When I met Pankaj Tripathi on a nippy winter morning at a shoot location close to Quest mall, the always affable actor was not discussing his next shot. He was talking about how many Nolen Gur Rosogollas he had managed to pack off till then. Tripathi, after all, was on the sets of Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s film, and we all know that Roy Chowdhury— better known as Tonyda — loves his food as much as he loves making films. So naturally, my conversation with Tripathi started with food, went on to films, Calcutta and then encompassed things here and there. Excerpts from a freewheeling chat....

So how’s it going with Nolen Gurer Rosogolla?

Gurer rosogolla is something that I just can’t resist. And because one only gets it in winter, I keep telling myself, ‘Yeh hi samay hain... kha lo!’ (Laughs) I am not being able to walk or exercise much because we shoot the whole day aur raat ko thak kar so jaate hai. Lekin tab bhi main kha leta hoon (smiles).

What is it about this film that hooked you?

Tonyda writes very intelligent scripts. This one is, by far, one of the best scripts I have read in recent times. Mujhe laga: ‘Chalo karte hain, mazaa aayega.’ Bahut unique script hain. And the process of working on this film has been very enjoyable.

I knew of Tonyda, but I hadn’t met him. We only met for the first time a couple of months ago, in connection with this film. We did a lot of readings, a lot of preparation. Script mein changes hote rahein and finally, we are shooting a locked script....

And you will then move from a locked script to the world of Anurag Basu’s cinema where there is practically no script....

Everyone has their own way of working... Anuragda works in his own unique way. Unka script hota hain.... it’s just that it’s locked in his head! (Laughs) Even Tonyda changes a lot of things on set. Even I am an actor who doesn’t like walking a fixed path... if everything is written in stone, then where is the fun? Like nothing is fixed in life, this should also be fluid...

Pankaj Tripathi poses for The Telegraph

Tonyda jaise layakaari karte hain na... he creates a sur and rhythm that is magical.... And that’s what we, as actors, long for. To have such solid characters written on paper, or even have them in the directors’ imagination, and translate them into reality. Out of that, we manage to create a world where the audience laughs and cries, it gives them inspiration. Cinema toh waise jhoothi duniya hain... lekin hum sab milke usko reality banate hain.

And the good food is the icing on the cake...

Oh, ho! Begun bhaja aur posto toh roz kha rahein hain... jhinge posto, postor bora.... When it comes to food, no other city does it like Calcutta. Almost every day, my lunch arrives from my sister’s house here, kabhi sasurbari se aa jaata hain. I am very happy. I am having a lot of saag... palak, sarson.

I am actually doing quite a bit of Calcutta branding to the cast and crew in this film who have come to the city for the first time, or are not very familiar with the scene here. Park Street ka light bech diya, rasgulla bech diya, yahan jao, woh dekho.... (Turns to co-actor Sanjana Sanghi) Go and surely see Howrah Bridge... it has a lot of history.

As a city, Calcutta has always been magical for me. When I was a kid, we used to see films through the bioscope that the man would carry on his shoulders. We would put our eye through the hole and he would roll the film and sing himself... he used to sing: ‘Howrah ka Bridge dekho.’ So that image of Howrah Bridge has been with me since then. The first time I saw the Metro rail was in Calcutta.

The first time I ever saw a big city was in 1993 and that was Calcutta. I had come here after my sister’s marriage. I came alone for the first time ever, I was in Class XI. I had to get down at Bhowanipore and I had told the conductor beforehand to let me know when the bus stops at Bhowanipore. He told me: ‘Boshun.’ But at every stop, I would get up in a hurry and the people next to me would do pranam. I was puzzled and kept looking around if there was a temple nearby. Later, I was told that I was pushing everyone so much and stepping on them while trying to get up, that, in true Bengali tradition, they were doing pranam! (Laughs) Aur mujhe laga ki itne mandir hain yahan pe! (Laughs) On that trip, I saw the trams, the Metro, Birla Planetarium, Rabindra Sadan, Nandan, Babughat se leke Howrah Bridge tak.

I got married in this city. On that day, January 15 in 2004, I took a boat ride on the Ganga for hours because the train was late and the rest of my relatives hadn’t arrived. I was getting married at night, and the whole day I was on a boat, trying to while away time! (Laughs) I got dressed as a groom in the hostel of SRFTI (Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute) and we got married at a Jain temple near Paddapukur.

A huge connection to the city then....

Huge! At least 500 people from my village (Belsand) work here, mostly in Howrah. Every family has two members in Calcutta... some are truck drivers, some are labourers, some are cleaners.... I really think this is the ‘City of Joy.’ Yesterday, I saw some people coolly playing cards on the footpath. You won’t get to see something like this in Bombay. You tell me, what’s the purpose of life? We labour through life so that we can relax, we make money so that we can live nicely. But in a city like Bombay, you have to work so hard and live at such a pace ki saara itminaan wahin pe khatam ho jaata hain....

I even had a house in Tollygunge a few years ago, ab nahin hain. But I am well versed with every nook and corner of the city... from Shyambazar to Gariahat, from Ruby Hospital to Jadavpur.

You always tell me how you are longing to take a break. But you are jumping from one project to the next. No complaints, though!

The industry is not allowing me to take a break (laughs). Once I finish all of these projects, I will take a break for six months at the end of 2023. Actually, once Covid ended, most of my projects took off, among which were many prequels and sequels. I had to do them, there was no choice... like Mirzapur 3, Fukrey 3.... But I will definitely take a break from November. After Metro... In Dino, there is the Atalji biopic (Main Atal Hoon, based on the life of Atal Behari Vajpayee in which Tripathi plays the former prime minister), then another project... and then my break. But kya pata, I may get another script that may not allow me to take a break.

Given the phase you are in, you may have another Bengali director standing at your door next....

Ab toh Kaushikda (Ganguly) reh gaye hain (smiles).