According to Pankaj Tripathi, Hindi cinema’s diverse portrayal of the same emotion in films like Animal and Kadak Singh should be embraced.
Pankaj Tripathi‘s new film Kadak Singh deals with the turbulent relationship between a father and a daughter, played by Pankaj and Sanjana Sanghi. Incidentally, a week before its release, Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal, starring Ranbir Kapoor, hit the screens and that film focussed on a turbulent father-son relationship.
On Animal and Kadak Singh
Talking about this unique diversity in Indian cinema right now, Pankaj says, “It didn’t exist earlier. After the arrival of OTT, the scope of cinema has become larger. It was impossible to do all this earlier. Kadak Singh talks about the same relationship (as Animal) but in such a different manner, almost North-South Pole. Audience exists for both.”
The National Award winner says that the landscape of cinema has changed because of the emergence of OTT and push for a different kind of content. “This is the time when we can do a film like Kadak Singh. Ten years ago, it wasn’t possible. OMG 2 was not possible 10 years ago. You couldn’t think about discussing sex and sex education in a film. People would say ‘Ye kya hai’ (What is this). But we are doing it now. So the time has changed,” he says.
On the rise of the character actor
Another thing that has changed is that the ‘character artistes’ are also finding stardom these days. Pankaj is among a new generation of actors who are applauded for their craft and still have mainstream fame, despite not being the conventional hero.
He says, “I had never thought there would be memes on me. Of course, there was no concept of memes back then, but I had never thought people would mimic me in my lifetime. Now, there are 5-6 people doing it. I have met a few of them. I tell them it’s good because I came to Mumbai to earn money and now, you are earning money by copying me.”
Kadak Singh is a thriller from Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, and also stars Jaya Ahsan, Parvathy Thrivothu, Paresh Pahuja. It merges a whodunit with some classic family drama. The film is streaming on ZEE5.
Disclaimer: Except the headline and synopsis, this story has been taken from the HT News Service.