May 27, 2026 7:10pm IST
Pankaj Tripathi: ‘Creating a Platform for Young Talent Is My Payback to Theater’ (EXCLUSIVE)
For more than a decade, Pankaj Tripathi has steadily built one of Indian entertainment’s most distinctive careers, moving from acclaimed supporting turns to becoming a household name through characters like Kaleen Bhaiya in “Mirzapur” and Madhav Mishra in “Criminal Justice.”
After 12 years, Tripathi has returned to the stage with the musical production “Lailaaj.” He is co-producing the project under Roopkatha Rangmanch and is sharing the stage with his daughter, Aashi Tripathi.
Yet Pankaj Tripathi does not see the move as a return to unfinished business. The actor says, “I don’t want to prove myself again or return home,” Tripathi says in an exclusive conversation with Variety India. “Theater has given me so much in my life. Whatever I have become in my life is because of theater.”
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For him, the decision comes from a deeper sense of responsibility toward the medium that first gave him an identity. “Theater was a return gift to me, a payback. I thought, what can I do? So I thought, let’s make a group. The young talent who are struggling in Mumbai like us, we provide them a stage. So they will have a stage, their struggles will be reduced, they will get a stage, they will get an audience and they will also get to earn. So creating a platform for them is a kind of payback,” the ‘Mirzapur’ actor adds.
That thinking forms the foundation of Roopkatha Rangmanch, which Tripathi sees as more than a production banner and more as a long-term creative space for emerging performers. Even after years of screen success, the actor says he has never viewed himself through the lens of fame.
Pankaj Tripathi says, “I always consider myself an artist. Just like a doctor or an engineer, I am a professional artist. I go from home, I act, I come back.”
He says his participation in “Lailaaj,” where he has a relatively small appearance, also came from wanting to energize the team around him. “Here I have a small cameo, but it was because the team gets energy. So I thought, let’s energize them a little and I also became a part of it.”
The move into producing, however, has offered him a much wider creative canvas. “As an actor, your creative input is only in your character. But as a producer, whether it is stage, OTT or films, you get a little creative expansion in it. We are also seeing the storyline and others’ performances. We are also adding our experience there. So, it is a wholesome experience as a creative person.”
For someone who has spent years working in front of cameras, the theater still offers a very different adrenaline rush. “The performance of theater is always like living on the edge because if there is a mistake, then it will have to be corrected there. There is no possibility of a retake. Even in this small entry, behind the wings, I ride the cycle four times and practice where I will catch the bouquet and then come. Because everyone knows that there are no retakes here.”
“Lailaaj” also marks the first time Pankaj Tripathi is sharing the stage with his daughter Aashi Tripathi. But he says he consciously separates being a father from being a performer. “I am like a co-actor because I don’t give her any input. She learns on her own.”
Tripathi says the larger vision around Roopkatha Rangmanch is only beginning. “It is the beginning of a long-term creative space. After this, we will also stage realistic and different-style plays. We have to create a creative space where many young talents come in the future and show their talent,” Tripathi adds.
He also believes audiences themselves are changing. “Screen fatigue has happened in everyone’s life. Now we need something live which happens live in front of our eyes. In an auditorium like NCPA, 800 people came. We didn’t have much publicity or marketing. We did it with limited resources. Despite that, it was houseful.”
For an actor who today stands among India’s most recognizable screen faces, the return to theater does not sound like a comeback. It sounds more like gratitude for Pankaj Tripathi.
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