common man in the glamour world
Two neighbouring villages in Bihar have introduced two stars in Hindi cinema, Manoj Bajpayee and Pankaj Tripathi.
Winner of several awards Pankaj is a distinguished natural actor. His commitment towards theatre and acting before the camera made him a role model for many aspirants in the industry.
Apart from Hindi cinema, this versatile hero has mildly stepped into the English, Telugu, Punjabi and Tamil film industry to try his luck.
Pankaj Tripathi had the original surname Tiwari. He noticed the fact that Tiwaris in those days counted to be more educated and hence more sophisticated in attitude. He changed his surname for this reason only when he was a student in a school.
Career twist for Tripathi:
Once Manoj Bajpayee halted in a Patna hotel for some film shooting and forgot there his pair of slippers. Tripathi was working there as a chef and had a chance to meet Manoj Bajpayee. This turned out to be an inspirational time when Tripathi made up his mind to be an actor and he kept the sleepers with himself as a memoir.
‘If a village boy can rise to the scale of a film star what stops me from doing the same,?’ the thought haunted him day and night. The degree holder of Hotel Management intuitively dropped the strategic idea of migrating to Britain or some other promising location. But looks filmy, of course!
Childhood plays of a girl’s role during school days by Pankaj might have spurred when he talked to Manoj in his native Bihari language. Bajpayee’s personality inspired Tripathi to draw him to face the movie camera. Bajpai’s inspirational success ‘Satya‘ in 1998 shifted gears to roll down Tripathi over the camera roll.
Another patch of his life was a hectic schedule while employed in a hotel as a chef. The pendulum was set for him to oscillate between the kitchen and a few dramas on the stage. Tripathi’s keen interest is reflected in that after night duty in the hotel kitchen he would get ready for the stage appearance. Sleeping time he used to systematically steal from within 24 hours a day, for as long as two years.
Pankaj jailed as ABVP activist
Pankaj Tripathi had a philosophical say in his seven days in jail for the student movement. The agitation by the ABVP on the college campus drew him into the barrack along with others. That was the Beur jail in Patna. Tripathi was a student at Magadh University when the incident took place, as per the PTI report, in 2019.
He admits that such free passage of time in prison led him to read some Hindi literature and then he realised how isolated he was from the main course.
Pankaj is still friends with those ABVP workers. He told Lallantop a few years back that his friends who marched into a political career were elevated to be MLAs in Bihar.
The love story of Pankaj and his wife Mridula
Let’s Compare the reel and real life of him. Will be interesting for the perfect match. The son of a hard-working Bihari farmer graduated from Hajipur, became a chef and headed to be an actor.
Well, the same attitude resembled his love story that destined his marriage with Mridula. Both dated each other for twelve years before tying the knot presided over by family resentment. The untraditional, two marriages in a single family, finally took shape as Pankaj’s sister was married to Mridula’s brother.
Talking to a media person during an interview, Pankaj revealed his exciting love story. Pankaj and his wife Mridula came in touch during school time. They saw each other in a wedding ceremony and that was love at first sight.
Their meeting was possible only after dinner and conversations lasted sometimes for the whole night. When he went to NSD, their letters at regular intervals and landline phone calls kept the relationship alive without knowing it was love.
Mutual understanding of the couple is something yonder to traditional marriage life. Mridula kept on bread-winning while Pankaj was in a general circuit in Mumbai looking for a breakthrough in Bollywood.
Footpath-shelter, a well-known fate for newcomers to Bollywood never came close to Pankaj. Mridula Tripathi constantly inspired him to chase his dreams and backed the small family with her earnings.
Struggle In Mumbai
Pankaj relentlessly worked hard for his career without any strong background in Mumbai.
Of course, he recalls his tiny appearances in Hindi films before the successful Gangs of Wasseypur with surprising gestures, “Could those be called my struggling days?”
Determined Pankaj Tripathi joined NSD, New Delhi, in the third attempt at the entrance test, the institute that was set up with a different name earlier with the help of UNESCO. Here, the stage artist Pankaj got to sharpen his skills with profound training and a true understanding of the essence of drama makeup costumes and so on.
