Pankaj Tripathi: Be it 6am or 2am, if I am in Delhi, I have to visit NSD

Pankaj Tripathi, who was recently filming in Delhi, revealed that he makes it a point to visit his alma mater National School of Drama (

NSD

) whenever he is in the capital, irrespective of his schedule. On his recent visit, we accompanied him to the drama school where he showed us the bench where he used to discuss plays, the classroom where he received a prem patra from his now wife, and the student union office where he used to spend a lot of time as a treasurer.
When he graduated from the drama school, he realised that it’s difficult to sustain as a theatre artiste in the Hindi belt, and so he left Patna for Mumbai. Now the actor is planning to do a couple of plays and told us, “Ab toh log dekhne aayenge.” Adding how difficult it was to convince people to come and watch plays during his initial days, he said, “Bihar mein main logon ko bolta tha ki main theatre karta hoon toh logon ko laga Sonpur ke mele mein theatre karta hai. Mujhe toh saal lag gaye logon ko convince karne mein ki yeh Sonpur mela wala theatre nahi hai.”

‘Once Nawaz sir and I visited NSD at 6am’
Talking about his frequent visits to NSD, Pankaj said, “Whenever I am in Delhi, I visit NSD. Main jahan ka hota hoon main wahan se connected rehta hoon. Main gaon bhi har teen-chaar mahine mein jata hoon. Main Dilli aaunga toh yeh sambhav hi nahi hai ki NSD na aaun. I have a photo from when Nawaz sir (Nawazuddin Siddiqui, his NSD senior) and I had to go for a shoot at 6am and we came to NSD before that. Hum dono 6 baje aaye aur 20 min baith ke chale gaye. Kai baar iss campus mein hum log subah 6 baje aur raat ke 2 baje aayein hain. Yeh darwaza dekh kay, iss bench par baith kar chale jate hain.”
The staff members of NSD said that while Pankaj regularly visits the campus, he never informs anyone and just sneaks in and out.
When Pankaj entered the drama school, he first stopped at NSD’s student union office, which was closed, so he sat outside on the stairs and said, “I have plenty of memories of this office. Our batch was the first to start the theatre festival with DU students. Shuruaat hum logon ne ki thi. We thought of doing inter-collegiate drama so that the drama society of each college could get an opportunity. We went to SRCC,

Miranda

, Players (KMC). I was the treasurer, so this whole drama festival started with my signature. We did it for two years, and then I passed out of NSD.”

‘Learnt a lot about acting at NSD’
Pankaj said that he has worked a lot in television as well. He said, “Bahut saare aise scenes hai jismein mera ek ya aadha role hai ya phir main background mein hoon. Zero se shuru karna hai to koi dusra tareeka hai nahin. Lekin achha lagta hai. Lagta hai jo bhi uplabdhi hai, woh meri apni achievement hai. Mujhe koi guide karne wala ya koi godfather milta toh main thoda credit unko ko bhi deta. Mere godfather mere NSD ke teachers and seniors hain.”
Talking about his learnings at NSD, which Pankaj still carries along with him, he said, “NSD taught me that acting is not just an impulse, but it is a craft, and there is a lot of technicality involved in this craft. In acting, even to be truthful, you need tools. I got that understanding from here.” Be it his role of Sultan Qureshi in Gangs Of Wasseypur to a Railway clerk in Masaan, the audience remembers those short-duration characters, and he gives credit for it to his NSD professors. He said, “I learnt how to create maximum with minimum here. Now when I am acting on a set, all of a sudden, I remember something that Prasanna Sir said or Anuradha ma’am told us.”

‘When I was a student,

Irrfan

sahab used to often visit NSD’

As the gallery of NSD is under renovation, some posters were shifted, including Pankaj’s play’s poster, which was a part of the permanent exhibit. But he found a poster of his batch’s play and recognised all the students in it. Showing an unrecognisable poster of Irrfan, the actor said that when he was studying at NSD, Irrfan used to regularly visit the school. He said, “Believe me, those conversations with our seniors were enriching. Irrfan bahut senior thay, Nawaz senior thay. Irrfan sahab se hamare peedhi ka har actor inspire hua hai. Main bhavuk ho jata hoon jab main unke baare mein baat karta hoon, mujhse bola nahi jata hai. Unhone bahut saare actors ko inspire kiya iss craft ko leke, behaviour ko le kar ki ek abhineta ka intellect kaisa hona chahiye; how should an actor’s onscreen and offscreen behaviour be; how should you see acting, etc. Usse pehle toh ek dharra hi tha. Irrfan sahab ne kuch aisa kiya ki laga yeh kya hai? Yeh toh iss formula ko break kar rahe hain.”
The actor says that he has seen only around 50-60 films in his life, and among these several films are of Irrfan. He says, “Whenever his films used to release, I somehow used to manage to watch them because those were his films. Seekhte thay hum unse. He was an institution.
Irrfan sahab ke baare mein duniya ko baad mein pata chala hoga lekin humein Maqbool aur Warrior dekh kar pata chal gaya tha ki yeh abhineta kuch aur hai. Parson hi mujhe unki yaad aayi, ro diya tha main (long pause).”
But what’s it about not watching films? He said, “It is usually in 9th-11th standard when you are attracted toward films, but even till 12th standard I didn’t have a TV at home. Going to the cinema hall used to be a sign of a spoiled kid. Kharab bachche cinema dekhne jaate hain aur hum apne aap ko kharab bachcha banne nahi dena chahte thay. I had no access to films till the 10th standard. I haven’t even seen a number of my films. Even for
series, I skip watching my scenes. After Powder (a TV series) someone said that I copied The Godfather. Then I watched The Godfather for 15 minutes because I wanted to find out how did I copy Marlon Brando without even watching the film.” He added, “I haven’t watched many films. Isiliye shayad mera abhinay thoda bacha hua hai kyunki koi influence hi nahi hai. Jab cinema ki sab baat karte hain to main chup ho jata hoon.”

Pankaj’s interaction with NSD students
NSD’s third-year students also joined Pankaj for a session, and when a student asked the actor, “Aap screen pe acting karte waqt itna sehaj kaise reh lete hain?” He responded that it is important for an actor to train his mind and body and said, “Martial arts ka guru kitna shaant hota hai. Lagta nahi hai woh hinsak hai.” He elaborated that he has acted in over 700 TV episodes, which familiarised him with the camera. When students spoke about stage fear, he told them that a little bit of fear is required because it keeps an actor under control and lets an actor explore. He said, “If you think that you know everything, the game’s over.”
In reply to a question on the comparison between cinema and theatre, Pankaj said that theatre is fun and it challenges him, whereas he finds cinema comparatively comfortable. He said that in theatre one gets an immediate response and that he’s planning to be back on the stage in a couple of years. He said, “I think in the next 3-4 years, theatre will get a push. I want to do theatre. And now I think people will also come to watch it. Mera ghar bhi chal jayega. Main 1-2 toh karna chahta hoon.”
A student wanted to know how Pankaj keeps his ego in check after achieving success. He responded, “The oxygen that I’m taking in and the oxygen that the actor who’s not doing well is breathing is the same. Yeh safalta-asafalta sab yahi dhara ka dhara reh jayega, hans udd jayega akela (reference to Kabir’s poem). Ego bahut khatarnak cheez hoti hai aur actor mein thodi zyada hoti hai. Kis baat ka ghamand? Aisa kya achieve kar liya humne?”