Pankaj Tripathi is my favourite actor, says '83 director Kabir Khan

Mumbai: After the release of Gully Boy, Director Kabir Khan finally has Ranveer Singh’s full attention towards the making of his upcoming film ’83, based on India’s incredible 1983 cricket World Cup victory.

“Now that Gully Boy has released, I have got Ranveer Singh coming on to train completely. He along with the others are training extensively in batting bowling and fielding. The training is actually proceeding in full swing,” he says.

Pankaj Tripathi.

Director Kabir is also pretty excited about getting Pankaj Tripathi to play the pivotal character of P.R. Man Singh — the team’s manager. “Everyone knows about the players. Not many know about the role of the manager. I have Pankaj Tripathi for that and he is my favourite actor from the film industry,” confesses Kabir who has also cast others like Saqib Saleem, Hardy Sandhu, Amy Virk, Jiiva and Chirag Patil.

“Chirag has also done some Marathi films earlier and he plays cricket as well. So, it is great to have him play his father Sandeep Patil’s role,” he says. Kabir also says that some important announcements will be made soon.

“We are also announcing some cameos and special appearances very soon,” he adds.

The director will now move to London for the shoot. “We have a good four months of shoot in England. We will go there in May. I like England as a good shooting location as well,” says Kabir while adding that locations have never been a backdrop in his work but are an important character in all his films.

The director has been to over 75 locations around the world for his feature films and documentaries. When asked about a location he finds really difficult to shoot in, Kabir Khan says, “I would say that shooting was tough in a country like Afghanistan. The location wasn’t an easy one like that due to security. I have a special bonding with that because it was my first film.”