“Regional Is The Next Global”, Pratik Gandhi

Many  fan clubs  of Pratik Gandhi  have wondered why he  has  chosen  to do a  Gujarati webseries Vitthal Teedi after the  global success  of his  Hindi series Scam 1992-The Harshad Mehta  Story

  Explains  Pratik, “The walls  between mainstream-regional,  national-international are gone. The  audience  is  not willing to accept  anything sub-standard. Audiences  today  are watching the  best of content  from the worldover  . There is the  same  audience  for  shows in all languages now, so  just because your show is in  Gujarati  it doesn’t mean  you can get away with  sub-standard  quality.  Vitthal Teedi is  not a poor cousin of Harshad Mehta.”

Pratik  who has been an integral part  of Gujarati theatre and cinema  for years before Scam says  Audiences won’t tolerate tackiness, no matter what the language. “This is  a big change,  Content makers are aware  that the audience is the same everywhere. There are  no  language  barriers. We are watching Spanish shows here. They are probably watching Gujarati content  in Spain.I feel regional content has always been very fresh-flavoured, There is such  a rich literary heritage to  choose from in  Bengal, Gujarat,  Kerala and everywhere.”

 Pratik is  all praise of  regional  content.  “These regional  films and shows are  rooted to  their ethnic soil .They are  original   and they will always be  ahead  in content when  compared  with mainstream  cinema and shows. Mainstream  content is guided by formulistic guidelines. Regional content is  liberated  of formula. There are  no stars  and stardom in regional  cinema. Content is  king in regional  storytelling. That’s why I feel regional is  the  next global.”