Prateik Babbar

Film debut ( 2008) Prateik Babbar had a dream like debut through Aamir Khan production bankrolled romcom Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na which saw him pairing with Imran Khan and Genelia D’Souza who played the main lead. The typical Bollywood cheesy romance which narrated the story of two friends who go through much trouble only to realize their love for each other , saw him playing the annoying often attention seeking brother of the heroine. His performance was rated highly and cited as awe inspiringly brilliant for a debutant and he was convincing in his character portrayal to great lengths with him being considered for the Best Male Debut and Best Supporting Actor nominations in that year’s Filmfare Awards. He had racy take off with the movie going on to be a major commercial and critical success. Return after a break ( 2011-2012) Prateik had a three year break after his first movie and he returned to Bollywood in the year 2011 with Kiran Rao’s indie emotional drama film Dhobi Ghaat which featured him in the lead along with Monica Dogra, Kriti Malhotra and Aamir Khan in an extended role. The movie had him as a washer man who aspires to make it big in Bollywood amidst an interwoven tale of other city characters going through major dark relationship and personal revelations. The movie which was side-lined with the hash tag of being an art-house parallel cinema production garnered much critical acclaim at the time with many prestigious awards and screenings. Dhobi Ghaat too panned out to be standout performance for Babbar with more subtle traits. The same year in 2011 he appeared in Rohan Sippy’s crime thriller flick Dum Maaro Dum where he shared screen with Abhishek Bachchan, Rana Daggubati and Bipasha Basu in the lead. Babbar’s interpretation of the student who gets embroiled in a series of illicit activities had nothing much for the actor in him to deliver. Adding insult to injury the movie was a major commercial let down with mostly mixed reviews. Prateik Babbar had a dull phase in his career and was much in need to break away with some commercial success at the time with back to back low fair to his name. However he carried on his elusiveness to commercial success with movies like Prakash Jha’s mediocre hit ensemble political drama flick Aarakshan with actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Saif Ali Khan in the fore front which dealt with themes of cons of caste reservations in various government institutions of our country and then came Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s home productions My Friend Pinto helmed by Raaghav Dar and had him pairing with Kalki Koechlin for the first time as lead pair which too failed. Both these movies could not bring an end to his dismal run. Prateik was then called upon by famous Tamil filmmaker Gautham Menon for the Hindi remake romantic drama Ekk Deewana Tha opposite his girlfriend to be Amy Jackson in the year 2011. The movie had him playing a North Indian Hindu assistant director who falls in love with a Malayali Christian girl, only to have a whirl of relationship conflict coming their way. The movie too concluded on a sour note but much positive word of mouth was bestowed on Babbar for his portrayal of the emotional nuances of the hero in love. Other films ( 2013- 2016) Issaq AuroniTaukhon Umrika Shockers.