Pankaj Tripathi says he dozes off mid scenes if made to shoot beyond 2 am: ‘I take nap, but make it look like acting’

“I need my seven hours of sleep. I don’t shoot beyond 2 AM. For the last two or three years, my out time has been 1 in the night. You can do the lighting at 5 and I can begin by 6 and work till 12-1, but after that, please let me go! When you are shooting during the day it is labour, and by night the labour is also ghayal (injured). I can sleep in an ongoing shot. If I don’t have a line in the shot and I am watching my co-actor, I can actually doze off. Aisa hua hai, chalte shot mein main…! (This has happened to me)” the actor recalled.

Recalling an incident from one of his projects, Pankaj Tripathi said he once took a proper nap while his shot was on, to the point that he even forgot he had to say his line. But the trick is, the actor said, that no one has figured out his way of stealing quick naps as they believe that’s his process of acting.

 

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“When I am sleepy, I make it a part of my acting, so I close my eyes while listening to the co-actor. I am actually taking a nap, but the way I blend it, the director and the audience think that I was listening to it with a lot of involvement. So I close my eyes, nod my head but enough that a jerk of the neck when you are falling asleep is not visible!

“Once, I fell asleep and I forgot my cue to say my lines. When I didn’t say my lines for a few seconds, the director said cut and reminded me that it was my turn! Main so gaya tha, cue bhi mila tha par lag nahi raha tha ki aadmi so raha hai!” he added.

The actor was recently seen in Fukrey 3 and OMG 2, which emerged as box office hits. While Fukrey 3 featured him as a part of an ensemble, OMG 2 saw him headlining the project, which saw Akshay Kumar in a supporting role.