He remembers shooting for a film in Kutch when he got a call. "Hi, I am Hansal Mehta," said the voice on the other end. By the time the call ended, he understood that things were about to change. But his intuition had not prepared him for the overwhelming love that has come his way since Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story dropped online earlier this month. Pratik Gandhi, who has breathed life into the part of Harshad Mehta in the SonyLIV series, exclaims that his phone has been ringing off the hook.

"Many people, who have seen me for the first time, might think I became a star overnight. But truth is, I have been around for 15 to 16 years," says Gandhi. "The biggest difference is that now, makers have started considering me for the lead role in mainstream Bollywood films and web shows. I have received calls where directors said, 'I had written the script with someone else in mind, but after watching this show, I think nobody will suit the role better than you.'"