Pankaj Tripathi praises Gunjan Saxena’s father: ‘Our society needs more fathers like Anup Saxena’

Insisting he found ‘traces of Anup Saxena in himself while working on Gunjan Saxena’s biopic, Pankaj Tripathi says he wants to continue being that parent to his 13-year-old daughter Aashi.

Actor Pankaj Tripathi has said our society needs more fathers like Anup Saxena (a character he essayed in his recent film Gunjan Saxena The Kargil Girl. He also said that he found he has traces of Anup in him and wants to be a similar father to his 13-year-old daughter Aashi.

Pankaj Tripathi plays Anuj Saxena in Gunjan Saxena The Kargil Girl.

The film, starring Janhvi Kapoor in the lead role, is loosely based on the real life story of former flight lieutenant Gunjan Saxena and Pankaj essays the role of her father in the film that saw a direct-to-digital release recently.

Praising Anup’s role in Gunjan’s life, Pankaj told Mid Day in an interview, “There’s no taking away the fact that our society needs more fathers like Anup Saxena. To have a parent like him who encouraged his child to break the shackles of patriarchy was rare and empowering for a girl in the ‘90s. She could dream fearlessly because she was given the impetus at home by her father who harped on gender equality. It was this quality that attracted me to the film.”

”While I was filming Gunjan Saxena, I realised I have traces of Anup in me and want to continue being that parent to my daughter. It’s my most cherished compliment that my wife and daughter are happy with my portrayal of the role,” he says, crediting his success to the powerful women in his life.

 

Last week, Pankaj had told PTI that his friends have been calling him after watching Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl and they were all moved by the bond he shared with Janhvi’s Gunjan in the movie. “It’s a very important role in my career because the way I am or want to be as a father, the film represents that. ‘Mujhe gunda, mawali bana dete hai’ (I often get villainous roles). But playing Anup Saxena was close to what I am in real life with my daughter or aspire to be. I want the world to have more such fathers. I remember when people who know me watched the film, they called me and told me, ‘Yaar, after seeing your film, I went home and hugged my daughter’. This solves my purpose.”

“I know that films don’t change people but films can put a thought in one’s mind and if you have that thought then maybe you will change a little. It is important to have that thought. I hope I have managed that in the film,” he had said.

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