The father of actor Pankaj Tripathi Pandit Banaras Tiwari passed away. He was 98 years old. The actor left Uttarakhand, where he was filming a movie, to his village in Belsand, Bihar. His father lives there with his mother while Pankaj lives in Mumbai with his wife and daughter.
An official statement from the family read: “It is with great sadness to confirm that Pankaj Tripathi’s father, Pandit Banaras Tiwari is no more. He lived a healthy life for 99 years. His final rites will be performed today among his close family. Pankaj Tripathi is currently on his way to his village in Gopalganj.”
Akshay Kumar, who worked with Pankaj on OMG 2, shared a tweet. “I am deeply saddened by the news of the passing of the father of my friend and co-star @TripathiiPankaj. No one can fulfill the absence of parents. May God let my soul lie at your feet. Om Shanti.”
Earlier in an interview with HT, Pankaj talked about his father and how he wanted him to become a doctor. “My father wanted me to be a doctor. Where I go – a village in Gopalganj in North Bihar – people know only two professions: engineer or doctor. I am the son of a farmer. my village is [situated so much in the] inland that there are still no well-built roads there,” he said in 2018.
He added that his family has been supportive of his acting dreams. “They don’t have any unfulfilled dreams that they want me to fulfill. Their only concern is whether I can earn rozi-roti. I told them that if I went to Delhi (Pankaj is an alumnus of the National School of Drama) I might even get a job in the government. Now, the problem with middle-class people is that sarkaari work is steeped in he lagta hai theek hoga. So my father said, ‘yes’.
In an interview with Mashable earlier this month, the actor added that his father was unaware of his acting work. He said, “He’s not too proud of my achievements. My father didn’t even know what and how I did it in cinema. So far, he has yet to see what a movie theater looks like from the inside. He sees my work if someone shows it to him on their computer or on my new TV set in my house.”
Pankaj’s latest release is OMG 2 with Akshay Kumar and Yami Gautam. It was well done at the box office.
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