Pankaj Bhatia, who is seen as Kamal in Prateek Sharma and Parth Shah’s Pukaar: Dil Se Dil Tak, which is produced under their banner, LSD Studios, says friendships are really important wherever we go. Speaking on the occasion of International Friendship Day, which will be observed on August 4, he said, “On-screen best friends inspire you to do better, and off-screen ones repair you better.”
His best friend is Kishore Singh Daramwal, and they have been friends since their theater days and have known each other since June 2003. He said, “He is patient, a good listener, a good advisor, and a non-drinker. Mostly everything that I’m not.”
And he mentioned that they always pick up from where they left off. “You don’t need to maintain it; it’s not a machine that requires oil change after 10 thousand kilometers. It’s always like that whenever we meet next,” he said.
On the sets of his show, Pankaj is good friends with Farukh Sayeed (Kishorilal in Pukar) and Vimarsh Roshan (Digvijay in Pukaar). “One is older to me, and one is younger to me. I owe Mr. Farukh Rs 25 lakh, as he told me on the very first day of the shoot that he was almost finalized in all the TV advertisements I did in my early years in Mumbai. 2004 to 2009. So he often demands that money back from me.
Work is fun when you’re surrounded by people with the same vibe,” he laughed. How has friendship contributed to your personal and professional growth? “You always learn from the people around you, and ultimately, it helps you at both places,” Pankaj ended.
