Pankaj Tripathi Reveals That Stars Want To Called Actors Now: 'Agar Woh Stardom Ka Darja Mil Jaye...'

Even as the gap between North and South cultures in the entertainment world shrinks, more actors are trying out different languages. But Pankaj Tripathi, with fans all over the country and a great list of films to his credit, prefers to stick to Hindi projects. He explained during a talk at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) that the reason behind this choice is the “language barrier.”

“I get a lot of good offers from Telugu film industry that too for big films. But I’m so busy with my Hindi movie commitments. It is also because I’m not able to speak the languages. I did one movie down South with this brilliant writer-director Veeru Potla (’Doosukeltha’). But when I was working on that movie, I realised that I’m not able to speak the language and I can’t say ABCD and act for the camera. So it is due to the language barrier. Otherwise, I would love to do something down south,” said the actor, who will be next seen in the film Kadak Singh, directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury of Pink fame.

Tripathi, recently featured in OMG 2, also discussed the distinction between a star and an actor. He noted that the trend of actors having a specific mannerism or style has faded away. “The trend of actors having a certain mannerism or style has diminished now. And even stars want to be called actors now,” he said, adding, “Agar woh stardom ka darja mil jaae toh hum apne create kiya hue mannerism me phass jaate hain and experimentation becomes difficult”.

In the discussion, when Mayank Shekhar, the moderator, highlighted that Tripathi didn’t receive due credit for his role in the film Run, the actor promptly said, “It’s the story of life. Kabhi credit milega, kabhi nahi. But one needs to continue working with honesty.”

That’s exactly what he did, regardless of how long or crucial his role was in the project. Interestingly, he received praise from the seasoned filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt after his performance in the 2017 satirical drama Newton. “He told me, ‘Pankaj, I’ve called you to say that you were very good in the film. In three or four places, you were out of focus in a wide angle shot as you were standing far behind. But still you were truthful to the craft. So just maintain this truth in your acting,’” he recalled.