Pankaj Tripathi: I often get to hear that I've become the superstar of OTT

Bollywood actor Pankaj Tripathi speaks to HT City Entertainment Editor, Monika Rawal, about being the 'man of the moment' whether it's on web platforms or in theatres. With multiple projects that released last year — Angrezi Medium, Extraction, Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Ludo, Shakeela, Mirzapur 2 and Criminal Justice season 2 — the actor had a packed 2020. Even this year, he already has had a web film, Kaagaz, which opened to positive response. "Though I haven't done any project for nine months but since I had so many releases, so somewhere or the other, I am only talking about the films and my acting," he says. However, he readily adds that he would like to slow down in the next year and going forward, will try to take up lesser work that what he has been taking of late, and spend some time with his family and take a break. "There is a lot of demand and lot of filmmakers want to cast me but I have not learnt to say no yet. It's very tough. But agar samay hi nahi hai toh naa karna hi padega," he says. Tripathi admits there's a fear of getting typecast into doing mostly web only projects. "I've heard people say, 'Pankaj Tripathi toh OTT ka superstar hai'. But I only believe in acting, not the platform," he shares. The actor further also talks about saturation point in an actor's life, possibility of getting stereotyped in doing similar roles, the OTT boom, charm of theatres and a lot more, doing more of message-oriented projects and a lot more.