Manoj Bajpayee recalls when awestruck Pankaj Tripathi stole his ‘chappals’, confessed years later: ‘He used to work at a hotel…’

Manoj said, “Mujhe laga chhoot gaya mera chappal, main bhool gaya hotel mein. Lekin, Wasseypur ke shooting ke dauraan, bade araam se baat karte hue Pankaj ne kaha, ‘Bhaiya, ek baat jaante hain? Hum Maurya mein kaam karte the. Jo aapka chappalwa ek baar chori hogaya tha na, hum hi le ke aagaye the’ (I thought I’d forgotten my slippers at the hotel, but during Wasseypur, Pankaj quietly came up to me and said, ‘Do you remember your slippers were stolen at the Patna hotel? I took them’).”

Pankaj had first narrated the story on The Kapil Sharma Show, while Manoj was sitting next to him. He said, “Main kitchen supervisor hua karta tha tab, aur call aaya ke Manoj ji aaye hain. Main theatre karta tha uss waqt. Maine bola ke unke room se koi bhi order aaye na room service ka, mujhe batana. Cut to, main bhaiya se mila, bola pranaam, maain bhi theatre karta hoon, pair-wair chhua, aur nikal aaya. Agle din, yeh subha hi check out karke airport ke liye nikal gaye. Unka ek hawai chappal chhoot gaya tha, maine bola usse jama mat karo, mujhe de do (I used to work as a kitchen supervisor back then, and we got a call that Manoj Bajpayee had come. I was doing theatre at the time, and I asked everybody to assign whatever room service order he places to me. Cut to, I meet him, pay my respects, tell him I’m an actor, and leave. The next day, he checks out, but they tell me he’s left his slippers behind. I told them not to submit the slippers to lost-and-found, but to give them to me).”

Pankaj choked up as he compared himself to Eklavya, and Manoj to his guru. The two hugged on stage, as the crowd clapped. Pankaj has often spoken about the inspiration he derived from Manoj, who made him believe that a person from Bihar could make it in Mumbai.