Pankaj Tripathi is an actor who is steadily earning fans. Whether it is the role of a butcher ( Gangs of Waseypur ), a supportive father ( Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl ), a gangster ( Mirzapur ) or a lawyer eager to win his first big case ( Criminal Justice ), Pankaj Tripathi says that he acts to meet the expectations of his fans.
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Pankaj will be reprising a role as Madhav Mishra in the second season on Disney+Hotstar’s Criminal Justice which will go on air on December 24. The actor says, “Portrayal of common man roles like Madhav Mishra or the father in Gunjan Saxena, the ticket collector in Masaan or the principal in Nil Batein Sannata are very close to my heart, I relate to them. These are ordinary people who live in the society with their head held high. Their righteousness and simplicity of life inspire me to be a good human being and also inspire others through my work.”
Saying so, he points out that fame, luxury and wealth are not what got him into acting. While he is aware of his growing fandom, he says he likes to remind himself to stay grounded and will always consider acting as his rozi roti (survival). “Acting pays my bills and takes care of me and my family. Acting used to be my hobby and even though my parents wanted me to take up a government job or become a doctor or teacher, I decided to turn my hobby into a profession.”
While he didn’t have a definite goal in life, Pankaj aspired to be a ‘ bada admi’ . “I didn’t know what, but I wanted to be someone big when I grow up,” he adds.
He says, “It is ironical that I started acting for my survival and several years later, in 2020, I still look at it as my rozi roti . I have no complaints and still weigh quality over quantity when it comes to work. Which is why I have no regrets over projects I have missed. I always tell myself, ‘something else will come.’”
Born in Belsand village close to the Indo-Nepal border, Pankaj grew up watching Ramanand’s Sagar’s Ramayan . Recollecting their television-viewing days, he says Doordarshan used to get rerouted from Nepal and he grew so fond of the characters of Ram and Sita, played by Arun Govil and Deepika Chikhalia, that he secretly desired to meet them one day.
He laughs, “I never aspired to meet any actor expect for Ram ji and Sita ji from Ramayan . I haven’t met Arun ji yet but by a stroke of luck I met Deepika ji and didn’t realise it was her until I stepped out and asked a production person. So, yes, while she doesn’t know who I am, I met her without recognising who she was.”
What is the actor’s secret to convincingly pull off every character he has played so far? “It has to be all the things that were told to us in acting school. Teachers used to say a lot of things and inadvertently it all gets registered. One important lesson was economy of register or to create maximum through minimum. Utilise everything according to the need and demand. When we play a certain character it continues to be a part of our life. So, it is an effort to shake it off. Some characters come off easily, some take longer.”
Does he think his story of a small village boy making it into Bollywood can inspire others? “[Actor] Manoj Bajpayee’s success story gave me confidence, so I will feel I have done something good, if I can inspire an actor from a small town or village in India.”
