Pankaj Tripathi Was Once A ‘Wanted Man’ On A Police Station Board; Here’s How It Happened
Pankaj Tripathi recently shared a hilarious throwback from his struggling days, revealing how his photo ended up on a Wanted board in a police station set.
Pankaj Tripathi recently shared a hilarious yet unexpected incident from his early acting days, revealing how his photo ended up on a Wanted board in a police station set. In an interview with Screen, the actor recalled that during his struggling years, when casting agencies were few and social media was non-existent, actors had to personally visit offices, dropping their pictures into cardboard cartons in the hope of landing a role.
Tripathi explained that these cartons, filled with hundreds of aspiring actors’ photos, were passed on to casting assistants. One day, a friend of his, who had been cast in a crime-based TV show, spotted something unusual on the set. He immediately called Pankaj and said, “Arey wanted mein teri photo daal di hai! (They’ve put your picture under wanted criminals.)"
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Shocked and amused, Pankaj realized that since he had left his photos at several casting offices, the art department must have randomly picked one to use as a criminal’s mugshot on the Wanted board. “When the team needed a face for a thief or gangster, they just pulled out a photo from those cartons—and there I was!" he recalled with a laugh.
Before making a name for himself, Pankaj had brief roles in films like Chigurida Kanasu (2003), Run (2004), Apaharan (2005), Omkara (2006), Mithya (2008), and Agneepath (2011). His breakthrough came with Gangs of Wasseypur and Dabangg 2, followed by performances in Fukrey, Singham Returns, Masaan, Bareilly Ki Barfi, Luka Chuppi, Ludo, 83, and Main Atal Hoon.
Most recently, he was seen in Amar Kaushik’s Stree 2 alongside Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Abhishek Banerjee, and Aparshakti Khurana. Up next, Pankaj will appear in Anurag Basu’s Metro In Dino featuring Sara Ali Khan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Ali Fazal, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta, and Konkona Sen Sharma. He also has Thug Life and Mirzapur The Film in the pipeline, ensuring that audiences will continue to see more of him—though thankfully, no longer on a Wanted board!
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