Prateik Babbar is among the popular actors in Bollywood, who made his acting debut in 2008 with Imran Khan and Genelia Deshmukh starrer Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. His role as Aditi’s brother, Amit, carved a special place in the hearts of fans. The actor is celebrating his 38th birthday today, on November 28. On this special occasion, let’s revisit the time when he admitted to doing the beloved film only for money.
In an interview with Bollywood Hungama last year, Prateik Babbar talked about his initial mindset of being on the set of his debut film, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. He recalled landing on the sets absolutely unprepared and that his motivation derived solely from money.
“I had no idea what I was doing in the film! I was absolutely unprepared. I wasn’t worried about getting into a character, who my co-star is, kaun bada actor hai, kaun chota actor hai etc. Mujhe paiso se matlab tha. Mujhe Rs. 50,000 as acting fees milne waali thi and main woh paise apne doston ke saath udaane waala tha (Who big or small actor. I was supposed to get Rs. 50,000 and I was interested in that which I was to blow up with my friends). That was my only motivation to do the film (laughs)!,” he had admitted.
He further expressed gratitude towards the film director, Abbas Tyrewala, for his patience and genius that he was able to extract performance from him. He remembered that the director didn’t direct him much, made him comfortable, and let him do his thing. The Sikandar actor candidly shared that he would tell the director that he hasn’t gone through the lines, and he would reply, ‘Theek hai. Abhi lines padh le (okay, read the lines now)’.
Interestingly, Pratik’s lineage as the son of Raj Babbar and Smita Patel did not contribute to his casting for the film either. The birthday boy revealed that it was only three weeks before the film’s release during a party that co-producer Aamir Khan discovered about his parents and “made a big deal about it.”
Impressed by his acting, Aamir Khan’s ex-wife, Kiran Rao who had seen him during the premiere asked him to audition for Dhobi Ghat, which became his second film.
