Gurfateh Pirzada reflects on overcoming industry setbacks, rebuilding his career, and embracing diverse projects. After years of shelved films and delays, he is now set for a promising year with multiple releases, including Revolutionaries, Lust Stories, and Dynasty. His journey highlights resilience, self-discovery, and a renewed focus on crafting his own path in the industry.
There is a distinct clarity that comes with surviving a string of industry setbacks. For Gurfateh Pirzada, the last few years were defined by a frustrating pattern of stalled momentum. From shelved films, delayed timelines, to the heavy reality of waiting at home while projects unravelled behind closed doors.
Now, the tide has turned decisively. Pirzada is embarking on an extensive, back-to-back release run, which started with Nikkhil Advani’s period drama Revolutionaries, Kiran Rao’s segment in Lust Stories and will include the romantic feature Adhoore Hum Adhoore Tum alongside Bhumi Pednekar and Imran Khan, the second season of Call Me Bae, as well as the political drama series Dynasty.
For the actor, who first caught attention in Guilty, the slate feels like an earned revival after a prolonged period of uncertainty. "In the context of having multiple shelved films over the last four or five years, this was much needed," Pirzada tells THR India. "It's almost like a new life, so to say."
The dry spell tested his endurance and forced Pirzada to re-evaluate his approach to the craft and the industry. Coming to Mumbai without an established safety net, he admits that early on, it was easy to get swayed by external noise and rigid templates of how an actor’s trajectory "should" look.
"When you're starting out, there are so many people who join the journey with you, giving their two cents and showing you the 'bigger picture,'" Pirzada reflects.
"Somewhere along the way, your journey starts aping a picture someone else shows you; how it's supposed to be, or how other actors made it. When all those shelved projects fell through and I started coming into my own again, I realised this was never why I chose to become an actor in the first place."
Pirzada says he then chose to dismantle those expectations entirely, reminding himself how and why he came to Mumbai. "Once that artificial picture got thrown out, burned, and destroyed, it forced me to rebuild myself."
That mindset shift coincided with a deliberate turn toward work across distinct genres, including his return as Neel in the second season of Call Me Bae, led by Ananya Panday.
"When director Colin D'Cunha first came to me, I was going through the prime time of feeling low because of one shelved project after another. I had absolutely no idea how the audience would give in to Neel’s character and give me the love they did."
With Call Me Bae Season 2 already wrapped and gearing up for release, Pirzada says, "The headspace is 100 percent better now. I’ve had the chance to work with incredible directors, explore vast genres without compromising on my ideals, and just build on my own terms."