Pankaj Tripathi cried when he returned to the Patna hotel he used to work at: ‘Used to enter through back gate, now the GM welcomed me’

Pankaj Tripathi recently shared the importance of sincerity and hard work, as he recalled his own journey.

New Delhi | November 13, 2024 12:12 PM IST

3 min read

Pankaj Tripathi recalls the time when he worked at a hotel in Patna. (Photo: Pankaj Tripathi/Instagram)

Pankaj Tripathi often says that he never experienced the typical kinds of difficulties while trying to make it as an actor in Bollywood. He didn’t sleep on footpaths or starve. But that doesn’t mean he had it easy. Pankaj worked at a hotel in Patna in the early 1990s. This was during the time when he had just discovered his love for acting and theatre. Life changed for him after his appearance in the 2012 film Gangs of Wasseypur, but he spent several years trying to break out before that.

In a recent interview with The Lallantop, Pankaj Tripathi shared how he still is in touch with the people he worked with in the hotel in Patna. He said, “Just before coming to the event, I met about 15 staff from the hotel I worked at initially. I met Vikrant Massey, and the entire hotel staff started to tell him how we worked together.”

He recalled, “I used to enter the hotel from the back gate, where the staff used to enter from. Today, I got to enter from the main gate and the General Manager was present there to welcome me. It made me so emotional. So, these memories suddenly come back and it only makes me feel that everything is possible in life. With sincerity and hard work, you can achieve all your dreams.”

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Previously, speaking to PTI, Pankaj Tripathi shared, “I used to work in a hotel kitchen at night and do theatre in the morning. After finishing my night shift, I used to come back and sleep for five hours and then do theatre from 2-7pm and then again hotel work from 11-7 in the morning. I did it for two years.” This was the time when Manoj Bajpayee stayed at the hotel, and Pankaj sneakily stole a pair of his slippers as a memento.

The actor was in Patna for higher studies when he watched the play Andha Kuan, and fell in love with acting. He graduated in Hindi literature before moving to Delhi to get enrolled in the National School of Drama. Pankaj Tripathi was recently seen in the year’s biggest blockbuster Stree 2.

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