Nitin Ganatra “almost got fired” from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory after Johnny Depp got him “into trouble”.
Nitin Ganatra at the Christmas Karma premiere
The 58-year-old actor portrayed Prince Pondicherry in Tim Burton’s 2005 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic story and feared the worst after he went exploring on the set at the encouragement of his co-star – who led the cast as Willy Wonka – only to accidentally leave the area he’d snuck off to covered in chocolate.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz at the world premiere of his latest movie Christmas Karma on Wednesday (12.11.25) night at London’s Curzon Mayfair, he said: “There are always funny moments. Johnny Depp got me into trouble — he won’t even remember this. I was doing Prince Pondicherry and I was covered in chocolate, my shoes, everything covered in chocolate.
“We were sitting together and he goes, ‘Have you seen the vanishing corridor?’ And I went, ‘No.’ And he said, ‘Go through that curtain. There’s a vanishing corridor there.’
“So I did, and I went through the curtain. It was dark, and I could see this red carpet that started to get further and further away until my head hit the ceiling. You know, that little vanishing corridor that gets smaller and smaller.
“I hit my head, turned around, and realised I’d left chocolate footprints on the carpet. I ran out and went, ‘You almost got me fired, Johnny…’
“He did — he almost got me fired. We had fun though. It was nice to work with him.”
Despite not being invited to reprise his role in Paul King’s 2023 Wonka prequel, Ganatra said he wasn’t disappointed since it was “a different director.”
However, he admitted he was upset about being killed off when he reunited with Tim for an episode of the first series of Wednesday.
He said: “[Wonka] is a completely different cast and a different director, but I did work with Tim Burton on Wednesday. I was upset I got killed off and didn’t get to be in the second season, which looks like such good fun. I’ve worked with Tim Burton twice now. I auditioned for it like everyone else and I got the part.”
Nitin’s latest role sees him play a shopkeeper in Gurinder Chadha’s new festive Bollywood-inspired musical Christmas Karma, a modern take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and he drew on his own upbringing for the role.
He said: “I play the shopkeeper — that’s my official title, the shopkeeper. This is the first shopkeeper I’ve ever played, which is a bit of a breakthrough role for me. As an Asian actor, I’ve always avoided playing shopkeepers — I’ve played the occasional doctor, never an accountant, thank God. But this one is special. I think Gurinder grew up in a newsagent, and so did I, so I got to use my own story in there.”
Christmas Karma will be released in cinemas on Friday (14.11.25).
