Pankaj Tripathi
Quick Facts
- Name: Pankaj Tripathi
- Birthday: 5th September 1976
- Age: 42 years
- Height: 5′ 10”
- Birthplace: Belsand
- Profession: Actor
- Net Worth : $500,000 – $1M
- Spouse: Mridula Tripathi (m. 2004)
- Education: National School of Drama
- Awards: Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor, Zee Cine Award for Best Dialogue
- Nationality: Indian
- Residence: Mumbai, India
Introduction
Pankaj Tripathi is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Bollywood films and web series. He is famous for his natural acting and skills. So far, he has worked in more than 40 films and 60 television shows. The actor roe to fame with his supporting role in the film, “Gangs of Wasseypur,” in which he essayed the role of a ‘Sultan.’
Early Life
Pankaj Tripathi was born in a Sanatani Hindu Brahmin family in Belsand, a village in Gopalganj District in the Indian state of Bihar on 5th September 1976, and rose through the ranks to become one of the finest actors that Bollywood has ever produced. He completed his schooling in DPH school in Gopalganj. He was interested in acting from a very early age and used to enact a girl in his village Natak’s during Chhath festive seasons. His performance was hailed by the audiences and that prompted him to try his luck in films. After completion of his high school, he relocated to Patna and enrolled at the Institute of Hotel Management, Hajipur, During his college days, he was involved with theatre and also associated with college politics. He got imprisoned due to a protest and spent some days behind the bars. After getting bail, he saw a play named ‘Andha Kuaan’ which inspired him a lot to join the acting field. After completion of his education, he worked at a 5-star hotel in Patna. After working there for a few years, he relocated to Delhi and enrolled at the National School of Drama. He finally graduated from there in 2004. His height is 5′ 10”. His net worth is $500,000 – $1M at post time (2019). His spouse is Mridula Tripathi (m. 2004).
After Graduation
After graduating from the National School of Drama, Tripathi moved to Mumbai in 2004, Firstly he played the role of a politician in the Tata Tea ad and subsequently performed an unaccredited role in the film Run. In 2012, he made his breakthrough, when he was widely acclaimed for his role in Gangs of Wasseypur. His audition for the film went on for approximately eight hours. In 2008, he acted in the Bahubali TV series, and later in Powder on Sony TV. In his early career, he played mostly negative roles and became synonymous with gangster characters. Later, he played a variety of roles and won critical appraisal for the same. His first film as a lead actor was the 2017 film Gurgaon. His 2017 film Newton was India’s official entry for the Academy Award in the best foreign film category.
Pankaj Tripathi made his debut in Tamil cinema with the film Kaala, which was released on 7 June 2018. He also appeared in the 2018 web series Mirzapur. The audience loved both the seasons of Mirzapur and Pankaj Tripathi received great appreciation and love from his fans and critics. Moreover, he gave his best in the web series Sacred Games.
Filmography
Some of his noteworthy works are mentioned below ;
1. Gangs Of Wasseypur
Gangs of Wasseypur is a crime movie directed by Anurag Kashyap. So, the movie has 2 sequels. Although it was shot altogether and surrounds 321 minutes. The movie was on screen in 2012 and at that time no Indian Theatre volunteered more than a five-hour film. So, the movie was split into two parts. Gangs of Wasseypur revolves around the cold mafia of Dhanbad. It encircles the three crime families and their politics and struggle. Along with Pankaj Tripathi, Manoj Bajpai, Richa Chadda, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Hume Qureshi were also a part of the movie. For the director Anurag Kashyap, the Tamil Film Subramaniapuram is the only inspiration to which he decided to direct this movie.
2. Mirzapur
Mirzapur is a television series streamlining on Amazon Prime Video. It is an action crime thriller series written by Puneet Krishna and Vineet Krishna. This series is divided into two seasons and it is the third Indian Original of Amazon Prime Video after Inside Edge and Breathe. So, the series is based on the rule of Kaleen Bhaiya (Pankaj Tripathi) who is the mafia don and the ruler of Mirzapur. Mirzapur is specifically a Purvanchal region in Uttar Pradesh. Along with Pankaj Tripathi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Divyendu Sharma, Shweta Tripathi, Harshita Gaur, and Rasika Dugal were also a part of the first season of Mirzapur. Mirzapur turned out to be the most popular web series in India.
