EXCLUSIVE | Pankaj Tripathi on playing Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 'Main ATAL Hoon': 'Didn't want to mimic or imitate him'

2024 marks Pankaj Tripathi’s 20th year in acting. He’s now taken the challenge of playing former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in his upcoming film Main ATAL Hoon. In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the actor spoke about playing the legendary figure, going beyond physical resemblance to understand his mannerisms, and the necessity of cinematic liberties while making a biopic. Edited excerpts from the interview How has been your experience playing the role of Atal Bihari Vajpayee ? It was too much fun, he was an iconic personality. After reading about him, researching about him, playing him, I feel I have become far more competent as a performer. What have been some of the qualities or traits of Vajpayee that have fascinated you? He had all the human qualities, he was a poet, he was sensitive, and full of emotions. He kept everyone United and when you’ll see the film, you’ll see all of that. We know Atal Bihari Bajpayee as the Prime Minister of India but our film is about that ordinary boy who went on to become the Prime Minister of India and founded such a huge political party. Do you ask questions to your writers and directors while reading a script, especially if it’s based on a real story? Yes, and I also ask questions for fictional stories. I ask them what the reference of the story and the character is, if it’s real or fictional. If the story is real, you have to ask a little more questions because you have to make sure you don’t make any mistakes since it’s a real character. A director and an actor share the relationship that of lovers. We have seen a lot of biopics that have taken cinematic liberties in the past. What do you have to say about your film? This is the cinematic version of someone’s life. Our lives have the start, the middle, and the end, and you have to tell all of that through the medium of cinema in two hours. It’s now up to you to decide what all incidents of someone’s life you should pick and decorate on celluloid so that you feel there’s a story. It’s difficult to tell the story of a man who lived for over 93 years, and it was tough for the writer and the director and even me. More than the physical prep, take us through your process of understanding the figure and his nuances. Feeling it is always more important. We have worked lesser on the physical aspect because no matter how much prosthetic we do, I can’t fully look like Atal ji. I decided not to imitate or mimic him, I had to catch his thoughts and his way of thinking and his mental state. It was more important for me to know his mental state during his speeches and not to know which hand he raised while he was speaking. We have worked on his frame of mind and thought process. We have tried to capture the inner Atal Bihari Bajpayee that we don’t see on public platforms and media forums. Do you see any similarities between you and Vajpayee? There are lots of similarities. Our respective journeys, fascination and fondness for literature, our way of thinking.