Pankaj Tripathi, the popular actor known for his role as Kaleen Bhaiya in the web series Mirzapur, is now a Bollywood superstar giving hit films and web series one after another.
Hailing from a small village in Bihar, Tripathi’s acting journey has been full of challenges and the struggle phase of his life has helped him to make a name in the city of dreams, Mumbai.
Whenever we hear the story of a big celebrity, we always pay attention to his success. But most of us don’t see how much struggle that person has gone through to achieve that success.
Pankaj Tripathi’s journey of moving from a small village to a city and creating one’s own identity is also full of challenges. Today, he is a big name in Bollywood, especially in the OTT space and his story of getting success is quite inspiring.
Beginning of the Journey
Pankaj Tripathi belongs to Belsand village in Bihar’s Gopalganj district where his father used to work as a farmer and Hindu priest. He has also worked as a farmer with his father till 11th standard.
After high school, he moved to Patna to study and then did a course in hotel management. He even worked as a kitchen supervisor in Patna’s Maurya Hotel.
That was such a period in the life of Pankaj Tripathi when no one knew that a man from Bihar who worked in the kitchen, would one day become a Bollywood superstar.
It’s not easy to move out from a village and establish oneself in a metropolis like Mumbai where thousands of people come to try their luck in acting. But, Pankaj Tripathi persevered throughout his struggle phase and today he is well-known for his method acting skills.
Rejected Twice for NSD
Every actor’s dream is to get admission to the National School of Drama (NSD), the popular theatre training institute and learn acting from there. Pankaj Tripathi also wanted to be a part of NSD, but on the first attempt, he did not get a seat in NSD.
Tripathi Ji did not give up and started preparing vigorously for his second attempt. He was hopeful that this time he would be selected. But unfortunately, this time too, he had to face disappointment.
What happened after this was that he again made a third attempt, left everything and came to the village. A few days later, Tripathi Ji was sitting near his window, and it was raining heavily outside. Then he saw that a postman had brought a white letter with the NSD logo on it. He realized that this time he had been selected for NSD.
Every year, around 20 to 25 people are selected for NSD. Pankaj Tripathi was the only person from Bihar that year, and even after getting into NSD he had to face a lot of problems.
Along with him, there were about 19 other candidates who were from different states. Everyone’s language and dialect were quite different, and it was not easy for Pankaj Tripathi to prove himself and make a place for himself.
There, he had to perform many dramas. Tripathi Ji had done more than 35 plays before joining NSD. Even after that, he had to work very hard in NSD so that he could make his mark in the world of Bollywood.
First Movie to OTT Superstar
Pankaj Tripathi entered the world of films for the first time in 2004. He started his career with the movie, Run. In that movie, his role was only for 10 seconds. That 10-second character changed the luck of Pankaj Tripathi forever.
After that, he has shown his artistry in many films and web series, which has given him many big achievements. Even today, the character of Kalin Bhaiya from the Mirzapur web series is very much liked.
Pankaj Tripathi has worked very hard behind this due to which he has reached the position where he is today. He first got success in the OTT releases, but now he is also praised for his roles in movies.
Recently, he even talked about being tagged just as an OTT actor asserting that his upcoming acting projects will be released in theatres.
His acting skills are praised by everyone and because of his performance, Panjak Tripathi has won many awards — the recent being the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in the movie, Mimi.
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