Tripathi’s Mumbai transit in pursuit of a film career gave him an initial struggle as usual. Mediocre roles and unnoticed performance kept him on the toes in the first decade of his movie career.
‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ finally brought him explicitly on the career runway thanks to Anurag Kashyap in the year 2012, leaving behind the desperation of eight years in Mumbai.
His common-man exhibits on the screen gained so much popularity that his awaited entry in a movie brings a chill among the viewers.
The man even after such a name and fame in the industry is content with his earnings and lifestyle.
He humbly announces that his primary focus was to run his home with a satisfactory amount needed for existence. ‘One cannot survive with the art voided of money,’ he believes.
Pankaj in Cinema & OTT
Pankaj, a versatile performer in Indian cinema has a significant mark on the OTT platforms as well.
Fleets of the web series on the OTTs have left viewers perplexed. Stamping over the perfect pick has been confusing the audience who scarce the time. Yet, a Pankaj Tripathi movie will be an assured choice at any given time, this is the image earned by the actor.
The first encounter that Pankaj had before a camera in Bollywood was for the film ‘Run.’
An ignored and completely unnoticed role in 2004 gave him no run for his career.
The sequence of say, zero recognition in the flooded film industry continued in the following years.
Year by year but patiently he appeared in the films like Apharan Bunty aur Bably Omkara and so on till Chillar Party and Agnipath in 2011.
The year 2012 raised the curtain for Pankaj Tripathi. ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ stitched a costume of success when he masterly performed the role of Sultan Qureshi. The film on the coal mafia established Pankaj in the film industry, the foundation that works for him the best.
Films, Awards for Pankaj Tripathi
The ‘Wasseypur’ film shot an arrow, named Pankaj Tripathi, to hit the middle point. His filmy career took off with some offbeat roles and paired acting highly appreciated and applauded by the audience.
Mrs and Mr Tripathi have a daughter, Aashi Tripathi, a literature lover and writer in the making.
‘Main Atal Hoon‘ was released on the 19th of January 2024 and has been rated 7.5/10 by IMDb and 3.5/5 by the Times of India.
Pankaj has a series of successful movies as included and listed below since 2012.
1. Gangs of Wasseypur Part 1
2. Gangs of Wasseypur part 2
3. Dabangg 2
4. ABCD: Any Body Can Dance
5. Rangrezz
6. Fukrey
16. Nil Battey Sannata
17. Global Baba
18. Mango Dreams
19. Coffee with D
20. Anaarkali of Arah
21. Newton
22. Gurgaon
23. Bareilly Ki Barfi
24. Fukrey Returns
25. Munna Michael
26. Kaalakaandi
27. Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain
28. Phamous
29. Stree
30. Bhaiaji Superhit
31. Yours Truly
32. Luka Chuppi
33. The Taskent Files
34. Super 30
35. Kissebaaz
36. Drive
37. Angrezi Medium
38. Extraction
39. Gunjan Saxena
40. Ludo
41. Shakeela
42. Kaagaz
43. Mimi
44. Bunty Aur Babli 2
45. 83
46. Bachchan Pande
47. Sherdil
48. OMG 2
49. Fukrey 3
50. Kadak Singh
51. Main Atal Hoon
Upcoming movies of Pankaj Tripathi ‘Stree 2’ and ‘Metro in Dino’ are scheduled to be released in Aug./Sep. 2024.
Tripathi has so far bagged several awards and the tally recurs the count as time passes through the cinema halls.
List of awards for Pankaj Tripathi
2023 National Film Award
2022 Filmfare Award
2022 IIFA Award11
2017 National Film Award
2021 Indian Television Academy
Award
2019 Zee Cine Award
2019 ITA Award
2018 Screen Award
Earnings and lifestyle of Pankaj Tripathi
Pankaj is purely a vegetarian who believes in the ethics of life.
His charge per film is believed to be more than two crore INR. The actor possesses luxurious cars and properties in Mumbai, the financial capital of India. Despite a royal lifestyle, In an interview with Times of India, the actor said, it is not necessary to have lots of money to be happy, but I remain happy with the things that I have.
Pankaj Tripathi has been honoured to be the brand ambassador of Bharat Rang Mahotsav for the year 2024.
Pankaj Mridula Aashi
Shasak 
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