India, Aug. 22 -- Be it Harshad Mehta in Scam 1992, Pinku in Madgaon Express, or RAW agent Vishnu in Saare Jahan Se Accha, slowly and steadily, Pratik Gandhi has made the 'man next door' his genre. Playing the everyman comes naturally to the actor. In an exclusive conversation with Hindustan Times, the actor talks about the tag and how he owned it not because of compliments but jibes.

As we point out to me his ability to smoothly portray the common man, Pratik says, "If I think back, in my initial days of giving auditions, this is the most common comment I used to get. So, I thought if that's the case, then let me just use it to my advantage."

As we probe him on the kind of comments he would get from directors and casting agents some tw...