He is a self-proclaimed mad man who loves to go crazy on screen but Chunky Pandey is a loving husband and an adventurous person too, one who likes to take challenges. Deebashree Mohanty speaks with him about his grey-yet-funny role in the upcoming film Humshakals

Chunky Pandey has been around for many years in the industry and acted in umpteen comedy films but Humshakals, he says, is his hands-down favourite. ReasonIJ “This takes crazy to another level. The audience would want to lock up Sajid Khan in the darkest jail after  this film. They are going to laugh so much that they can never forgive him. None of us realised when the film was on the floor and when it all got wrapped up. The experience has been maddening,” Pandey says.

So, what’s different about this funny role that Pandey has picked upIJ “First, I play a diehard, cold blooded villain in an out and out comedy film! Second, I have dwarfs as my helpers who also resemble me. Third, my name is Currently Bijlani. I play this Sindhi gangster who is a drug smuggler. He tortures Saif Ali Khan and Riteish Deshmukh. His way of torturing is as per the name of his character. He gives them electric shocks, so that they lose their sanity. And finally the dwarfs are called Thapa and Uska Papa! So, it’s different,” Chunks tells you.

When he isn’t in the gym or partying with friends, Pandey is a complete family man who likes to spend time with wife and daughter. Every Sunday, he cooks for them, just to break the routine. “I love experimenting with cuisines. But if you ask me what I eat daily, I would say Indian food,” the spunky actor who rose to fame with Aankhen in 1993, says.

launched by Prahlad Nihalani, Pandey feels that Bollywood lacks good independent producers who can churn out meaningful movies. “People say that the captain of the ship is the director, but I believe it is the producer who should be lauded. He is the one who accepts a script, selects a director and chooses the star cast. like in the West, here too, the film is always supposed to be his baby. I wish to see more independent producers taking centrestage,” he says. For him original scriptwriters are desperately wanted.

“We can’t survive without good scripts. And that’s missing in the industry. Once we have bettered that, there is no stopping us from making super blockbusters,” he tells you. As for the good part of the industry, the actor tells you that the money is huge and it is only growing. “Thank the multiplexes that the prices of actors have increased. It is unbelievable how much the producer is willing to spend nowadays and they manage to break even within a week,” he tells you.

Although Pandey had a short stint as a judge in Mad In India on Star Plus, he tells you that TV is not his piece of cake. According to him, Bollywood is hugely dependent on TV. “The marketing of a film is incomplete without a promotion on TV. That’s where all the eyeballs are. Cinema has been reduced to a niche market. We are about to see a huge revolution in the TV industry. The only thing plaguing it is lack of original scripts. How long can a person make an audience laugh by indulging in anticsIJ He will need good dialogues at some stage,” he says, adding that shows like Gangs of Hasseypur and Comedy Nights with Kapil are keeping small screen audiences enthralled. Back to Humshakals, Pandey tells you how he never needed to ‘act’ in any movie directed by Sajid Khan. Be it Aakhri Pasta or Currently Bijlani, all Pandey did was to mimic Sajid.

“Daisy aunty used to give acting lessons to Salman and me and Sajid would sit on the sofa and gawk at us. I have known them since childhood and we share a high comfort level.

When he conceived Aakhri Pasta for Housefull, Sajid wanted to do the role himself. But he eventually asked me to do it instead. I jumped at this opportunity and am I glad I did,” Pandey tells you.

The veteran in him isn’t rattled by the Saifs and the Riteishs or the Ram Kapoors. For him, there are lots of moments that the audience will take away as memories.

If he features in them, he is fine. “See. How many people remember Pasta from Housefull. Mera to kaam bangaya na. Ab aagey badho...,” he says, adding in his signature way — ‘I am a joking!’