From reality television to fiction, Pratik Sehajpal is exploring a new dimension of his acting journey with The Lift. In this conversation, the actor opens up about what drew him to Ishika Shahi’s series, the directors who have shaped his performances, and the personal significance of working with a production house he grew up watching.

For Pratik Sehajpal, choosing a project is not simply about the platform it arrives on or the visibility it promises. Sometimes, it comes down to a more fundamental question: does the story offer something different?

With The Lift, his latest project produced by Ishika Shahi and presented by Directors Kut Production on YouTube, the answer was clear. Playing Ridday gives Pratik an opportunity to step into a narrative that moves away from the familiar territory of conventional romance and explores a different kind of storytelling.

“The content of this show is very different from what we usually do. This content is very different from the love stories that we usually do and other things that we do. I think that’s what really made me feel that I should do this,” he says.

It is a distinction that matters to an actor continuing to expand his repertoire. Having built public recognition through reality television, Pratik’s journey into scripted entertainment is also about finding characters and narratives that allow him to move beyond what audiences may already associate with him. For him, The Lift presented precisely that opportunity.

A Full-Circle Moment

While the show’s premise caught his attention, the people behind it gave the experience a more personal dimension.

Pratik describes being associated with the production team as a privilege, expressing his admiration for the established personalities involved in the project. But the significance of this collaboration goes beyond professional recognition. It brings him back to his childhood in Delhi, when television was a familiar part of life at home.

“I remember my days in Delhi. My mother used to watch shows associated with the production house, including Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai. When I was in Delhi, my mother used to watch their show. She was a big fan of shows like that,” he recalls.

The memory makes his present-day association with the team feel almost surreal.

“From sitting in Delhi and watching television with my mother to now working with them, tell me, how big a thing is that?”

For Pratik, the moment captures the distance between the aspirations of an earlier chapter of his life and the opportunities he is experiencing today. The people and productions that once belonged to his family’s television routine have now become part of his own professional story.

The Directors Who Changed His Perspective on Acting

Pratik is equally candid about the role directors have played in shaping his performances. Rather than viewing acting as an achievement made in isolation, he credits the people behind the camera with helping him discover possibilities he may not have recognised on his own.

“The directors I’ve worked with have helped me find performances I might not have found myself,” he says.

It is an unusually self-aware reflection from an actor whose career has unfolded across different formats. His comments point to the collaborative nature of performance: a character is not shaped by an actor alone, but also by the director’s interpretation, guidance and ability to draw something unexpected out of a scene.

Pratik is quick to give that credit to the directors he has worked with.

“I don’t know if I am a good actor or not. But my directors have been so good and they are so good that they have made people feel that I am a good actor,” he says.

He adds that he feels fortunate to have worked with directors who trusted him with performances that allowed him to explore different sides of himself.

“I’m very lucky. I’ve had such good directors who’ve made me do such performances,” he says.

There is humility in the admission, but also an understanding of what makes an acting journey evolve. Growth often comes from being placed in unfamiliar situations, receiving the right guidance and being trusted to take creative risks.

Why The Lift Matters to His Journey

With Ridday, Pratik continues to explore fiction in a landscape where digital platforms are creating room for stories beyond traditional television formats. For an actor, that shift can mean access to different narratives, new audiences and characters that challenge established expectations.

His decision to take on The Lift reflects an interest in the story itself rather than simply the medium through which it reaches viewers. The project also brings together professional ambition and personal sentiment: a different narrative to explore, alongside the opportunity to work with a team whose productions were once part of his life at home.

As Pratik continues to move between formats, his reflections suggest that the next stage of his career will be shaped not only by the roles he accepts, but by the people who help him discover what he can do with them.

For now, Ridday marks another step in that process—and The Lift offers Pratik Sehajpal a story that, in his own words, stands apart from the familiar.