Pankaj Tripathi on his 11-minute monologue in Sacred Games 2: ‘One of most challenging sequences I have shot for’

Pankaj Tripathi, who will return to the second season of Sacred Games as Guruji, will have a monologue on the show.

Actor Pankaj Tripathi delivered a monologue that ran over 11 minutes in one take in the second season of Sacred Games. He calls it one of the most challenging sequences he has ever done.

Pankaj Tripathi as Guruji on Sacred Games 2.

In the second season of the Netflix hit, Pankaj will be seen as the elusive Guruji, who is also known as Ganesh Gaitonde’s ‘teesra baap’. “While filming a particular scene in Sacred Games 2, I was required to deliver a monologue in one go, which, to me, was one of the most challenging sequences I have shot for so far,” Pankaj said, adding: “It was a magical experience and I had a great time shooting for that particular shot. I remember Anurag Kashyap asking me to deliver it once again, since nobody knew it would take as long as it did. So, for technical purposes, we did it all over again,” he added.

In an interview to PTI, Tripathi added that he was scared to play Guruji on the show. “For almost a week before the shoot, I isolated myself from everyone. My family got worried about what am I exactly preparing for. This was a challenging character and I was scared,” Tripathi told reporters on Thursday.” When you are scared, you start working harder. I am not a method actor, I don’t cut off from the world but I had to shut myself off for this character and also shave my beard,” he added.

The sophomore season of the show, based on author Vikram Chandra’s novel of the same name, will pick up from Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan) pursuing his relentless battle of saving Mumbai and Ganesh Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) facing bigger challenges to retain his position as the legendary kingpin of the city.

The second season of Sacred Games will open on August 15. It also stars Kalki Koechlin, Luke Kenny, Ranvir Shorey, among others.

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