00:00Hi, Mr. Pankaj Tripathi. Thank you so much for speaking to Gulf News. By the way, your
00:10movie on Zee5 Global, Atal Main Hoon, is quite interesting. These biopics have become the
00:16rage in Bollywood, is it? Is that the way to go?
00:19Yes, nowadays people are making them. They should be made. Biopic films are basically
00:27inspiring stories, which are very important for the inspiration of the young generation.
00:36Why did you decide to take up this role though? I mean, as a leader, did you identify with
00:41Atal? Did you think political ideology matched with yours?
00:47Not political ideology. He was one of my favourite politicians, favourite orator, favourite poet.
01:00His poetry was brilliant and I found it very inspiring. I will not give up, I will not
01:06give up. So, this was enough reason for me to take up his role. Initially, I was a little
01:15bit worried about whether I will be able to perform convincingly or not. But in my surroundings,
01:23director, producer, my friend, everyone said, no, no, you are the correct choice. So, I
01:30said, let's try.
01:32Pankaj Tripathi, they are right because you are the right choice because I feel Atal Bihari
01:37Vajpayee generally is a very benign guy, very soft-spoken. He speaks his mind but he says
01:44it in a very unthreatening manner. In your case also, you have a similar personality,
01:49I feel. Do you think that both of you look at cinema, he looks at politics the same way
01:55with a kind of not aggressive approach?
01:57Yeah, yeah, yeah. I am with you.
02:02In fact, journey-wise also, both of us are from rural India. We have a journey of ordinary people.
02:21What was the toughest part about playing him? You said you admired him as well.
02:27Toughest part was writing. In two hours,
02:41what incident you have to keep or what left.
02:47And another thing is mimicry or imitation. How much I have to mimic or imitate him.
02:52And only the political rally, I have imitated a little bit. Apart from political rallies,
03:02I have not imitated him. I have done it in a very normal way. But the Indian audience
03:09starts looking for similarities, that he used to do this hand like this, he used to do that.
03:16So, I am trying to be more focused on his inner thoughts.
03:20Inner Atalji, not outer Atalji.
03:25And also it shouldn't be like a caricature.
03:37And how did you choose your roles? I remember when you came to IFA Abu Dhabi,
03:41you had the biggest cheers more than Salman Khan and any other actor, I remember.
03:46I want to ask you, do people think of you as a common man's hero?
03:51Because I am a common man's hero.
03:54So, I come from a common world and in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, people from my village are construction workers,
04:02they go to work. They didn't come to IFA, because if the entry was free,
04:08you would have seen that there would have been two lakh people, only from my village.
04:12They all are making Gulf country, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, infrastructure, everything.
04:18Migration, the area I belong from Bihar is a migration hub.
04:28But yes, I am a common man and another important thing is relatability in performance also.
04:48Right. You know, at one point, the kind of movies you do, they were called as
04:58offbeat cinema. Now offbeat has become mainstream.
05:04Do you think you are responsible for it largely? Because you started late,
05:09but you got fame through offbeat movies, which is now okay.
05:13I think stories are more important than me and this is the symbol of an evolved audience.
05:23The audience has evolved, so they started liking this kind of stories.
05:27And of course, it is my small role that I was a part of those stories.
05:36I was a part of those stories. That's it.
05:39The audience has evolved. After the internet came,
05:46people watch movies from all over the world. People know what is happening in the cinema.
05:52So, the audience has also evolved a lot from that.
05:56Right. Would you ever consider doing like a Korean series or a Spanish series? Because on
06:01any platform, be it Zee5 Global or any other platform, there are other languages as well,
06:07so would you consider doing it or is language an issue with you?
06:13I have a language barrier and apart from language barrier, I am extremely busy in Hindi films,
06:21Hindi series. I have literally no time. So, I am not able to do live performance theater for many
06:30years and I am missing that theater, live performance. So,
06:37yes, of course, if I get a chance, I will definitely do it. But I am extremely busy in Hindi and
06:42language barrier is another important material because if I don't understand the language,
06:47I can't give my 100% in performance. But you need to tell me your Bihar to
06:54Bollywood journey, do you look at it and go like I've done a good job
06:58or do you look at it like, you know, I came, you know, I worked my time,
07:03it was all through hard work. How do you look at your journey?
07:06No, no, it's an inspiring journey for others and fruitful journey for me because
07:15it's really tough to making a Hindi film career. It's near about impossible.
07:30So, it can be inspiring for others and again, someone was asking me last night,
07:36I didn't think that much in my life. Basically, I am a happy person.
07:51No, I am happy in any roles. But luckily, a lot has happened.
07:57It's more than we expected. Of course, sincerity, hard work, talent, craft
08:05and changing timing, audience is also a contribution. OTT platforms make me big.
08:17Zee5 Global or other platforms, when they came to India, they made a talent like us big.
08:25But is that a good thing though? Do you think that OTT platforms have helped actors like y'all
08:32as well to get more? Yes, yes. Masala entertainers, Jawan Patel come every month.
08:40OTT has a big role to give platform and recognition to a lot of talent,
08:50not only me. Nowadays, every good actor is busy in Mumbai doing some web show or some OTT films.
09:04When TV actors and movie actors, there was a demarcation. But between web CD actors and
09:12movie actors, there's not much difference. People are okay with it. Do you think that is also an
09:16important thing? There is no discrimination. Because the actors who work on OTT are genuinely
09:23talented. Without talent, you can't survive on OTT. The easier the audience enters, the easier
09:33they exit. Because you are in their pocket. It's not on your screen. Even if they exit,
09:43the box office counts. And the platform knows how many people have exited in how many minutes.
09:50So the easier it is to enter OTT, the easier it is to exit. So without talent,
09:54without storytelling, you can't hold here. That is so cool. Pankaj Tripathi,
10:00what's your process like? I want to know like every role you do, I feel that's you.
10:06And then I know I see you in another role, like say Sacred Game, then I'm like you could be that
10:11also. So are you a method actor? What do you do? Like what's your process?
10:16I'm trying to be believable.
10:23And without much changes.
10:42I would have been like Atal ji if I was a politician.
10:46Literally. Really?
10:47Yes. Because his opponents also respected Atal ji.
10:54Right. That's true.
10:56So it's difficult in politics these days. But that was with Atal ji. Every party, every political
11:02person respects him and has high regards for him. So if I was in politics, I would have been like
11:10this. I don't have enmity with anyone.
11:13I love it so much. Pankaj ji, you should start this. Apart from being an actor,
11:17you should be a TED speaker for sure. But thank you so much for entertaining us. Atal
11:23ji was such a good, it was such a good portrayal. And you didn't go overboard,
11:27very contained acting. Thank you. I didn't know much about the political figure,
11:32but I learned a lot. Thank you.
11:34Thank you, Manju. Thank you so much.
11:36You take care and thank you for entertaining us.
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