PANKAJ TRIPATHI'S LONG ROAD TO STARDOM

There is no shortcut to success other than hard work" - Pankaj Tripathi

With roles in Mirzapur, Gangs of Wasseypur and more, Pankaj Tripathi is considered among India's most gifted actors. But the National Drama School graduate struggled to find a paid acting job for eight years when he first came to Mumbai.

- Senior Jounalist, Jyothi Venkatesh

Pankaj Tripathi's showbiz showbiz career reads like the quintessential 'Bollywood Struggler' story. Bitten by the acting bug as a Class 12 student after watching Pranita Jaiswal in Andha Kuan, Tripathi shored up his earnings by working overtime at a hotel, before going to graduate from the National School of Drama in 2004 (Nawazuddin Siddiqui was his senior). He then moved to Mumbai - and found almost no paid acting gigs for the next eight years. Tripathi did the rounds of all the production houses; when that didn't yield any results, he did it all over again. All this while, his wife was taking care of the household expenses. "I remember leaving home early to show my profile to different production houses but nobody was interested. I used to roam around in Andheri and urge people: 'Koi acting karwa lo (Someone please give me an acting job)' but it seemed like no one was listening," Tripathi recollects.