3. Extraction
Extraction is an American movie in which many Bollywood stars played a significant role. Sam Hargrave is the director of the movie and features Rudraksha Jaiswal, Randeep Huda, Golshifteh Farahani, Pankaj Tripathy, and David harbor. It revolves around a Black Ops mercenary who has to rescue the drug Lord’s kidnapped son. The opposers kidnapped his son in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The extraction came on-screen on 24 April 2020 on Netflix and received amazing reviews from critics. Everybody praised the performance of all the actors but some of them even pointed out excessive violence. Eventually, the movie became the most-watched original film in Netflix’s history.
4. Gurgaon
Gurgaon is the first movie in which Pankaj Tripathi gave his debut. The movie came on screen in 2016 and it is a thriller movie that Shankar Rahman directed. It features Akshay Oberoi, Arjun Fauzdar, and Ragini Khanna. The movie revolves around the metropolis of Gurgaon/Eventually, the movie is also on screen in the International Film Festival and awards in Macao and globally as well. It won Prasad DI Award at the National Film Development Corporation film bazaar in the year 2015.
5. Newton
Pankaj Tripathi even got a special mention for the movie Newton. Newton was on screen in the year 2017 and it is a black comedy-drama film and Amit V Masurkar directed it. Moreover, the other stars of the film are Raj Kumar Rao. Anjali Patel, Raghubir Yadav, and Drishyam films produced it. Newton is premiered globally and had nominations for eight awards at the Filmfare award. The movie had nominations for the best film critics, best actor for Rajkumar Rao, Best Supporting Actor for Pankaj Tripathi, and best story. Consequently, Rajkumar Rao won the Asia Pacific screen award for the best actor and Newton got the award of National Film Award for a best feature film in Hindi. For the movie, Pankaj Tripathi won a special mention in the National Film Awards. It received an entry for the best foreign-language film in the 90th Academy Awards.
6. Sacred Games
Pankaj Tripathi had a significant role in one of the most famous web series Sacred Games. It is a crime thriller streaming television series that is based on Vikram Chandra. It is the first Netflix original series of India that Vikramaditya Mandavane and Anurag Kashyap directed together. The series includes many seasons and the first season was on-screen on 5th July 2018 on Netflix. Sacred game is the only Indian series that appeared on the New York Times the best international TV shows of the decade list.
Apart from all the blockbuster hits and highest viewed web series in Pankaj Tripathi biography, he also worked in the movies like Apharan, Omkara, Dharm, Shaurya, Chintu Ji, Pyar Bina Chain Kaha Re, Raavan, Aakrosh, Chillar Party, Agneepath, Dabangg, Fukrey, Run, Gunday, Singham Returns, Nil Bate Sannata, Bareilly ki Burfi, Fukrey Returns, Munna Michael, Super 30, Extraction and many more. Now he is going to return with a new film Mimi which released on Netflix soon. The film 83 is completed but not yet producers have not yet promoted it and Bachchan Pandey is still under filming.
Pankaj Tripathi also did some TV shows like Time Bomb, Zindagi ka Rang-Gulaal, Powder, Sarojini, and some of the web series like Sacred Games, Mirzapur, Criminal Justice, and Yours Truly.
Criticism And His Response
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.
“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 arrogance. I could have if I would have got successful at the age of 30! I have crossed 45 now, and every achievement makes me humble and not arrogant,” explained the actor.
Top 13 Interesting Facts About Pankaj Tripathi
Till the time he was in the 11th standard in school, he worked as a farmer.
He enjoyed playing the role of girls in his village’s natak during the festive seasons which is how he pursued acting as a career.
After completing high school, he moved to Patna and studied at the Institute of Hotel Management in Hajipur.
During his time in college, he did a lot of theatres and also actively took part in college politics as a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
He was also jailed in 1993 once for 7 days while he participated in raising his voice against the state government which was ruled by Lalu Prasad Yadav at the time.
He enrolled himself in the National School of Drama in New Delhi thrice and graduated from there in 2004.
After completing graduation from NSD, he moved to Mumbai in 2004 and made his debut in ‘Run’.
His major breakthrough came with ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ in 2012 for which he auditioned for almost 8 hours.
The first film in which he played the lead actor was ‘Gurgaon’ in 2017.
His father wanted him to be a doctor.
Pankaj Tripathi likes to work with like-minded people and would always look for such opportunities more than big banners/films.
Tripathi joined RSS at a very young age and started visiting its “Shakhas.”
His wife is a teacher in Goregaon, Mumbai.
Harshita Vankadaru
Writer
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