Treading a new path

Prateik Babbar, who garnered accolades for his role in Kiran Rao’s Hindi film, ‘Dhobi Ghat’, is all set to perform in the play ‘Six’ in Hyderabad as part of Qadir Ali Baig’s ‘Theatre Weekend’.

Prateik won the hearts of people, in the all-time favourite movie ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’ – his debut film, and went on to give some stellar performances with his unconventional acting. After a brief hiatus from films, Prateik, joined theatre under the tutelage of Jeff Goldberg and has been acting in plays since then.

Speaking about the play he says, “‘Six’ tells the story of two lovers a former IPL cricket star and the wealthy owner of an IPL team. The gay lovers have not seen each other in a year, but are thrust together once again after one is brutally attacked.”

“My role is of Siddhanth, who is a multi-billionaire and also the owner of the Mumbai Indians team. He is a homosexual, and the ex-lover is played by Suhail, who is a cricketer, who hails from a middle-class family and is a very good looking guy.

Last year I was playing the other character (cricketer), but for Hyderabad show, I will be portraying the role of Siddhanth. We did the role reversal as we wanted to play around and wanted to do something different; we wanted to break the monotony,” he adds.

Prateik did a nine-month method acting programme with his acting coach Jeff Goldberg, who directed and penned the play. About playing a homosexual role, “It is not about how people will perceive me or what people will think. I don’t care what people think about me. I care about how I play my character. I care about my commitment towards my character.”

Prateik says that theatre has helped a lot in his craft and has improved him as an artiste. “I think every actor should do theatre. It is a beautiful world. If somebody is not doing it then they are surely missing something.”

“This is my first time in Hyderabad and I hope people appreciate the play and performances. It is a sensitive subject and I hope that audience takes it in a positive and encouraging way.

It is very high on emotion and the play ends with a message, which is world like this exists, and it is normal and we want people to get familiar with it. We staged the play in Mumbai and the audience were very supportive and we are expecting the same in Hyderabad,” he concludes.