Meet Pankaj Tripathi: The Kaleen Bhaiya of Mirzapur

Pankaj Tripathi grew up in a small village named Belsand of Gopalganj district in Bihar. As the actor turns 44 years old today, here are some unknown facts about Pankaj Tripathi widely known as Mirzapur’s king ‘Kaleen Bhaiya’. Pankaj was interested in honing his acting skills early in life. During the annual festival celebrations in his village, the actor used to play the role of a girl. He was quite active in politics and was part of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. He once stayed in police custody for seven days because he raised his voice against the state government. Pankaj studied hotel management at Food Craft Institute in Patna. He later also worked as a kitchen supervisor in Maurya Hotel, Patna before acting as a career happened to him Tripathi was rejected by National School of Drama twice. He made it to NSD in his third attempt and graduated in 2004. 8 years later he came to Mumbai and gave an audition for Gangs of Wasseypur which went on for eight long hours and eventually got the role and since then there was no looking back.