Pankaj Tripathi recalls challenges of playing Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Actor Pankaj Tripathi said portraying former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Main Atal Hoon was one of his toughest acting challenges. He revealed that understanding Vajpayee's personality and thoughts mattered more than imitating his appearance and mannerisms

Mumbai: Actor Pankaj Tripathi, who is gearing up for his upcoming film ‘Mirzapur: The Movie’, has shared that he initially struggled with the portrayal of former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in his biopic ‘Main Atal Hoon’.

The actor appeared on the chat show ‘Shekhar Tonite’ hosted by Shekhar Suman. When the show host asked him about how he approached his part, the actor said, “I read a lot of books on Atal Ji. I saw his old speeches. And it was very challenging for me because I am very bad at mimicry. So I was in a dilemma about how much I will be able to mimic Atal Ji. The scene which he had put in the trailer, that was the first day. I was struggling with how much I will be able to hold the mannerism, or not. And that shot came in the trailer”.

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He further mentioned, “I was holding my head. I said, ‘Why did they put this in the trailer?’. Then I felt that the person is more what his outer appearance is. The person is more what his thoughts are. In Indian cinema, there is a pressure that if a popular person’s biopic is being made, then the audience wants them to do the same”.

“And they judge that he is not looking like Atal Ji. Atal Ji’s story is not made for how Atal Ji looks. Atal Ji’s story is important because of his journey, his wisdom, his thoughts, his personality. And in the story, what we have seen in the dialogues, that is fine. But what Atal Ji thinks in his room, we have not seen that. We do not know that. So it was a big challenge”, he added.