Pankaj Tripathi Opens Up On Being Typecast And Censorship On OTT

Currently, Pankaj Tripathi is one of the most sought-after actors in Bollywood. He’s known for his effortless portrayals of characters like Sultan Qureshi from Gangs of Wasseypur, Khanna Guruji from Sacred Games, Kaleen Bhaiya from Mirzapur, among others. The actor ventured into OTT, way before the OTT boom began during the pandemic. In a recent interview, he shared his thoughts on films, OTT platforms, censorship and more.

Watch Pankaj Tripathi starer’s short movie L on ZEE5.

On Prepping For Roles And Getting Typecasted

On being asked about how he approaches his roles and preps for them, Pankaj Tripathi claimed there were a few different ways. The actor states that a well-researched script is a great starting point as it already does character study. Then he added that personal experiences also help a lot. Tripathi claims he’s nothing like Kaleen Bhaiya or his character ‘Kehri Singh’ in Gurgaon, but he has seen or read about similar people and that’s what helped him prep for the role. Recalling a magic term in acting Tripathi states he always thinks ‘what if I was this guy’ and that really helps visualize the role.

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The actor also added that once the soul of the character is identified, he can work on the external mannerisms. However, he said there’s never a fixed process and it varies from role to role. Talking about the kind of roles he gets offered, the actor feels he is being typecast. He adds how almost every brief he gets is the same as that of a North Indian man.

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On The OTT World And Effects Of OTT On Cinema

When asked whether he had any inhibitions about doing OTT, Tripathi clearly refuted the statement. He added that he knew it’s not TV but more of a personal viewing experience that has a lot of scope. The actor said that OTT filmmakers wanted to tell stories and probably the big stars weren’t ready to enter the space, and that’s how actors like Pankaj Tripathi got the opportunity. He also talks about how the new and fresh content available on OTT is also now putting pressure on films to focus more on storytelling and performances.

Also Read: Pankaj Tripathi lends support to Narcotics Control Bureau on International Day against Drug Abuse

On Censorship And OTT

Adding his two cents to the censorship debate, Pankaj Tripathi claims that since there’s no censorship on OTT, people might go a little far, which is why he believes in self-censorship. He states that as an actor it’s his job to look at his roles and which is why he always questions himself while doing a scene whether whatever he’s doing, whatever expletives he’s speaking is really required for the story or not. Citing an example Tripathi states how he has hardly spoken three expletives in Mirzapur, although his memes might make it seem like there were more.

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