Creating a niche with his hard work and love for the arts, actor Pratik Sehajpal made his way to starring alongside Tamannaah Bhatia in the recent web series Aakhri Sach. The actor gets candid about his formative days, playing a cameo, and more.
Tejal Sinha
When we talk of success and hard work, Brazilian soccer player Pele once very well said, “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” Well, when we look at Pratik Sehajpal’s journey, nothing else could better describe it. Shifting into a completely different city with no resources, no contacts, and, in fact, no place to stay, he had no less of a struggle to reach where he is today. There was also a time in his childhood when he was bullied due to his appearance. But look at him today! A fitness icon, indeed. From rising to fame from MTV Love School to being one of the controversial contestants of the most controversial show Bigg Boss OTT, and then Bigg Boss season 15, today he has recently made a strong appearance, though a cameo, with the recently released Tamannaah Bhatia starrer Aakhri Sach. While we connected with the budding actor over a quick telephone call, one thing that we realised was that, to date, the man has been a strong believer in ‘Pure hard work’.
He shared, “To me, hard work is something that beats everything. If you are dedicated and have a strong belief in yourself, in your heart, that is what is going to take you places, and that is what I’m trying to do: work hard every day, and at no point in my life or in my career have I ever felt that ‘ab toh maine sab kuch kardiya, abb main mehnat nahi karunga, abb toh chill karke jee sakte hai’. Every day I wake up, I just think of what I can work hard for. I just want to work hard, and I feel that I’m working hard. It’s God who’s got me here.”
For Bigg Boss fame, the project was no less than a chance to grow. While the producers, Preeti Simoes and Neeti Simoes, had approached him for the character, he said, “For me, to play the character was more important than the budget or anything else. I was pretty keen to play the character, standing alongside Tamannaah. I genuinely wanted to do it because it would help me grow and be something that would help me in my career. When Preeti and Neeti spoke of it, we did not even discuss the budget. So yeah, I was just focusing on how I could prepare myself for the character.”
While the series initially begins by showing some slight visuals based on the nerve-wrenching Burari case, a determined police officer named Anya (played by Tamannah Bhatia) is introduced. We also see Pratik in the same scene, where initially one would think of him as just a playboy hitting on Anya, but his character is a gangster. While he tries to hit on Anya, she catches him red-handed for his illegal activities and gets him arrested.
Speaking of his camaraderie with the Chand Sa Roshan Chehra actress, he shared, “It has been great. She’s so sweet and nice, a very good artist, and friendly. I never once felt like I was standing opposite Tamannaah. As artists, we were both standing on the same platform and very comfortable to talk to, and I’m sure she felt the same way with me. We were working as artists and professionals, and it just felt great.” The moment an actor gets to know their character, the next thing for them is to get into the skin of the character, which can definitely not be a cakewalk. And so for the MTV Ace of Space
fame, the moment he got the script, he was constantly engrossed in it to understand the entire scene and what it was going to be like. “Once I got to know and understand the things, I started working on my body language and how I was going to be like a gangster. I feel that’s the best thing when you get to work on yourself and the character; you become the character, and there’s a lot of fun during that process,” shares Pratik, who feels that though Aakhri Sach has been clearly inspired by an on-and-on incident, everything that we do, be it a film, a web-show, or a TV show, somewhere or the other is inspired by real-life.
Pratik, a renowned artist, has grown in fame post-Bigg Boss and is now more dedicated to being the best. He believes that believing in oneself and working hard will lead to success. He believes that it is not his job to choose a project, but rather to show and shape his art. He believes that as an artist, it is his responsibility to do whatever comes his way, regardless of the extreme nature of the task. Pratik, who would really enjoy doing any of the characters or genres, would love to do a psycho-thriller film or a web show, but feels that sometimes the screen space does affect him. But he says, “For instance, in Aakhri Sach, it’s a cameo, so I’ll know how much screen space I’ll be getting, and in a way, I’m growing. And if in another show they say I am a lead and I don’t get that required screen space, it’ll make me feel bad. I feel that if I’m working hard, I need to get that ‘mehnat ka phal’. Everyone who deserves it should get the right screen space.”
Having proven his mettle time and again, Pratik is surely on the path to more success. And yes, with immense hard work!
