What Pankaj Tripathi had to say about India’s Got Latent and Ranveer Allahbadia, language and self-censorship

Amish Tripathi: I have always felt that you are one actor who is still connected to his roots. So tell us something about your childhood

In north Bihar in Gopalganj district there is a small river called Gandak and it has a tributary on whose banks stands the village of Belsand. I was born there in a farming family. I was brought up in the village. I have always studied in a government school. I think my studies over my entire life would not have cost more than Rs 1 lakh — from Class I to the National School of Drama. I had never thought that there would be a day when people like you would sit down to pay attention to a person like me

Amish Tripathi: We have heard that Bollywood has a lot of gatekeepers. How could you enter through this wall of gatekeeping?

I am like a breeze, I can permeate through anything. How can you keep the breeze out of a gate? It finds its own way. Though I have encountered many doors as well! I came to Mumbai in 2004, when there was no internet, there were no casting agencies. So we would literally go door to door and meet the watchmen there. They would keep a carton of sorts beside them and would ask us to drop our photographs in them. They would say that these pictures would be taken upstairs to the director later and their assistants would sort it out. I don’t even remember how many boxes I would have dropped my photos into. I remember once a friend got a casting opportunity in one of the crime shows. The setup was of a police station and in the station you have this notice board with photographs of wanted criminals. My friend called me to say that my photo was there on the Wanted board! I was wondering how it got there but then I remembered that I dropped my photograph there and since the Art department always requires pictures of criminals, they must have picked my photo and pasted it there.

Jyoti Sharma Bawa: You hail from a small village in Bihar and today you are one of the prominent faces in the country. Is this an exception or is it something which others can replicate?

Of course, it can be replicated. If it has happened once, then it can certainly happen again. It can be recreated again.

Jyoti Sharma Bawa: So now that you are narrating stories, tell us how Pankaj Tiwari became Pankaj Tripathi.

Tripathi and Tiwari are the same. There was an elderly person in my village, Prof Ram Naresh Tripathi. My father was Pandit Banaras Tiwari and my uncle Kanshiram Tripathi. Of the two Tripathis I knew, one became a professor and another an officer in the Patna Secretariat. So when I was filling my Class X admit card, I thought all this had to do with a surname — those who retained the Tiwari surname were still in villages and engaged in farming and the two people who changed their surname to Tripathi became big people. So I changed my surname to Tripathi and also changed my father’s name in his documents to Tripathi. I would be the first-ever son who has changed the surname of his father.

Amish Tripathi: Bollywood is tough business. I have family in Varanasi and in Gorakhpur and now they know all Telugu and Kannada actors. In small towns (in North India), people are watching dubbed Telugu and Kannada movies. They are successful while Bollywood movies are not very successful. Is it because we are getting distant from our roots? Are they being made only for Bandra and Juhu and not for people of Gorakhpur?

Yes, I think so. If the story is not rooted, people will fail to connect to it. In the ’90s and even before, cinema used to be magic. Now the audience does not seem to connect with the characters. The audience is looking for stories that are rooted.

Also Read | Pankaj Tripathi opens up about Bollywood’s disconnect with the audience: ‘There is no magic in cinema anymore…’

Amish Tripathi: I have heard that in Hindi cinema, the scripts of Hindi dialogues are provided in Roman script, which may not be true for Telugu or Kannada cinema.

Correct. It’s because many of the makers don’t know how to read Devanagari. I respect all languages but I read scripts in Devanagri. Manoj Bajpayee does so too and so does Amitabh Bachchan.

Jyoti Sharma Bawa: Apart from the issue of rootedness, Anurag Kashyap has also spoken on the lack of experimentation.

He is absolutely correct. For instance, after the success of Stree 2, just see how many horror comedies will be produced in the coming two years. It will be a situation where people will stop being afraid of horror films and stop laughing at comedies.

I remember there was a time when there was an item song in every movie. The directors would often say the audience demands it. I used to wonder if the audience was writing letters to them seeking item songs. But the fact is that the producers were copying what was successful and they thought if it was a hit once then it would be successful again. But people ultimately get bored.

I am offered roles of a character like Kaleen Bhaiya (of Mirzapur fame) once every week. So the formula is to keep minting till it works until it hits you badly.

Amish Tripathi: Are you spiritual by nature? Tell us something about Kumbh? You had gone there.

Yes, I had gone there, it was a beautiful experience. I visited an ashram there. I wanted to meet Avdheshanand ji Maharaj, but it was very crowded and I could not reach there. It was a long standing wish of mine and my wife. We took snan at Sangam there, no one in our family has done it before.

Amish Tripathi: You had a long period of struggle. How helpful was spirituality in the days of struggle?

What spirituality does is that it keeps your hopes alive. It makes you think that everything is possible, it also tells you that we are human and have our limitations. We need to leave a lot to the ultimate power. I leave things to the Almighty.

Jyoti Sharma Bawa: Are there any roles in your career that you didn’t want to do?

There is a lot of abusive language after the advent of OTT, so I have decided that if it is not necessary and even if it is necessary, I will avoid it. Writers and directors decide a lot of things but still I have made some rules for myself. Let’s see how long I can stick to my resolution.

ALSO READ: Pankaj Tripathi on Ranveer Allahbadia controversy: ‘There should be no pride in uttering nonsense…’

Jyoti Sharma Bawa: A programme called India’s Got Latent and comments made by Ranveer Allahbadia are much in news and controversy these days. You just talked about language. In OTT, this has worsened though vulgar words have been used before too. Should they be curtailed?

Look, OTT is an American concept. Five people watch it on five different screens. It is not TV. It is made for personal viewing, not for family viewing. So I don’t know what my daughter is watching on her tab. It’s not for community viewing. But as a storyteller and director there must be some self-censorship, there should be some sensitivity to what is being told and how it is being told. And which scene is necessarily required for the story to move ahead.

Jyoti Sharma Bawa: As a country, how are we responding? Is our response measured?

The thing with the internet is that a lot of people become popular faces all of a sudden. They find name and fame, but where is the sensibility? Do they have the required intelligence, in terms of literary knowledge, social behaviour, etc? Society is a lot of things, and one needs to know the cultural value of the society we are living in.

Just because there is no clear censorship, it doesn’t mean you can say anything in the name of entertainment. See, it is okay to have fun saying nonsense, but it is not okay to have pride in uttering nonsense. But more importantly, it should never be purely nonsensical. Anyone can get viral, but just like a viral illness, it will be there for a few days, and then we move on. The why and how of success determines a lot of things. Of course, I am not arguing about who is right or wrong but if you have the power of the word, and people are influenced by what you are saying, then it is important you shoulder that responsibility with a lot of care.