After following up with Pankaj Tripathi for almost a year, I finally got to meet him in his house on Madh Island, which is far away from the hustle and bustle of muggy Mumbai and reminiscent of a beautiful village. You can enjoy the scenic view of the ocean from his living room and balcony. Pankaj can’t stop raving about the beauty of the sea. “If you look at the ocean from here, you can see how calm and peaceful it appears. At night, around 500–600 boats pass by, all of which have colourful bulbs. It then appears as though a village has been built over the water. You get a good reflection of the moonlight in here.” He can afford to live in peace and tranquility today. However, his priorities were different when he first came to Mumbai. Then, he too wanted to live in a place that was near malls, multiplexes, and restaurants. He couldn’t afford such a place then, as he simply didn’t have that kind of money. Now, when he does have the money, he has chosen to follow his heart and go back to a kind of village life, replacing the ghats of the Ganges with beaches in the Arabian Sea. He looks back on his salad days with affection. 
When he came to Mumbai in 2004, after passing out of the National School of Drama (NSD), he knew nobody and nobody knew him. He had to literally start from scratch. “There was a time when the watchmen used to turn me away, saying submit your photo and leave; you’ll be called if they like your photo. Now, the same people offer me salutes, the CEOs of the same companies are eager to meet me. People take time out of their schedules to seek me out. Time, indeed, has changed,” he chuckles. He used to be an angry individual then and says he has learnt how to control his angst, crediting yoga and breathing exercises for his calm demeanour. “Forgiveness is the key to your peace of mind. I’ve learnt to forgive and forget. I meditate for at least an hour each day, gathering my thoughts and letting positivity flow over me. I try to remain as simple as possible, not letting success affect me.
I plan to stay grounded, always, whatever the circumstances may be.” The actor maintains that the power of imagination helped him survive many heartaches and boosted his focus and positivity. It lifted his eyes from the mundanity of life and showed him a better future, where he would be counted as a dependable actor. “I always used to turn my mind’s eye 10 years into the future. I knew that I just needed one solid role to make my mark as an actor and hence I always remained happy and never let frustration get to me.”
He says he has reached a stage where he wants his films to inspire people. Success for him means eight hours of contented sleep, secure in the knowledge that whatever he does during the day will make a home in people’s hearts. He’s not media shy but has chosen to remain reticent, letting his work speak for him rather than social media posts. “I live in one of the most picturesque portions of Mumbai. I can click pictures of sunrise and sunset each day and post them, but I don’t do that. Likewise, you won’t find me sharing my state of mind or my success on social media. My work takes place in front of the camera. After that, I put on a mask and quietly slip away.”
He was a cook in Patna and still loves to cook, revealing that he loves to make litti chokha, bitter gourd, bottle gourd and okra. In fact, Manoj Bajpayee, whom he considers his guru, is fond of his cooking and often drops by to sample authentic Bihari cooking. He loves their impromptu meetings. “I love music. We have lots of musical instruments like the tabla, harmonium, guitar, violin, synthesiser, etc. at home. We often have musical mehfils in our garden, whenever my actor or musician friends drop by,” he adds. He shares a mutual admiration society with Manoj, praising him to the sky for being a consummate actor. He reveals that he came to Mumbai inspired by Manoj Bajpayee. Pankaj knows of Manoj’s struggles in Mumbai and says that he has always taken heart from his senior’s never-say-die spirit. “Manoj bhaiyya knows how to capture the spirit of the character he essays. He goes into the minute details and becomes the person he’s playing. His film choices, too, are admirable. He makes sure to sign at least two films that are made by independent filmmakers. He has asked me to do that as well, but somehow I’ve been loath to let go of commercial cinema.” He does want to move away from the cinema that’s being offered to him to the cinema that he wants to do. He adds that one of his forthcoming films, Kadak Singh, has that quality. He reveals that he had tonnes of fun doing it, as it was as close to his heart as he wanted, and he promises that the viewers too will have fun watching it. He doesn’t want to reveal anything further, as it would kill the suspense. He’s also hopeful of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s biopic finding an audience. In order to play the popular leader, he read books about the late politician and came away impressed. “Atal ji had a vision for the betterment of our country. He saw things in a unique way and was a good poet as well. Reading his writings has reduced my negativity and made me a better person. I find myself full of positive energy these days.”
Another actor whom Pankaj holds in high regard is the late Irrfan Khan. Sanjay Mishra is another friend and colleague whom he admires a lot. All of them, Pankaj included, manage to make acting look effortless, but the actor claims it isn’t so. He insists that acting is a craft that is honed through constant practice. And an aspiring actor should learn the basics before trying his hand at it. Despite being a NSD graduate, he himself hasn’t stopped learning. “According to the Natya Shastra, there are broadly four schools of acting: Angik (where the body is used to convey emotions), Aaharya (where costume and lighting are used), Vaachik (where language is used), and Saatvik (where the inner emotions come into play). I recently experimented with the Saatvik way for an advertisement and found it most fulfilling,” he asserts. The actor believes that an actor has to be prepared for anything and not let life get to him. He points out that acting, in fact, gives one a chance to escape the realities of life. “Suppose you’re grieving over someone’s loss and are asked to perform a comedy scene. Now, in the process of doing so, you’ll forget your grief and achieve better equilibrium.”
He claims that acting can be the medium of both entertainment and education. Perhaps he’s hinting at OMG! 2, which fought for better sex education in our schools. The film aimed at teenagers as their target audience, but ironically, it was given an ‘A’ certificate by our censors. He can’t fathom why, even in today’s day and age, sex is still considered taboo in our society. “Akshay Kumar told me that the film would be incomplete without me, as he doesn’t have any other actor in mind except me. When I read the script, I felt it was special, as it was saying all the right things. It’s weird that in a country that worships Kaamdev and has a temple of Kaamdev, the topics of sex and desire have become taboo.” Mimi, for which he won a National Award, talked about surrogacy and the rights of surrogate mothers. He confesses that he almost didn’t do Mimi because of his ill health. He had suffered an accident and his upper back had gotten injured because of that. “Both producer Dinesh Vijan and director Laxman Utekar are close to me and hence I was finding it difficult to say no to them. I did Mimi at my wife’s insistence. Perhaps, being a woman, she was able to connect better with the intricacies of the story. I’m glad I did the film, as it was well-loved by all. Even hardcore action directors had tears in their eyes after watching it.”
He was quite close to his father, Pandit Banaras Tripathy, who passed away in August this year. The actor asserts that he learnt a lot from his father, who wasn’t a film buff and only came to know of his son’s achievements by reading about them in newspapers. “Babuji was always very punctual. And I’ve imbibed that. He always maintained that change is possible through education, and it was education that gave me exposure, which led me towards drama and cinema. Books have contributed a lot to my life. I’ve been thinking of building a library in his name. I’ve adopted the primary school where I first studied and recently redeveloped the infrastructure.”
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