C E L E B TA L K
Actor PANKAJ TRIPATHI tells SAIMI SATTAR that his chequered career choices, before venturing into acting, are a major reason why his portrayals on screen are classified as natural
Reel real is
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conversation with Pankaj Tripathi, even over the phone, gradually makes you slip into a time and place where you can almost visualise yourself sitting on a charpoy under a tree with the mellow winter sun streaming through. The discussion, without a trace of self-consciousness, is unhurried and leisurely yet, at the same time, to the point. I could almost imagine him shrugging at the other end of the line while answering questions that were political and had just the slightest connect with his films and professional life. Or more likely shaking his neck which, as per a viral meme, deserved an award for best acting. The actor has had a deluge of films and series, in the past 12 months, on the OTT platforms starting with Angrezi Medium going on to Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Mirzapur 2, Ludo, Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors, Shakeela and Kaagaz. Not surprisingly, he is considered the ‘man of 2020’ in entertainment. Tripathi himself concurs. “When I took a break
