Pankaj: Abhinay oxygen hai, nahin karoge toh marr jaoge
The actor, who visited his alma mater National School of Drama (NSD) in Delhi recently, reminisces about his days as a theatre student
As he stepped inside the National School of Drama auditorium Abhimanch, Pankaj Tripathi’s eyes welled up. The NSD alum explains why just being at his alma mater made him emotional: “Iss stage par anginat baar rehearse kiya hai, gire hain, seekhe hain, sapne dekhe hain.”
The Mirzapur actor’s visit was scheduled as a part of the ongoing theatre festival, Bharat Rang Mahotsav, and made him reminisce about his days as a student. “NSD mein sikhaya tha ki abhinay oxygen hai, nahin karoge toh marr jaoge,” says the 46-yearold. Remembering the classes and lectures by his dramatics’ teachers, the Ludo (2020) actor says, “Radha ma’am props class mein bola karti thi ki jab tak wo (prop) bolega nahin, tum chhuoge nahin. Aur hum second year ke tudents confused rehte the i glass kaise bolega ki umein uthaa lo. Iss baat o samajhne mein humein 0 saal lage. Now I nderstand what it means, ow props can call out to person, ki kaise mera temaal karo, mujhe hhuo ya naa chhuo, ya aise meri handling aro. Toh wahi hai ki ayi saari cheezein hum hod dete hain sunne mein, padhne mein. ow I miss most of the asses that we used to ttend.”
He goes on to narrate an incident where the late actor Irrfan had answered the question, of what acting was. “Irrfan ne kaha, ek baar woh kisi ke ghar gaye the aur unse poochha gaya ki acting kya hai, toh unka jawaab bhi yahi tha ki kya bataun acting kya hai. There (the place Irrfan visited) was a glass of water kept on the table, he simply picked it up and drank the water. After keeping the glass back, he said, aise hota hai acting. Abhinay bahut asaan kaam hai, aur bahut mushkil bhi. Isko karne ke liye poore sansaar ko samajhna padhta hai. Acting karne ke liye swayam ko bhi samjhna padta hai.”