Pankaj Tripathi needs no introduction, nor do his roles. He is his own institution. Along with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, he is part of a group of character actors in Bollywood who have slowly made their space — from being the hero’s friend or the heroine’s uncle to parallel leads.
The National School of Drama alumnus had his breakthrough moment in Anurag kashyap’s two-part Gangs of Wasseypur in 2012, playing Sultan. Since then, he has cemented his position as an actor that you would watch a movie for, even if Tripathi is not the lead.
But with fame and success comes the issue of the quirky becoming the mainstream, something that happening with the actor. Look at his last few offerings.
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The ‘Tripathi’ character
After an actor’s certain role becomes a huge hit, filmmakers start to see the performer from that very lens and script roles with similar traits. And Tripathi is not the first who appears moving towards that trap. It is a typecast Bollywood constantly struggles with.
Earlier, it used to be more about the heroes and villains, and an actor could play either or. Or be a Johnny Lever or Kader Khan.
Bollywood’s doing the same to Tripathi. He is a character now — a north Indian small town villain, be it in Mirzapur (2018) or Gurgaon (2017). Or a humorous, quirky character like in Stree (2019), Ludo (2021) or Mimi (2021).
Tripathi, who can be credited for giving life to these characters with his sheer talent, also risks being typecast. Now other actors would want to play a Tripathi, especially the newcomers. This becomes a double-edged sword. It is what Ayushmann Khurrana does now–social cause movies that have humour. This tells less about the actor or his talent and more about how Bollywood cages the former in an image.
In an interview to The Indian Express, Tripathi talks about how a script even mentioned his signature neck movement as Kaleen Bhaiya of Mirzapur.
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Typecast actors
From Alok Nath as the benign patriarch to Bindu as the mother-in-law, versatile actors have been given certain roles over and over again, which has led a shadow to fall on their acting prowess and diversity as an actor.
Decades ago, when Sushmita Sen made her debut in Bollywood with Dastak (1996), she was offered the role of a Miss Universe! Who can forget Sunny Leone’s roles in various movies, where she alternated between a sex worker and a pornstar, simply because of her past profession?
While OTT platforms have democratised the space for actors and the diverse roles being offered, it also sometimes tends to slip into the formulaic space, knowing a certain kind of storyline or plot or character ‘sells’.
The audience today knows what it wants in terms of diversity and quality. As such, resorting to formula should really be the last resort.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)