Pankaj Tripathi: Never felt that I have arrived

NEW DELHI: Acclaimed actor Pankaj Tripathi said that he never felt that he has "arrived" in the industry, and shared how he works with equal sincerity and honesty in every project.

Pankaj made his acting debut in 2004. He was later seen in films such as ‘Apharan’, ‘Bunty Aur Babli’, ‘Omkara’, ‘Raavan’, ‘Chillar Party’ and ‘Agneepath’ to name a few.

However, it was in 2012, that he gained prominence for his acting prowess in ‘Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1’, after which there was no looking back for him.

Now that he has been in the industry for almost two decades, does he feel he has finally arrived in the industry?

Pankaj told IANS: "I never felt that I have arrived. I do my work with all my honesty. So, I don't know when I came. I work with the same sincerity and hard work in every project."

The actor, who is from the Gopalganj district of Bihar, has often stood out with his performances and has given memorable characters such as Kaleen Bhaiya, Madhav Mishra, Bhanu and Pandit.

Portraying his characters come to him naturally, said the actor, who plays one suffering from retrograde amnesia in the latest release ‘Kadak Singh’.

"Such roles come to me naturally. I don't do anything. I am fortunate that I get such good scripts," added the two-time National Film Award-winner.

He went on: "It's a conscious decision. I feel cinema is not only for entertainment. It is more than entertainment. Cinema has its social responsibility. I maintain a balance of commercial, independent and sensible cinema."

With each performance, he ups his own game. How does he play each role with so much conviction?

"Everyone has their own method. So I won't say it is missing in others. My method is this, others have different procedures. I do according to my upbringing and training," said the actor who graduated from National School of Drama in 2004.

Pankaj concluded that there are many roles that he still has to play on the screen.

In his latest film ‘Kadak Singh’, the 47-year-old actor is seen sharing screen space with Sanjana Sanghi. In the film directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, Pankaj plays the character of A.K. Shrivastav, a man suffering from retrograde amnesia who gets caught in a web of lies as he tries to recover his memory.

'Kadak Singh' is streaming on ZEE5.