Exclusive! Pankaj Tripathi throws light on his acting choices

Actor Pankaj Tripathi is all set for the release of his next film Gurgaon on August 4. He talks about the film, his career, acting choices, and independent cinema in an interview with Nishant Singh

Read on…

Tell us something about your upcoming film Gurgaon.

It’s a noir thriller and the story is based in Gurgaon. I have the central role of Kehri Singh, a man who started as a farmer and became a real estate tycoon. He loves his daughter a lot.

You hail from Bihar and have been living in Mumbai for the past 10 years. How difficult was it to play a Haryanvi character?

I had to face many problems adapting to the dialect. However, whenever my role demands a dialect, I intentionally do not go for pure and authentic dialects. If I speak pure Haryanvi dialect, the pan-Indian audience will find it difficult to understand. I keep the flavour but not the exact dialect. For this particular role, it helped that I stayed in Delhi for a while as a student.

You’re known to play diverse characters. How do you prepare and how long does it take you to prepare for each role?

Every character written within the script guides you. It speaks for itself and tells you how to create it on screen. My preparation time is 42 years; that is my age. Apart from that, I never see life in shades of black. I’m a very simple man who belongs to the middle class, the son of a farmer. I go out to buy vegetables. Today I prepared lunch for my daughter and sent her to school. So such things help me to prepare for these roles and real-life experiences.

Why is there so much disparity between the so-called ‘big star, big budget movies,‘ and small budget movies?

See, a movie like Nil Battey Sanata is made on a budget of two crores. In big movies, a single song is shot on more budget than that. So, we actually can’t compare these two. The life of small movies is longer. Even if it earns four crores, people remember independent movies. When you’ll grow old, you’ll tell your kids to watch Nil Battey Sanata. You can never judge art by box office collections. Gurgaon is releasing next to SRK’s Jab Harry Met Sejal. You can’t possibly compare the two movies or their audience.

Independent cinema is on a rise and is giving mainstream movies a run for their money. Do you think they can be at par eventually?

Why not? Even in independent cinema, I am entertaining the viewer. I won’t bore the audience in the name of realism. There is a very fine line between effortless and bloodless performance. When it becomes bloodless, it becomes boring. I am a trained actor, I read a lot. I want to send my message across while I entertain.

You enjoy cooking a lot. In one interview, you said ‘Cooking is like acting’. Can you please elaborate on that for us?

Every person has their own interests. Mine is cooking and travelling. When you travel to a new place, you definitely look at its food. Food is as diverse as the world. And I enjoy absolutely all kinds of food. When you have exposure to this diversity, your acting also develops many flavours.

How has your almost decade-long journey been so far in the industry?

I think you should tell me that! I really don’t know. The biggest change is that earlier I used to go looking for work. Now the work comes to me while I’m at home.

Any interesting anecdote from the sets of Gurgaon?

It is a very professionally-shot film. Usually, there is so much chaos and noise on the sets, but here it was quite silent. The director (Shanker Raman) is so interesting. He doubled up as a life coach for us. We felt that we would love to keep listening to him.

What defines Pankaj Tripathi?

I’ve said a lot already. I love travelling and cooking. I talk a lot. I have a lot of thoughts to talk about. I feel that whether an actor has a six-pack or not, he should definitely have thoughts.

Your upcoming projects….

There is a film called Newton which I am a part of. Then there is Bareilly Ki Barfi and Fukrey Returns. There are a few films lined up.

If not an actor, what would you have been?

Maybe a politician, I was involved in student politics. I could have even been a farmer.