Main Atal Hoon: Pankaj Tripathi on playing former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in forthcoming biopic

Pankaj Tripathi in former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee biopic Main Atal Hoon which releases in theatres next week.

In the season of biopics, the latest one lined up for release on January 19, 2024, traces the journey of Atal Bihari Vajpayee from child to statesman to Prime Minister of India during the 1990s. Pankaj Tripathi plays the former Prime Minister in Main Atal Hoon, a biographical political drama directed by Ravi Jadhav.

Tripathi, who had a robust 2023 with OMG2, Fukrey 3 and Kadak Singh, spoke about the responsibility of playing the revered politician, poet and writer who first served as Prime Minister for 13 days in 1996, then for 13 months (1998-1999), and a full term from 1999-2004. Edited excerpts from an interview:

What was your reaction when you were approached with the idea of playing Atal Bihari Vajpayee?

At first, I was not sure. They came to me with a few books about Atal ji and a postcard with my face photoshopped. I couldn’t recognise the face. I said I see two faces here? I know one is me but who is the other one? And they said that is Atal ji and we want to make a film on him. At that time the script was not yet finished. I asked for time to think about it. I was unsure I could do justice to a man of his stature. Around then I happened to meet some journalist friends in Delhi, who saw the books I had and realized I was prepping for this. They said I would be the best for the part and gave me a lot of encouragement. I thought about it being a big responsibility but I decided I would work hard, and spent three months preparing conscientiously, with focus.

We always see a little of you in the characters you play. Did you keep Pankaj Tripathi out of Atal Bihari Vajpayee?

This film looks at the high points of Atal ji’s life, with some cinematic liberties. The challenge for me was to maintain the fine line between mimicry and accuracy, and because Indian audiences would have expectations and one must keep the essence of the character. We are showing Atal ji’s life through cinema and while one tries to retain some mannerisms and voice modulation, I feel that while representing or portraying a real person, their mannerisms and voice is the external output. His thoughts, consciousness and character are far more important. I didn’t focus as much on mannerisms and attempted to capture his persona. For example what was his frame of mind, his mood, when he was making a particular speech.

What was the most surprising thing you learned about him?

I learned so much that I too could write a book on him now. While reading about him and while making this film, I have become deeply democratic from within. One kind of democratic is what we show the world and another is when we are within our four walls, which could also be the limits of our minds. That’s when we know how democratic we truly are. While prepping for him I realised that he was a highly democratic person. Even if you don’t like me, I respect that and I won’t dislike you because you dislike me. He welcomed ideas. Was filled with sympathy. I really relate to that aspect of him.

Do you feel the weight of responsibility, especially viz the audience’s expectations?

One amazing thing about him was that even his opponents respected him a lot. Very few people on a national level disrespected him. I am just an actor. The greater responsibility is on the writers and the director. We have tried sincerely to make a creative film based on authentic research and facts, but we have made cinema so we don’t have any objection. The challenge of the narrative was to compress Atal ji’s life into two hours and to show his incredible journey and his achievements to the youth of today.

Is this film just about the statesman and his achievements or is there more shades to the narrative?

Yes, it was quite difficult for co-writers Ravi Jadhav (also director) and Rishi Virmani to compress such a long and rich life into two hours. After first reading the script, I said that whatever we make people will say why did you leave out this or leave out that incident. During research, all the people I met who knew Atal ji, were acquainted with him or had worked alongside him, they all had several anecdotes and each one was interesting. The world knows him as the statesman and leader. Our film follows that boy whose roots are in Gwalior and Bateshwar. We have touched on politics, personal life, poetry, journalism. Our story is that of the unknown Atal and then the Atal who became Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

What does your upcoming slate look like?

My first release of the year is Main Atal Hoon, then I am looking forward to Murder Mubarak, Mirzapur 3, Criminal Justice, Metro In Dono, Gulkanda Tales, Stree 2. I do so many part threes and fours these days that I lose track at times. Last year I got very good directors — Anurag Basu, Amit Rai, Ravi Jadhav, Homi Adajania — who are all very passionate about cinema and life.

In the last few years, you have moved into playing lead roles and central/ titular characters whether in OMG2, Kadak Singh, Main Atal Hoon or Criminal Justice India. Has this been planned?

Not at all. It’s been organic. I liked the stories and I thought the makers trusted me so I should do these films. I never had a plan, but now I feel like there needs to be some planning. When I came into acting, I had come expecting to do much less. In that sense I have gone many leaps ahead. My high has passed much before and now everything is surplus. I just work sincerely. For me, imagination does not have to be perfect. A performance should be neat but it should have a rawness too. Most importantly, communication should be clear. But I am tired these days after acting so much. I need to focus on my health. This monsoon I am going to take a break and spend at least 20 days sitting on my balcony enjoying the rain.