‘OMG 2’ Dialect Coach Vikram Pratap On Pankaj Tripathi: I Learned From Him Is How To Live Life

In ‘OMG 2’, Pankaj portrays Kanti Sharan Mudgal, a follower of Lord Shiva, while Akshay Kumar takes on the role of Lord Shiva"s messenger. The movie is a sequel to the 2012 release ‘OMG - Oh My God’, which has been basking in accolades from all over.

Talking about it, Vikram shared, "It was a lovely experience and we bonded really well. We both like to work with a lot of calmness and we did the same for this film. He's such a brilliant actor that he didn't limit himself to just learning the dialect but he also wanted to know the world of those people belonging to that region. And now as you can see in the film, how his dialect is being appreciated largely. He's very detailed and precise when it comes to preparation. He has traveled a lot in different states so it was not much difficult for him to understand the difference and nuances of people belonging to a particular region. He's full of knowledge."

Sharing about the learnings he received from Pankaj Tripathi, he informed us, "We spoke a lot on cinema, literature and he even recommended books to me. He used to tell me that if you teach me dialect in return I'll teach you life (laughs). So what I learned from him is how to live life. Pankaj sir used to always address me as his teacher but I've learned more from him. I really observed every small detail of him on set. He also takes care of his senior actors. Usually what happens is during readings, other casts come to the lead actor's vanity to rehearse, but Pankaj sir used to go to the vanity of actors who are senior from him and used to do scenes. I learned how to be grounded from him. He has such a good sense of humor. He gave me a lot of respect as a teacher despite being junior to him. I learned patience from his journey."

Describing his experience working in the film, he mentioned, "Director Amit Rai gave me full freedom on the ‘konsa character kab kaise kaha bolega’. So, I used to bring a lot of ideas for the cast. He really gave that creative space to me. Hence, I took workshops for other casts as well, apart from Pankaj sir and there was never any interference from him. I trained everyone in my own way and there were no dos and don'ts from him. As a result you can see, everyone is so fabulous in terms of dialect."

Talking about the film doing really well, he stated, "OMG 2 is going extremely well and I'm really happy about that. Pankaj sir texted me saying Dhanyavad Vikram tumhare Sahyog ke liye. Secondly, I'm also working as an actor but this is the most successful project I've been a part of even though as a dialect coach. All credit goes to Amit sir."

As an actor, he was previously seen in ‘Darlings’, 'Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo', 'Kathal' and 'Chal Zindagi'.