With the North-South divide blurring and the entertainment industry becoming one, more and more actors are trying to work in different languages. However, despite having a fan base across the country and a brilliant filmography, actor Pankaj Tripathi has his reasons for staying away from non-Hindi projects. While speaking during a masterclass at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, Tripathi said that it’s “due to the language barrier”.

“I get a lot of good offers from the Telugu film industry too, for big films. But I’m so busy with my Hindi movie commitments. It is also because I’m not able to speak the languages. I did one movie down south (Doosukeltha) with brilliant writer-director, Veeru Potla. But when I was working on that movie, I realised that I’m not able to speak the language, and I can’t say ABCD and act for the camera. So it is due to the language barrier. Otherwise, I would love to do something down south,” said the actor, who was at the fest to present his latest film, Kadak Singh, directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury.

Tripathi, who was last seen in OMG 2, also touched upon the topic of star and actor and the distinction: “The trend of actors having a certain mannerism or style has diminished now. Stars want to be called actors today.”

When asked how he deals with the fame, Tripathi said, “No one used to know me in Goa 15 years ago, and there is a possibility that no one will remember me 15 years later. So this brings you back on track, showing that it is all false.”