Kabir Khan’s 83 will soon be unveiled in theatres, and in an exclusive conversation with Pinkvilla recently, Pankaj Tripathi, who plays PR Man Singh in the film, opens up about the sports-drama, his character, and the prep to play the part. “I spent an entire day with Man sir at his Hyderabad residence. We were together from morning to evening, ate together and even saw his house. He has a personal cricket museum which is just fabulous,” says Tripathi.
He further adds, “The third floor of his house is dedicated to this space, where there are mind blowing things about the world and Indian cricket. Tendulkar saab had gone for its inauguration. He really loves the sport, has even written books on Hyderabad cricket, and is very respected amongst the cricketers fraternity.”
Before the announcement of 83, Ranveer Singh reportedly in an interview had expressed his desire to work with Pankaj. “His words came true within six months since he said that,” laughs Tripathi, further adding, “Ranveer, Deepika (Padukone), Ammy (Virk), Harrdy (Sandhu), Nishant (Dahiya), Jatin (Sarna), Dhairya (Karwa) and Adinath (Kothare) - all of them really respected me a lot, and for them I was Man Bhai on the set. They all love me a lot, respect me a lot and made me feel very overwhelmed. They would say things like, ‘Sir aap picture mein ho toh bas hum seekh jayenge aapse’. Everyone really had a brilliant team spirit on the set.”
He also has OMG 2 in the pipeline with Akshay Kumar. “Amit Rai has written a fabulous script, and he is a great director too. Working with Akshay sir is a pleasant experience. He is very disciplined, and it’s a very important film too. It will talk about a very important message,” he signs off.
