Pankaj Tripathi is one of the few method actors who can bring any character to life on the big screen. From effortlessly playing a henchman in ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ to his impeccable comic timing in ‘Stree’, the talented actor has won several hearts with his versatile roles in Bollywood films.
Speaking of which, did you know the actor played female parts in his village plays? In a recent interview, the ‘Masaan’ actor revealed he even used to perform item numbers back in the day, reports TOI. Reminiscing about his good old school days, he was quoted saying by HT,
“I was in the 10th standard when I played a girl for the first time. The boy who used to play a girl had not returned from town, people were wondering that the play won’t happen that year as that boy wasn’t there. It was then that I volunteered to take up the part.”
Speaking about getting permission from his father for the unique role, he further added,
“But our director — Raghav chacha told me to take permission from my father, just in case he got angry later and climbed the stage with a lathi. My father didn’t object to me playing a girl and allowed me to do as I wish to.”
Eventually, Pankaj also began performing item songs in between plays, even if they weren’t needed. He said, “People loved my dance and would say, ‘he dances so well’.” In fact, an elderly man in the village even advised him to go to Mumbai and said, “If this boy goes to Mumbai, he will oust several top Bollywood actresses.”
The actor explained that the elderly man thought that the female leads in Hindi movies were not female, but just male actors wearing makeup and women’s clothes. However, Pankaj added that he did those roles just for fun back then.
Kudos to the talented man! We sure would love to see his sizzling moves in an item number on the big screen!