Indian actor Pankaj Tripathi, who has lifted several films with his mere presence, continues to pick roles that are out-of-the-box. Adding to his repertoire is his character Bhanu in the upcoming film Mimi. 

The makers of Laxman Utekar’s Mimi recently shared the film’s trailer online. Co-starring Kriti Sanon and Tripathi in lead roles, the film is slated for a release in a few days from now. While the trailer has many moments of marvel, the one scene that stands out is a conversation about namaz featuring Tripathi.

In the said scene, Tripathi, who is pretending to be a Muslim man to keep Mimi (played by Kriti) company as she becomes a surrogate mother, is asked as to how many times he offers namaz during a day. To which, he instantly replies, “10 martaba.” When he is told that namaz is to be offered only five times a day, pat comes a reply that he answered for two days, and not one. The scene is a hilarious addition by all means, and in an exclusive interview with Times Now Digital, Tripathi reveals what had happened behind the scenes. 

Interestingly, the unit had no idea what the scene was going to be like. Tripathi rehearsed the scene with his co-actor on the terrace and left everyone in splits with the surprise final take. 

Recounting the memories of the scene, Tripathi said, “What happened was that we didn’t rehearse it, so the unit didn’t know what the scene will be like. We rehearsed it on the terrace, there was lighting and two cameras were kept. So we asked Laxman sir (director) that we have to do this scene. We told him we’ve planned something and we want to do it. Even the director didn’t know what was about to happen,” he said. 

“Aur hum dono ne jo drama shuru kara, maine aur Gyaan sir ne. Ab sing sound film hai, aadhi unit mooh band karke hass rahi hai… Camera wale ka tripod pe hath hil raha hai,” he said, adding everyone was trying to control their laughter on the sets. 

The actor also opened up about working with filmmaker Laxman and said that his biggest quality is that while he gives actors freedom, he also knows what he wants from them. “Aur wo jab tak milta nahi hai, wo chodege nahi… Unko maalum hai kya chaiye, kab chodna hai, kab pakadna hai.”