Pankaj Tripathi : An Actor Stands Out With His Conviction & Simplicity

Listen up Bollywood, for it’s time that Pankaj Tripathi takes away the attention that he deserves. Born to a simple family, he had to struggle even before he could get his first break. His career to Bollywood began with starry dreams in his eyes, but he quickly realized that the road to stardom wasn’t a piece of cake. However, he had made a decision and he had to fulfill his dream of becoming one of the finest actors in Bollywood.

Tripathi was born to a farmer’s family in Belsand, Gopalganj district in Bihar. Youngest of five children, he worked in the fields with his father Pandit Banaras Tripathi till class eleven. As a teenager, he would go to watch theatre plays or naataks with his friends during the festive season. His earlier roles included playing female characters in theatre plays at around thirteen years of age. Living a simple childhood, his school did not have the proper infrastructure and he had to study under a tree till class five.

As he gained maturity, his father wanted him to become a doctor but he had set his eyes on a bigger dream – to become an actor. For obvious reasons, his father was reluctant to allow his son to pursue acting as a full-time career.

Finally, he decided to take matters into his own hands and moved to Patna to realize his dreams. He enrolled himself in college to complete his undergraduate studies in Hindi literature He was into college politics as a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and was once jailed for a week in 1993. During his stay in prison, Tripathi would frequent the prison library and immerse himself in Hindi and Western literature. At that moment, he decided to take up politics as a career but his plans changed soon enough. The turning point in his life came when he was highly inspired by Parineeta Jaiswal’s powerful monologue in the play “Andha Kuaan” written by Lakshminarayan Rai. At that moment, he knew that he was born to become an actor.

Nonetheless, his struggle to Bollywood had only just begun because he knew that he needed to establish himself as an actor. He joined the Bihar Art Theatre and acted in plays alongside completing his education. He took up a hotel management course at a Food Craft Institute as the second option in case his dreams didn’t work out. He has even worked a brief stint as a food supervisor at a Maurya Hotel, Patna. Though things didn’t look the best for him, he knew that he had the intelligence and capability to turn his dreams into success. He had only known Bhojpuri till then and had to learn Hindi to appeal to a larger crowd in Patna.

Tripathi was finally accepted into the prestigious National School of Drama, Delhi, in his third attempt. He graduated from NSD in 2004, and he convinced his parents that he would become a drama professor. It was around this time that he met his future life partner Mridula at a wedding and got married in January 2004.

He moved to Mumbai the same year at the invitation of Bhanu Uday, one of his old friends from NSD. Knowing that it was going to be a hard journey ahead, Mridula took up a teaching job at a nearby school to support the family. Tripathi started acting in minor roles in Bollywood movies and was certain that his determination and willpower would bear fruit someday. Unfortunately, he was only being considered for minor roles and he would frequently find himself in internal conflict. He wasn’t sure of the time it would take him to become a successful actor, but he kept following his dreams.

Sure enough, Pankaj Tripathi became a prominent actor overnight with his natural portrayal of henchman Sultan Qureshi in the crime movie series “Gangs of Wasseypur” in 2012. He stuck to playing negative characters at the beginning, though he did experiment with his roles some years later.

As of now, he has worked in several movies such as “Fukrey” (2013), “Masaan” (2015), “Nil Battey Sannata” (2016), “Newton” (2017), “Gurgaon” (2017), “Phamous” (2018), “Stree” (2018) and “Bhaiaji Superhit” (2018), to name a few. Yet, Tripathi still cherishes his role as Sadhya in “Masaan” as the restrained secret admirer of Devi, played by Richa Chaddha. He has recently received the News18 REEL Movie Awards for Best Supporting Actor for “Newton”.

Pankaj Tripathi has made a name for himself in a number of web series as well, starting with the crime drama “Powder” way back in 2010. He played the role of Naved Ansari, a feared drug kingpin in Mumbai. Later on, he acted in other web series such as “Sacred Games” and “Mirzapur”, which has gained him considerable attention. On the cinema front, he will be next seen in movies such as “Yours Truly”, “Super 30”, “Luka Chuppi” and “Drive” in 2019.

Pankaj Tripathi’s story to success could someday become a movie on its own. In spite of his humble beginnings, Tripathi has made his dreams of becoming a Bollywood actor come true. Nevertheless, he still likes to maintain an ordinary lifestyle with his family and doesn’t engage in flamboyance. He remains the same man he was in his village and prefers to live in the moment.

Thus, Pankaj Tripathi is a perfect example of the motto ‘nothing is impossible once you’ve set your heart into it’.

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