Actor Pratik Gandhi joined us for a fun chat as part of NewsX India A-List series. In the exclusive interview, Pratik opened up about his latest audio series Gangistan on Spotify, what made him come on-board and how the recording was different from other audio series. Read excerpts:
Speaking about what convinced him to do Spotify’s new podcast Gangistan, Pratik said, “I am always fascinated towards different formats and genres as far as performances are concerned and audio is one of them. I had never done any audio series before this. Gangistan is my first audio series and I was really looking forward to it. I was very excited because before that, I had some bit of work in audio field in radio. It was long back and that is it. Playing something through your voice, creating nuances, creating characters, creating those emotions and get the audience in the world of Gangistan, it was very pleasant challenge that I always wanted to put myself to. It is going to be an experience for a lifetime.”
Giving us an insight into the series and what is it all about, Pratik said, “Gangistan is a fictional show about Mumbai’s underworld gang war that started from 1960s till late 1990s. We are talking about 3 different timelines in the series. 2021 is where I, as a central narrator, break the fourth wall and talk to the audience. The entire gang war that started in Bombay from 1960s till late 90s is what we are taking them through. There are lots and lots of layers to it. How it all started, who all were involved; there are emotions, there are love stories and there are inter-personal relationships, there are layered human beings, so it has all those ingredients, which can make a full-fledged film or a web series.”
When asked if the experience of doing theatre come in handy in voice modulation, he responded, “Absolutely. That is the biggest excitement and the challenge for the audio world. As an actor, voice modulation is a part of our craft. It is what we have to do every time when we are in front of camera or on stage but when you are not going to be seen and only going to be heard, it becomes all the more important and challenging because only while listening to this entire discussion and conversation, I have to transport the audience from their own current world to the world of Gangistan. That requires a lot of research on the part of writing also. A lot of nuances that we as actors have to bring to the character too.
Further sharing how the recording of Gangistan was different from other audio series, Pratik revealed, “Interestingly, how we have recorded it is a very unique style. We have not just recorded it by standing or sitting behind the mic. We have literally performed the scenes and that’s how we recorded it. Almost like a stage play. We have performed all the scenes there in the recording room and that’s how we recorded it.”