Pankaj Tripathi is basking in all the compliments he is getting for his performance as Sattu Bhai, a local gangster, in Ludo. “I just surrendered to Dada (Anurag Basu) who did all the work. He is a magician. I am in a state of zen; these things don’t affect me much,” he says, adding that his journey with Anurag is far from over.

Even though he is the link between the four stories in the film, Pankaj didn’t know anything about them while he was shooting. “I was only told the reason these characters were coming to meet me,” he shares, revealing that Ishtiyak Khan who played the inspector and Bhanu Uday as Bhanu, were his batchmates at the National School of Drama. “My one shot with both of them was nostalgic.”

Before the release of Ludo, the actor sneaked off on a road trip to Goa with his wife and daughter. They left on November 6 and returned on Friday, just in time to celebrate Diwali in the city. “It had been seven months since I stepped out of the house. Even though we live in a peaceful area in Mumbai, we needed a small outing to get some fresh air and relax in a different environment. Also, to catch up on my sleep,” he chuckles.

Some believe that Pankaj is doing too many roles in the crime space and even the actor acknowledges it. “I agree that I’ve done several gangster roles. But in Gunjan Saxena, I was an army veteran and a father, and it was different. The audience was still reeling from my gangster turn in Mirzapur when Ludo came along. I’m seen so frequently on screen now that people get confused, there is so much to remember,” he laughs, adding that in his upcoming films, he’s playing a lawyer, a cricket team manager and a layman fighting for his rights. “I guarantee that for the next year, I will not play a gangster.”

Even after such diverse roles, Pankaj reveals that his most enjoyable role is yet to come. “I can’t describe it but I am still searching for it,” muses one of the busiest actors in recent times, admitting that the lockdown was a welcome break. “I was overworked and didn’t even realise it. I got a lot of offers in the span of two-three years and just kept taking them all. It was because I have a background in theatre that I didn’t burn out. Even during these eight months of lockdown I have had three releases, and Mimi, '83 and Kaagaz are releasing next year so even 2021 is pretty much locked from January to November,” he informs, adding that he is enjoying the break and is not at all eager to get back to work just yet. “I will resume shooting in 2021. I still have a lot of sleep to catch up on. Also, I want to visit my parents in my village as I haven’t been there for a long time due to Coronavirus. I will anyway be in auto pilot mode from January.”