‘I first saw him perform at Madison Square Garden’

India Post News Service

This young actor who has previously impressed in hit films like Neerja and Issaq, and recently cast in a Hollywood film called A New Christmas, was born and raised in New York. Circa 1988, he recalls his first concert experience wherein he walked into a stadium full of screaming fans to watch his idol Mithun Chakraborty perform to his chartbusters. It was around the time Disco Dancer and a stream of his releases had become hits and he had become a dancing sensation.

“Mithunda became a superstar with Disco Dancer, and I the six-year -old went to see him perform live at Madison Square Garden in New York, the same place where Michael Jackson had performed a few weeks earlier,” Prashantt recalled.

“I walked into a stadium of 20,000 people and he was dancing to ‘Krishna Dharti Pe Aaja Tu’. I didn’t know then that 30 years later the moment would still be vivid in my head, and I would do a movie with him,” he said.

When asked about the experience, Prashantt reflects that working with ‘Dada’ (as everyone fondly calls him) was great fun and deep learning. About the icon he says, “He treated me with so much affection, never once made me feel like a new kid or nobody.”

The conversations included politics, an area the senior actor is passionate about, as opposed to Prashantt who claimed ignorance in this regard. Beyond that, they spoke about the struggles of Mumbai and family. Prashantt proudly remembers the first day of the shoot when after a particular scene, the legend came up to him and showered praise in front of everyone.

“That moment especially felt good because I got it all wrong the first time around,” Prashantt says laughing.

The Tashkent Files is a present-day political investigation into the mysterious death of India’s second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. The stellar cast features stalwarts like Mithun Chakbraborty, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Tripathi, Mandira Bedi, Pallavi Joshi, Shweta Basu Prasad, and the film is directed by Vivek Agnihotri who himself is a very prominent political speaker, author and filmmaker. 

Apart from this, Prashantt will soon be seen in two shorts films, A Bit of a Loner and Girl in Amber, and is currently shooting a feature in the Jammu, India.