little brother, the best friend and confidante – someone they can’t live without. They know what he’s been through and how hard he’s worked to reinvent himself once he made it to Bollywood.
Not one to waste time on being linked with Bollywood starlets, he prefers to laze around watching movies when he has the time – a commodity he ran out of thanks to his three releases this year. پgLove hits you. Iپfll find her when I do.پh He takes his mind off of the stress, the media on his tail to get a quote actually indicating some sort of resentment towards his father and off the comparisons people draw between him and his mother, by listening to his favourite Guns N Roses songs. پgMaybe I watch my idols a little too closely. Some part of them probably translates into who I am.پh A rockstar and a fan of subtle jewellery; like the stuff heپfs wearing; he kind of reminds of a young and upcoming Johnny Depp from back in the day. Thatپfs a huge compliment for him, evidently, as I get hi-fived for saying that.
The fact is that, hefs not here to prove a point to his father or anyone else. Hefs free of all of that. Hefs free because hefs pragmatic. He lives life one day at a time now. Therefs a knock on the door and Prateik needs to head back to finish the rest of his shoot.
Bollywoodfs next big thing, hefs the real deal. Hefs here to do what he loves and finish what his mother started. Hefs here to make you believe that dreams can come true even in the darkest adversity. Hefs made a believer out of me.
Photos: Rohan Shrestha
Styling: Kayaan Contractor
Hair & Makeup: Raju Powar
Styling: Kayaan Contractor
Hair & Makeup: Raju Powar
Ends
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