Pankaj Tripathi | The Success story of a great Bollywood Critic

Pankaj Tripathi, the famous face of Mirzapur and a great bollywood critic belongs to a Brahman family of Bihar. From his struggling days of middle age, doing petty roles to Being one of the most recognized bollywood stars. He has travelled a long journey that is worth to be shared.

Early Life

Pankaj Tripathi, the youngest of four children of Pandit Banares and Hemwanti Tripathi, was born on september 5, 1976, in a village in Indian state of Bihar.
Not having a very strong financial background, Pankaj’s father was engaged in agriculture and also worked as a priest.

And along with him, Pankaj also worked at the farm till he was 17 years old.
Now it’s an obvious question to arise, from where did the tint of acting fall upon him in this rural scenario?

Pankaj, belonging to a village, used to participate in all the village festive events. During his teenage, he had played the character of a girl in the dramas and plays. Villagers were quite amused to see him perform.
These initial and minor performances prompted his confidence about making a career in acting.

After completing his 10+2, He went to Patna for continuation of his eduaction at Institute of Hotel management. And Following his lead with acting , he did theatre and was strongly active in college politics as well.
Watching a wide variety of street shows made his fascination for dramas flourish more and more.

Pankaj Tripathi has always been sharply determined towards acting. But somehow the fear of failure in acting prompted him to take up a job in a hotel. Alongside he was working hard in a theatral background. Days for working at hotel and Nights for theatre, that was how his struggle story had begun.

Career

Pankaj, finally, after spending harsh seven months in Patna, decided to move to Delhi. Fortunately he passed the exam to enroll in the great institute of NSD -National School of Drama.

Devoting his complete 3 years to NSD, Pankaj got the graduation certificate. He planned his journey back to Patna to be the part of street shows.

A long time in Patna, and Pankaj realized , that street shows cannot feed you enough for entire life.
Eventually he planned his journey to the City of Dreams- MUMBAI along with his wife Mridula in october 2004.

This long time period of 7 years i.e, 2004 to 2011, required Pankaj’s patience and days and nights of handwork.

Throughout all these years, he appeared for an extended number of auditions. And did multiple small side roles for commercials, tv shows and movies. He never looked at his work from the view that made it look small.

In the fullness of time, the Breakthrough in his career took place after the release of Gangs of Wasseypur series in 2012. His antagonistic character of SULTAN had left an imprint on audience.

Since then, he has been casted in more than 60 films. He is recognized and awarded an enormous number of times and now stands as a Great Critic in bollywood.

Lessons We Can Learn

• From starting his journey with a tiny role in the movie RUN in 2004, To being the famous face of Mirzapur. Pankaj Tripathi has been through a long raspy path but his determination and will power were never down.
• He may not have anything but he never gave up his Internal strength.
• Whatever the role and pay scale be, his passion and energy were always on peak.
• His acceptance of even the small opportunities and his courage of overcoming all the hurdles that stood on his way, are truly inspiring for all the aspiring actors as well as individuals seeking a position like him.

Also Read: Nawazuddin Siddiqui: 12 long years of struggle