FLASHBACK! When Pankaj Tripathi ate insects & changed his father’s name: 'It must be the first time in history that...'

The versatile actor of the entertainment industry, Pankaj Tripathi carved his niche by delivering memorable performances in Gangs of Wasseypur, Mirzapur, OMG 2, Mimi, Criminal Justice and others. Raised in Bihar’s Belsand village in Gopalganj district. In a recent interview, the talented star shared anecdotes from his village life, which showed his simplicity and rootedness towards his culture. While talking to India TV, Tripathi recalled performing bicycle stunts and said, “I used to perform stunts on the bicycle because there was a boy who would perform such stunts and he was very popular among girls. I am talking about the time I was in 7th or 8th standard in school. In school at the time, a slow cycle race was organised, so that boy, who was the winner of that race, became very popular among girls. So, I learned the same thing hoping that I would be the winner next year, but I lost, I wasn’t the winner.”

Sharing more adventurous things, he added, “I wanted to learn swimming. We had a river behind our house. The river water has small black insects swimming on top of it. So, the kids in the village, they are very naughty, they told me that if I drink these insects I will learn swimming. So, I picked up 10-12 of those insects and drank them with the water. I am thankful that my stomach didn’t get upset.” His father was a farmer and a priest and the actor changed his father’s name and surname because he didn’t want to take up that profession. “It must me the first time in history that a father got a name from his son. I was filling the admit card of 10th standard. My uncle would use the surname Tripathi and he had become an officer in the government. There was also one Baba who had Tripathi surname, he became a professor of Hindi. Those who had my surname, Tiwari, they all were either priests or were doing farming. So, I thought this is because of the surname. I didn’t want to become farmer or a priest. So I wrote my name as Tripathi in the form. But then I thought I can’t write my father’s name as Tiwari in the form as it might get rejected. So I changed his name too,” shared Tripathi. On the professional front, Pankaj will be next seen in Ravi Jadhav’s Main Atal Hoon, which is based on the life of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The film will release on 19th January.