Exclusive - Pankaj Tripathi on wife Mridula turning producer with Lailaaj, ‘she says meri aik aur identity bhi hai tumhari biwi ke ilava’

Exclusive - Pankaj Tripathi on wife Mridula turning producer with Lailaaj, ‘she says meri aik aur identity bhi hai tumhari biwi ke ilava’

• Pankaj Tripathi returns to theater with his production 'Lailaaj' after a decade
• Tripathi and wife Mridula launch Roopkatha Rangmanch to aid struggling actors
• 'Lailaaj' to be showcased at Bharat Rang Mahotsav, featuring daughter Ashi

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National Award winner Pankaj Tripathi is a name to reckon with and has entertained his fans over the past 23 years. He rose to fame as Sultan in Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur and then became a household name with the menacing, manipulative Kaleen Miyan in Mirzapur.

The talented actor, who has been busy with OTT and movies over the past decade, returned to theater with his own production, 'Lailaaj.'

He has started his theatre production Roopkatha Rangmanch with his wife Mridula Tripathi and it is providing a platform for the struggling actors in Mumbai.

In an exclusive interview with Moneycontrol over the phone from Mumbai, Pankaj Tripathi spoke at length about why the couple returned to theater and how the idea of forming a production group emerged organically.

He is a proud husband today after seeing his wife Mridula’s evolution into a producer, which has been deeply fulfilling for him.

While talking about his wife, Mridula, taking over the responsibilities of a producer effortlessly, he smiled and said, “I will tell you an incident: she received a call that Hariprasad Chaurasia ji had arrived to watch our play. She called his family and said, ‘I am the producer of Lailaaj. I have assigned someone to welcome you and I will also be there to receive you.’ After disconnecting the call, she said, ‘Now I have an identity. I am the producer of Lailaaj—not just your wife.” (Phone rakh kar boli ki arrey ab toh meri aik identity hai, main Lailaaj ki producer hoon. Ab meri ek identity bhi hai tumhari biwi hone ke ilawa. Main bola haan. Main Lailaaj ki producer bol rahi hoon aik theatre ki production ki.)

He further added that his wife, Mridula, is now enjoying her new role and joked she is now able to understand the 'peeda' (pain) of the producer.

"So it's good that she is enjoying it. Now she is understanding the (peeda) pain of producers, whether the actors have arrived or the tabla is there, and whether the tickets have been arranged. Until now, she was on the actor's side, wondering why things didn't happen a certain way. Now that she has turned into a producer, she is realizing what it means to be a producer. Being a producer means you have to arrange your daughter's wedding and also find that daughter too (he laughed). (Toh ye achcha hai unko maza aa raha hai. Ab woh samajh rahi hai producers ki peeda ki table wala pahuncha ke nahi, uska ticket hua ke nahi. Toh abhi tak woh actor side mein thi ki aisa kyun nahi hua? Jab khud producer bani hai toh samajh aa raha hai ki producer ka matlab hai ki beti ki baraat mein na apni beti ki shaadi karna aur apni beti bhi khud dhoondna.)

Pankaj Tripathi has returned to theater after a decade and he says it is nice to be back to where he started from. He says theater gives an actor instant gratification.

Pankaj Tripathi traces everything back to theater, the space that shaped both his craft and character.

“Whatever I have become as an individual, theater has played a very important role in it. It trained me to become a good actor and also a good human being. I hadn’t done theater for ten years, so one day my wife (Mridula) and I were sitting at home and talking. Theater has given us so much; how can we give back in our own way?”

He says that quiet domestic conversation with his wife, Mridula, soon turned into a concrete decision.

“That's when we decided to form a group and involve young actors in Mumbai who are struggling to make a mark in films. We wanted to give them a platform and all the facilities that we never received during our struggling days in theater. We built a professional team of around 30–35 people and are giving them the opportunity to do theater the way we never could," he added.

Theatre versus cinema—what's his favorite?

Despite years of screen success, theater continues to hold a unique emotional space for Pankaj Tripathi. Though he admits that he enjoys doing OTT and movies, which he has been doing for more than a decade, 'the joy of theater is something cinema cannot give.'

“I am comfortable in cinema and OTT because I have been doing it for the past twelve years. But the joy of theater is something cinema cannot give. In cinema, you get the audience reaction months later. In theater, you receive it instantly while performing. That happiness—that kick of live performance—is completely different," he added.

Lailaaj becomes even more special for Pankaj and his wife, as it marks the debut of their daughter Ashi. The play, a musical comedy made under their banner Roopkatha Rangmanch, is going to be showcased at Bharat Rang Mahotsav, India’s largest and most prestigious theatre festival, hosted by the National School of Drama (NSD), Delhi.

Lailaaj has been written and directed by Faiz Mohammed Khan. The show comes to Delhi on February 14 at Kamani Auditorium.