'Director can take you beyond the script'

Actor's diary

People look at me and start laughing,” chuckles actor Chunky Pandey, who was recently seen in a double avatar — as Aakhri Pasta and Aakhri Aastha — in the comedy film Housefull 3, co-written and directed by Sajid Samji and Farhad Samji.

Talking about playing a double role, he quips, “I have done double roles earlier, but this is the first time I have done one in a successful movie.”

He continues, “Actually, Sajid Khan (who has directed Housefull and Housefull 2) wanted Aakhri Aastha in the film’s earlier instalments, but somehow there was no space to fit him in. But Sajid-Farhad loved the character and added it in the third part.”

While his character has been liked by the audience in all the three films, Pandey agrees that monotony can seep in if an actor has to essay the same role repeatedly.

“It becomes all about saying the same punch line. So you have to raise the bar – which is what gets challenging. But, as an actor I do not prepare myself; instead I walk up to the sets blank and depend on the director to portray me in the best possible way,” he tells Metrolife, ahead of Housefull 3 s television premier on September 4 at 1 pm on Star Gold.

“Each actor is as good as the director he works with. It is the director who can take you beyond the script. Films are after all a director’s medium,” he adds.

Pandey, who has also featured in films like Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum, Tezaab, Don and Aankhen, is known for his comic timing. He, however, says that he would “love to experiment, explore a new genre and do a negative role”.