Perhaps it's here that the young, vulnerable, perpetually 'bored' Prateik's search ends....

Prateik Babbar probably didn't need to do much to make his presence felt in his debut film Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. His unkempt looks, colour smeared over all his T-shirts, eccentric mannerisms and brooding nature ... all worked wonderfully well for him. If girls walked out of the theatre falling in love with the new Friday find, Imran Khan, the maverick Prateik walked away with a good bit of heartfelt applause too... The perfect time for me to go knocking at his door! The one thing that strikes you strongly when you meet this 21 year-old is that he is simply unpredictable. For all you know, tomorrow he might just give up everything to be a fulltime rock star or simply disappear for months and keep people wondering about him! Sitting with him in his house and having a conversation with him, I realise that one can literally draw parallels between his mannerisms in the film and in real life. Straightforward, self-engrossed, slightly artistic and living by his instincts - that's what maketh Prateik Babbar, right? 'Pretty much,' he agrees, 'The character is very much a hippy, eccentric, and has an artistic touch to him. I would say I'm all of these things but I would definitely want to be a little more artistic... I would want to be creative and an all-rounder, multi-talented..." he seems at a loss for words as he affirms my observations. As he continues talking, I notice him drawing caricatures on a business magazine lying at hand. Looking at his handiwork, I must say he could actually be a good artist too. But within seconds he scribbles over it, saying, 'Oh, I do some painting... I keep scribbling, drawing, painting characters and situations... but to opt for it as a serious profession... well, that's a long way to go. Guys like Salman too have waited. So I think there is a time for everything. You can't do everything at the same time or you'll get frustrated.' That's very true; right now it's time to shine on the silver screen, just like his mom, and luckily for Prateik he has inherited his mother's genes of delivering a performance that radiates natural spontaneity. Interestingly, it wasn't because of his lineage that he bagged the role in Jaane... The filmmakers didn't even know of his background; all they saw was his talent before they roped him in. 'I was working with a production house and had done a couple of ads. When I auditioned, they liked the way I came across, they liked the way I acted, they liked my quirky, funny stupidity, so I was picked up... definitely not because I'm someone's son. They found that out later on,' he says in a monotone as he continues with his scribbling. CineBlitz - August 2008 issue