Stepping into the shoes of a revolutionary for a biopic can be exhilarating as well as daunting. For Pratik Gandhi, it’s doubly so, as he will be seen essaying two leaders—Mahatma Gandhi in Hansal Mehta’s web series, Gandhi, and Jyotirao Phule in Ananth Mahadevan’s Phule—soon. As he offers a retelling of Gandhi leading India’s freedom fight against the British, and Phule’s anti-caste movement, Pratik highlights that the two social leaders had a similar starting point. “The one thing common between them is that before they did what they did, they were like us. My journey to create these two characters starts when they weren’t Mahatmas. So, I have explored them as humans, with their passion, zest, and that fire from within,” shares the actor.

(From left) Mahatma Phule, and Mahatma Gandhi