Pankaj Tripathi's Wife Paid The Bills For 8 Years, Motivated Him To Audition & Chase His Dreams
Here's Pankaj Tripathi's struggle story, how his wife bore all expenses and paid bills for six years while he struggled to find work in films, and also their adorable filmy love story.
They say it right when they say that there's a woman behind every man's success. The most humble and loved man in the film industry Pankaj Tripathi credits his success to his wife Mridula Tripathi who not only stood like a rock behind him during his struggle days but also motivated him to chase his dreams.
Pankaj Tripathi's wife Mridula paid the bills for six years and managed the house
"I came to Mumbai in 2004 and Gangs of Wasseypur happened in 2012. For eight years, no one knew what I was doing," Pankaj Tripathi had once opened up about his struggle days - which he said didn't feel like struggle because of his wife - in an episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati.
Instagram/pankajtripathi
"I didn't realise the hardship because my wife would teach kids, our needs were limited, we lived in a small house and she would earn so I lived easily. Mere sangarsh mein, Andheri station pe sona nahi include hua unki wajah se (I didn't sleep at Andheri station during my days of struggle, thanks to my wife)", he added.
Not just that she would also motivate him to chase his dreams.
Instagram/pankajtripathi
Even when Pankaj Tripathi felt low, she would support him to follow his dreams. "To be honest, I did not earn anything between 2004 and 2010. She (his wife Mridula) bore the burden of all expenses involved in the upkeep of our household. I used to roam around in Andheri and urge people ¡®koi acting karwa lo, koi acting karwa lo'. But no one listened to me at the time. Now, when I go home, I find movies being offered in my parking lot," he told Navbharat Times.
'Mere ghar mein 2 wife rehti hai'
Instagram/pankajtripathi
"Main is sawal ka jawab dete dete ro bhi sakta hoon. Aamtaur par ek ghar mein ek husband aur ek wife rehte hai. Mere ghar mein 2 wife rehti hai. Ek meri wife aur main unki wife. Pata nahi shayad meri imaandari dekh ke unko bharosa hoga," he once told Film Companion in an interview. Today, Pankaj Tripathi is one of the most bankable and loved actors in the industry.
How did he meet his wife? It was love at first sight.
Instagram/pankajtripathi
Here's Pankaj Tripathi and his wife Mridula Tripathi's love story.
When Pankaj and Mridula first met, they were in Class eleven and Class nine respectively. "It was my sister¡¯s wedding and I saw her on the balcony of the terrace and thought to myself, ¡®This is the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with¡¯. And I did not even know who she was, or what her name was, at the time."
At that time, they didn't talk to each other at all. But whenever Pankaj would visit his sister, which was once in five months, he would get a chance to talk to her. They would discuss books, characters and stories.
Instagram/pankajtripathi
Eight years later, when Mridula's parents decided to get her married, he accompanied her brother to meet the prospective groom. In fact, he came back and told her to get married as he felt it was a perfect match. Mridula recalled in an interview, "He came and told me that it was a good match for me and I would surely get much of ¡®Bhautik Sukh.¡¯ I did not know so much Hindi back then and asked what that meant, and he said ¡®material happiness.¡¯ That¡¯s when I felt that I was losing something very precious," she told The Better India.
Instagram/pankajtripathi
Pankaj had meanwhile enrolled himself in NSD to pursue acting. Mridula, on the other hand, decided to reject the marriage proposal. While Pankaj was in Delhi, Mridula was in Kolkatta, but there was something that kept them together. Even they didn't know it was love.
Instagram/pankajtripathi
When Pankaj called her after six months to wish her on her birthday, she reminded him that he wished her a day in advance. She tried expressing her feelings indirectly, but Pankaj couldn't understand the indirect hints. However, gradually they both admitted their feelings.
Their marriage wasn't easy too.
Instagram/pankajtripathi
Since Pankaj's sister and Mridul's brother were married, their families were skeptical about their marriage. However, they convinced them and got married in 2004.
In an interview with She The People, Tripathi said, "When discussions of our marriage started happening, I told my father-in-law outright that I will not take a single penny from him. In my village, I¡¯d never seen people getting married without a dowry but for some reason, it just didn¡¯t feel right. He still got a three-piece suit stitched for me but I didn¡¯t wear it. On my wedding day, I was dressed up in a simple Dhoti Kurta."
Instagram/pankajtripathi
They moved to Mumbai in the same year. Two years later, they welcomed Aashi Tripathi, a beautiful daughter in their lives.
Pankaj Tripathi's story sounds like a script of a movie, doesn't it?
Also Read: From Farmer's Son To Finest Actor, Here's A Peek Into Pankaj Tripathi's Inspirational Journey
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Garima Satija leads the Entertainment vertical of Indiatimes. A storyteller at heart who enjoys the thrill of writing, she is sometimes found daydreaming about living the lives of movie characters. Also, she hates talking about herself in the third person.
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