Women's upliftment has a long way to go in society but at least it can happen in cinema and literature, believes Pankaj Tripathi, who feels lucky to have played supportive fathers to daughters and an ally to his female counterparts in many of his movies.
Tripathi, who has a daughter with wife Mridula, is known for his sensitive portrayal of a father in films such as "Bareilly Ki Barfi" and "Gunjan Saxena".
"I have been lucky that I got such scripts, this is just a coincidence. I have a great relationship with my daughter and in my life, I'm surrounded by four-five women. I don't know if it is right to say, but I believe I have started to understand women better," the actor told PTI in an interview.
Not just the father-daughter relationship, Tripathi said he has been part of movies where his characters become an ally to women, be it "Nil Battey Sannata", "Anaarkali of Aarah" or "Mimi", for which he won a National Film Award in the supporting actor category.
"I have played men who go to great lengths to help women. My thoughts align with such stories. I believe that in our society, the kind of upliftment women need has not really happened. So if it hasn't happened in society, at least, it should reflect in our cinema and literature. Hopefully, it will have an effect in society over time," he added.
Reminded of his complex relationship with his on-screen sons whether it was in the series "Mirzapur" or most recently "OMG 2", the actor joked, "If I had a son, then we would have a complex relationship in real life too."
Tripathi's new film is "Kadak Singh", a thriller directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury of “Pink” fame.
The film follows the perplexing journey of AK Shrivastav (Tripathi), who battles retrograde amnesia as conflicting narratives from his past emerge.
To a lot of hardcore film buffs, Tripathi said the movie is different than other thrillers of the past that explored the theme of amnesia.
"We recently released a small promo. It shows this guy, when he opens his eyes in the hospital, then he is just looking at all the faces in front of him. He doesn't say anything. He sees that there are five men and one woman, so he stares at her for a long time... So it was not a routine role. It is a sensitive character and has a lot of layers," he said.
A key theme that the movie, which also stars Sanjana Sanghi and Parvathy Thirovuthu, explores is identity, something that the actor also thinks about in real life. As an artist and as a human being, Tripathi said he is constantly trying to understand himself better.
"I'm nearing 50 but I still don't know myself fully. And I believe the various kinds of characters I have played have helped me. Whether it is my character in 'Kadak Singh' or playing Atal ji in 'Main Atal Hoon'. I used to think that I'm democratic like Atalji but I'm not.
"It is difficult to explain my identity. To the world, I'm an actor who came from a small village and became successful after a lot of struggle. But I'm trying to understand the internal part of my personality," the actor said.
"Kadak Singh" was recently screened at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) as part of the ‘World Gala Premiere’ section.
Produced by Wiz Films, HT Content Studio, and KVN and co-produced by Shyam Sunder and Indrani Mukherjee, the movie will be released on streaming service ZEE5 on Friday.
