EXCLUSIVE: Hansal Mehta’s show with Pratik Gandhi on Mahatma Gandhi to go on floors in a month

Hansal Mehta and Pratik Gandhi’s collaboration in Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story turned out to be one of the most iconic Hindi web shows. The web series told the life story of the stock market scamster Harshad Mehta. The two also collaborated for the short film Baai in the anthology Modern Love: Mumbai.

Mehta and Gandhi’s next collaboration in the form of a web series on Mohandar Karamchand Gandhi aka Mahatma Gandhi is keenly awaited as it is the first show of the duo after Scam 1992. The web series is adapted from historian Ramachandra Guha’s books ‘Gandhi Before India’ and ‘Gandhi: The Years That Changed The World.’ The show will see Pratik play Gandhi while it will be produced by Applause Entertainment, which had also produced Scam 1992.

In an exclusive chat with Bollywood Hungama, Hansal Mehta revealed that the show is all set to commence shoot soon. “We are very heavily into pre-production. We will be commencing shoot within maximum of a month. We are preparing to begin shooting,” he said.

Interestingly, Pratik has played Gandhi before in Manoj Shah’s Gujarati play Mohan No Masalo. He also starred in the Hindi and English adaptations of the same play. Although Hansal has seen the play, he said that that wasn’t the reason why he cast Pratik to play Gandhi in his show. “Pratik was cast in the show by Applause (Entertainment). I came into the show a month after Pratik was cast. After Pratik was cast and after I came in, we all went together to watch the play,” said the filmmaker.

Hansal pointed out that the play is hugely different from the show they are set out to make, although both are based on Gandhi’s life. “They are two different interpretations,” he said. “One, it is theatre. And it’s an interpretation of his life through a monologue. It’s a one-man act. It’s incredibly well performed. It’s incredible! But what we are doing right now is something far beyond that. It’s a different interpretation and a different medium altogether. We are doing our best to do something that we have never seen before.”

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