Pankaj Tripathi decodes his ‘late success’

By Arundhuti Banerjee

Mumbai, Jan 11  Actor Pankaj Tripathi has had a phenomenal run of success so far, but he is aware that there might come a time when his work draws criticism. Every actor goes through such a phase, he says, and he knows how to deal with it.

“I know that a day will come when I may face criticism because I am a human being and we all have some flaws. No one is perfect. But I am not, and will never be, that arrogant man who would say ‘audience ko kya pata performance kya hota hai (what does the audience know of performance)?’ I think that is a very wrong approach. I have a way and that has come from the fact that I have got late success,” he told IANS.

“If there is constructive criticism, I will surely introspect, because that is the way to grow as an individual. I cannot say I know it all. No. As an actor, I am constantly working on the nuances in my performance, and the possibility is endless,” he added.

“I am the same actor who started from zero, I started with one scene, one dialogue… a small part. My aim is to make that single opportunity magnify. I will make you remember that one dialogue. since I did not get success overnight, I do not have the arrogance. I could have, if I would have got success at the age of 30! I have crossed 45 now, and every achievement makes me humble and not arrogant,” explained the actor.

In the year 2020, Pankaj appeared in films like Angrezi Medium, Extraction, Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, and Ludo’. He was also the star of web series like Mirzapur season 2 and Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors, where he is oddly famous for his characters — Kaleen Bhaiya and Madhav Mishra respectively.

So, what has changed with success?

“Firstly the fact that I know places, as in when I came to Mumbai, I did not know all the studios and production houses where I had to go and give an audition. After searching for the address, when finally I reached there, many a time the gatekeeper said that the shooting of the film was over and there was no audition happening! I do not give auditions anymore. Earlier I never said ‘no’ to any work because I needed the money to survive. Now that I have a fan-following, credibility matters to me,” he replied.

“Again, I am not talking about the length of the role, but the credibility. Of course, I would also like to be part of stories in which, I am the central character, for example Kaagaz,” smiled Pankaj, referring to his new OTT-released film that streams on ZEE5.

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)