Pankaj Tripathi says he is concerned about content in mainstream Hindi cinema: ‘Chinta hoti hai’

Pankaj Tripathi has expressed concerns about the content that is seen in the Hindi film industry these days. The actor, who has been in the entertainment industry for over two decades, noted that Bollywood films should give more importance to their writers. Also Read| Pankaj Tripathi: People think agar aapko success chahiye, toh English bolni padhegi

Pankaj made the comments as he reflected upon why most of the recently-released Hindi films are not performing well in theatres. The actor said that though he is not sure about the reasons, the content in mainstream Hindi cinema makes him worry.

He told Connect FM Canada, “I don’t have a strong assumption, but I can give vague reasons with my analysis. If I talk about myself over the last 15 years, my taste in cinema is very distinct. I see some Malayalam films and some Bengali films, but I only see a few in mainstream Hindi cinema. Maybe the audience changed after the pandemic because they watched a lot of OTT. There are stories from all over the world on these platforms, and the audience may be improved their taste and thought ‘what are you presenting to us?'”

He added, “Earlier, the options were also very few. One film would release and get all the screens, so the audience will only go there. Now it’s not possible. People talk about the South but I was recently reading a report that there also only these 3-4 popular films have worked. I don’t remember correctly but there were 100 films made and only 3-4 worked. But Hindi mein jis kism ka kai baar mainstream cinema mein kaam hota hai, content pe, writing pe, mujhe hamesha chinta hoti hai (But the kind of work that is done in mainstream Hindi cinema in terms of content and writing, it always worries me).”

Pankaj also shared that a writer who is new to the industry recently asked him what kind of payment he should ask for his work, and the actor told him that he should request the producer to at least invest 1 or 2 percent of the total budget in writing. He called the writing soul of the film and demanded better treatment of writers.

Pankaj is in Lucknow filming for the third season of the popular Prime Video series Mirzapur. He was last seen in Sherdil: The Pilibhit Saga and season 2 of Disney+ Hotstar web series Criminal Justice. He has OMG 2 among other projects in his pipeline.