Pratik Gandhi reveals he walked away from Rs 25 lakh salary to focus on acting career: ‘Had taken Rs 60 lakh loan’

Actor Pratik Gandhi became a household name after his starring role in the SonyLIV series Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story. But he wasn’t an overnight success, despite what it may seem like. Pratik spent years on the theatre circuit, and got his first break in Gujarati cinema when he still had a corporate job.
In an appearance on Mashable India’s Bombay Journey show, the actor recalled how he’d find time to attend conference calls and prepare presentations while filming Bey Yaar. He’d also taken a leave of 22 days to work on the film, and didn’t quit his day job after it became a hit and he got offered a handful of roles. He said that the job was too important, and his family situation too precarious for him to not have a safety net. And so, he told the producers that if they wanted him in their films, they’d have to wait for two years, because that’s when he’d next get a long leave. “It was a practical problem, I wasn’t going to get leaves immediately, whatever was going to happen would have to wait for two years,” he said.

But Pratik was thriving at his job, he said. “My CTC at the time was Rs 18 lakh per annum. I joined as an assant manager, and precisely every three years I got a promotion. So, when I resigned in 2016, when Wrong Side Raju was about to be released, my CTC was Rs 25 lakh. The film was released in September, and my last day in office was August 26. But I thought, this is it.”
Pratik had a new ba, his wife and father were gravely ill, and had just purchased a new house with a Rs 60 lakh loan. “The journey after that was amazing. I did eight back-to-back Gujarati films, so many plays,” he said.
The actor will next be seen in a ZEE5 film titled Atiti Bhooto Bhava. He is also working on two series, one of which is based on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, with him in the lead role.