Pankaj Tripathi comments on the stereotyping of Bihar as he shoots for the first time in his home state
Pankaj Tripathi shares his excitement as he shoots in home state Bihar for the first time in his career, and comments on the stereotyping of the state in films
Hailing from Bihar, Pankaj Tripathi has surprisingly never gotten a chance to shoot in his hometown in his long career, until now. Currently, the actor is shooting a human drama in his state, which marks his reunion with his OMG 2 director Amit Rai, and he calls the feeling of shooting there a “homecoming”.
As he is shooting in Patna, Pankaj Tripathi shares, “Bilkul homecoming ki feeling aa rahi hai. Mujhe apne kai colleagues mile jinke saath main theatre karta tha. Main auditorium bhi dekhne gaya tha jahaan hum play karte the. Meri janmbhoomi hai yeh, toh apni wali feeling to aati hi hai idhar.” He adds that he and Amit consciously decided to choose the state as their shoot location: “It was a conscious choice made by us all. We decided that it is a story of Patna, so we should set it here. Why cheat the audience?”
The 48-year-old asserts that they have received a lot of help from the state government to run things smoothly. “A film friendly environment is developing in Bihar. We wanted to show the real Bihar in a story about the state. And our DOP is from Europe, so we are getting see Bihar from a different lens.Patna waise bhi mainstream cinema mein nahi dikha hai, par is baar ek naye nazariye se dikhega,” he insists, adding that the unit is enjoying Bihar ki mehmaannawazi with local delicacies like Bel ka sharbat.
Talking about the stereotypical representation of Bihar in Hindi cinema, Pankaj states, “Bihar ki maasoomiyat abhi tak cinema mein dikhi nahi hai. During the 90s, there was an image about Bihar created by media and the films also propagated that. But now the portrayals are more research-based.”
