Exclusive | Pankaj Tripathi Reveals Year-Long Break from Films: 'I Needed Time to Heal and Recalibrate'

Pankaj Tripathi, known for anchoring some of India’s most successful film and streaming franchises, has revealed that he spent the last year away from acting, choosing instead to take a quiet, personal hiatus following the death of his father.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter India, Tripathi said, “After my father's demise, I went on an introspective journey. I did not sign a film for one year, and I didn't announce that I was taking a break.”

The actor, who was last seen in Criminal Justice: A Family Matter, which premiered yesterday on JioHotstar, shared that the decision to step back was deeply intentional. “I took time off to work on myself and heal, physically and mentally,” he said. “That’s why I’ve lost weight. I work out for three hours a day, six days a week. I also travelled — trips that I’d been putting off for a long time.”

While Tripathi did fulfil minor professional obligations, such as ad shoots and patchwork for Anurag Basu’s Metro… In Dino, he made a conscious choice to stay out of the press cycle and resist new scripts. “I kept telling everyone that I don’t have time. But actually, that time was reserved for introspection.”

Now back to taking narrations, Tripathi says the break has helped him return to the craft with a fresh perspective. “I’m at a point where I’m no longer working for the money. I need to do work that gives me something to look forward to,” he says.

“There was a time when I was counting days on projects, just waiting for them to end. And I thought—this can’t be right. I love this profession so much. I’ve made so many sacrifices to get here, and if I’m spending my days just waiting for shoots to wrap, then something’s wrong. That’s why I took a break,” he confessed.

All quotes have been translated from Hindi.