Pankaj Tripathi turns 44: A look at the actor's top five picks

Pankaj Tripathi turned 44 on Saturday. The versatile actor has explored every medium as an actor -- theatre, television, films and OTT -- and has made a mark in a relatively short span of time.

On the occasion of his birthday, IANS looks at five much appreciated performance of Tripathi that can counted as milestones in his career so far.

GANGS OF WASSEYPUR

Tripathi played Sultan Qureshi, one of the big enemies of protagonist Sardar Khan, played by Manoj Bajpayee, in the two-part Anurag Kashyap saga released in 2012. While the film was well received and many of its dialogues became memorable, it was a particular witty line of Sultan that endeared Tripathi to the masses: "Yeh Wasseypur hai, yahaan kabootar bhi ek pankh se udta hai, aur doosre se izzat bachata hai."

MASAAN

Released in 2015 in India after travelling to several international film festivals the Neeraj Ghaywan film cast Tripathi as a softspoken, well-mannered man named Sadhya. It was a small role, and a particular dialogue remains memorable: "Main pitaji ke saath rahta hoon, pitaji akele rehte hai."

NEWTON

The Amit V. Masurkar film was selected as India's entry for the Best Foreign Film category at the 90th Oscar Awards. Although the film did not make the final cut of nominations, many things about the 2017 socio-political satire went on to make it a cult affair. Among them is Tripathi's act as CRPF officer Aatma Singh. His dialogue, "Main likh ke deta hoon, koi nahin aayega vote dene' became a favourite for meme makers on social media.

MIRZAPUR

Few actor in mainstream Hindi entertainment create such strong impact with understarted acting as Tripathi does, and this was apparent in his role of Kaleen Bhaiyya, a businessman who runs a drugs and firearms empire in the Uttar Pradesh smalltown of Mirzapur. Feared more than respected, Kaleen Bhaiyya famously says in the 2018 web series: "Log izzat nahin karte hain, darte hain mujhse, aur darr ki yehi dikkat hai kabhi bhi khatam ho sakta hai!"

GUNJAN SAXENA: THE KARGIL GIRL

Although Gunjan Saxena's biopic, released recently on OTT, has been hauled up for improper depiction of Indian Air Force as well as for factual errors, Tripathi's performance as Anuj Saxena, father of the protagonist, has to be a rare flawless aspect in the film. His role as a supporting father who encourages his daughter to become a pilot against all odds won over the audience. He had quite a few important lines in the film that defined its various motifs. Among them was: "Plane ladka udaaye ya ladki, dono ko pilot hi bolte hai".

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