Panchayat’s Pankaj Jha seems taking an indirect jab at Pankaj Tripathi for ‘glamourizing struggle’; Says ‘Feel every situation is a learning experience’

MUMBAI: In an interview, Pankaj Jha, the actor from Panchayat, seemed to take a dig at his namesake, Pankaj Tripathi, by stating that some actors take pleasure in glamorizing their hardships. In addition to claiming that he was up for the role of Sultan which was finally portrayed by Pankaj Tripathi, he further stated that he was prevented from bagging a role in Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur due to a disagreement with the casting director Mukesh Chhabra.

Also read: Exclusive! People reconnected with themselves during covid, and that is why they will love the show: Pankaj Jha on his web series Nirmal Pathak Ki Ghar Wapsi

He told the popular news portal, “I don’t like the word ‘struggle’. If you’ve chosen to follow your passion, you should enjoy it, shouldn’t you? And as we’ve seen often in the industry, people like to glamourise their struggles. Some people say they sold potatoes, others say they lived in a tiny house, some say they stole another actor’s slippers. I feel every situation is a learning experience.”

On The Kapil Sharma Show in 2019, Manoj Bajpayee revealed that Pankaj Tripathi once ‘stole’ one of his slippers to keep as a souvenir. Pankaj was working at a hotel where Manoj once stayed at as a guest.

At the popular portal 2023 summit, Manoj recalled the story once again, and said, “I thought I’d forgotten my slippers at the hotel, but during Wasseypur, Pankaj quietly came up to me and said, ‘Do you remember your slippers were stolen at the Patna hotel? I took them’.” The two actors worked together on the film Gangs of Wasseypur, which could have featured Pankaj Jha as well, but it didn’t pan out.

The biggest struggle in the film industry, Pankaj Jha said, is often to keep directors happy by ‘acting’. “These people have complexes, they have huge egos. They get upset if you don’t greet them, or if you voice your opinions. They get so upset that they refuse to work with you again, and they tell their friends to not work with you either. It’s happened to me,” he said. Asked to give an example of such an experience, he continued, “I was going to do Wasseypur, and I got a call from MC. I was in Patna, so I returned after a couple of days. By then, he’d got someone else to do the character I was supposed to play… It was the role of Sultan. I asked him why, but… After that, I didn’t get a call from that production house.”

Pankaj Tripathi's portrayal as Sultan Khan in Gangs of Wasseypur contributed significantly to his ascent through the Bollywood ranks. He is presently in high demand for roles in a variety of genres as a performer due to his extraordinary talent.

Also read: Exclusive! People reconnected with themselves during covid, and that is why they will love the show: Pankaj Jha on his web series Nirmal Pathak Ki Ghar Wapsi

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Credit- The Indian Express