“Acha hua Newton ke liye mil gaya, warna bharosa uth gaya tha,” said Pankaj Tripathi while receiving the Best Supporting Actor (Male) award for his nuanced performance in Newton at the first edition of News18 Reel Movie Awards held in Mumbai.
It’s a strange place to be in, say actors and insiders about the film industry. It takes time for a talent to get noticed and even more for it to establish itself. One may find stars all around, but spotting an actor seems a task. Tripathi, a performer par excellence, made his debut in Bollywood in 2004 but it wasn’t until 2012 that he came into the limelight. His performance in Gangs Of Wasseypur earned him laurels and accolades at several platforms, but he still didn’t receive as much attention and praise that he deserved. In 2015, his film Masaan turned out to be a cine-buff’s delight and, in 2016, his work in Nil Battey Sanatta further cemented his credentials as a bankable actor.
But it was primarily in 2017 that Tripathi’s distinct characters and deserving performances fetched attention as well as adulation and made him a household name. In the span of one year, Tripathi featured in seven films - each seemingly better than the last. His year started with Coffee With D wherein he played Girdhari, the CEO of the dreaded don D. His “phone mein balance nahi hai” dialogue and other well-timed punches proved to be great comic relief in an otherwise forgettable film. In March, Tripathi played Rangeela alongside Swara Bhaskar’s Anaarkali in Avnish Das’ Anaarkali Of Aarah. Even though the story revolved around Anaarkali’s confrontation with a petty vice chancellor played by Sanjay Mishra, it was Tripathi’s coward boss act that held the narrative together.
In Munna Michael, he featured alongside Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Tiger Shroff and played an aid to Nawazuddin’s gangster character, Mahender Fauji. Despite the film being a flop in more ways than one, his antagonist Balli had his head held high. He then played a real estate tycoon in Shanker Raman’s film Gurgaon. Perhaps the only film that had Tripathi as a rightful protagonist. The film is a work of art and so is his performance. The nuances of a father and a shrewd businessman flow effortlessly in the hands of Tripathi. September saw him turn into a cynical CRPF commandant Aatma Singh for Amit V Masurkar’s Newton. He heads the security forces and takes charge of the film almost as equally as Rajkummar Rao. Tripathi matches Rao frame to frame and scene to scene. He understands the unpredictability of his character Aatma, incredibly delivering even the simplest of dialogues and the plainest of expressions.
He balanced the intense first half of his acting year with the portrayal of a jovial and evidently progressive father in Bareilly Ki Barfi and later by reprising his role of Pandit in Fukrey Returns. The two sides of a father- both supportive and emotional- were brought to life as he made smooth transitions on screen. From secretly smoking a cigarette with her daughter Bitti (Kriti Sanon) to worrying about her future and marriage- he pulled off a character much above his real-life age with no false notes. He then came as the sole relief in the otherwise dull and dragged-out sequel of the much-enjoyed 2012 film Fukrey. It's perhaps the truthfulness in his performance that makes him shine brighter than some stars even as the industry continues to place him in the supporting cast.
It took Bollywood nearly 12 years to take notice of Tripathi and still so, the star-studded award ceremonies fail to reward his merits. But the actor holds no grudges and believes that it’s all a part of the game. “Chane ka daana dabaya jaata hai dharti mei marne ke liye nahi balki ankurit hone ke liye (seeds aren't planted in the earth to die, but to flower). If I'd have received success early on in my life, I think I wouldn't have valued it that much. I had to go through a long period of struggle and I'll value the success even more now. I didn't expect people to appreciate me so much. It took time, but now the audience understands my craft. I wish every year turns out like 2017,” he had said in an earlier interview with News18.com.
The actor, who received the award from Richa Chadha, his co-star of four films including Masaan and the Fukrey series, dedicated it to the Indian poet Kedarnath Singh, who had breathed his last a day before the award ceremony, and recited a part of his poem- “Uska haath apne haath mei lete hue maine socha, duniya ko haath ki tarah garam aur sundar hona chaiye.”
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