Pankaj Tripathi reveals why he Stole Manoj Bajpayee’s slippers!

Bollywood actors Pankaj Tripathi and Manoj Bajpayee have worked in the industry for a long time but received recognition a little late. Both the critically-acclaimed actors recently made an appearance on The Kapil Sharma Show, where Pankaj at length talked about his idol Bajpayee. 

The Sacred Games actor talked about Manoj with great admiration and got emotional recounting an old episode from their lives. When host Kapil Sharma asked about an incident from many years ago, Manoj said that Pankaj told him this story when they were working together on Anurag Kashyap’s film Gangs of Wasseypur. 

The 43-year-old actor was working as a kitchen supervisor at Hotel Maurya many years ago when Manoj had arrived for a stay. Pankaj reminded him how Manoj had lost his slippers when he was staying at the hotel and told him that he took them.

Pankaj then said that was not how it happened and gave a cleared version of the story to the audience. “I got a call that Manoj ji is here. I used to do theatre back then so the kitchen staff knew it. I told them that whenever he orders anything from his room, I’ll be the one to take it. So I went there, met bhaiyya, said ‘Pranaam, even I am into theatre’, touched his feet and left the room. Next day he checked out and left for the airport. But he left a hawai chappal behind. The housekeeping supervisor said ‘Are! Your Manoj bhai is gone but he left his chappal here’. I said don’t submit it, give it to me,” he said as the audience broke into laughter.

“Kyun? Eklavya ki tarah agar main inke khadau mein apna paer daal lu (Why? If like Eklavya I, too, could put my feet in his slipper)...” Pankaj said but his voice broke as he got emotional. He tilted his head back to hide his tears. 

Pankaj is now one of the most beloved actors of the country with movies and web-series like Sacred Games, Mirzapur, Newton, Gurgaon and Stree to his credit. He will soon be seen as Janhvi Kapoor’s father in Gunjan Saxena biopic.

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Credits: Hindustan Times