‘It’s Cyclic, Not Crisis’: Pratik Gandhi On Bollywood’s Box Office Blues, Breaking Into Mainstream

With the Hindi film industry in a prolonged box office slump, even well-known names are finding work hard to come by. Amid this uncertainty, Scam 1992 star Pratik Gandhi, whose latest film Phule also struggled to pull crowds, sees the downturn as just part of a larger, inevitable cycle.

“Any industry reaches a flashpoint where it needs innovation. Things dip, then evolve, then rise again. It’s a cycle—it keeps happening,” Pratik explains with perspective, refusing to indulge in doomsday narratives.

Instead, he chooses to focus on what’s working. “It’s actually a great time to be an artist. There are so many platforms now. Even a short film can find its audience. Earlier, the problem was: where do you show your work? Now you have options—OTT, YouTube, film festivals. Whether you’re a writer, director or actor, there’s space for everyone,” he says optimistically.

That said, Pratik admits breaking into the mainstream remains the biggest challenge, especially for outsiders. “There’s no roadmap. You don’t know whom to contact, where to go, how to audition. It’s difficult if you don’t belong to the industry or know the right people,” he shares honestly.

Still, he believes in the power of that one breakthrough moment. “You just need to be seen once in something solid—be it an ad, film or web show. After that, people start calling you for auditions. For me, Scam 1992 was that shift. That’s all I was aiming for—just to get into rooms where I could audition. After that, it’s fair game.”