Pankaj Tripathi’s wife Mridula says actor lost few projects when she was new to managing his work, learnt to be ‘cruel’: ‘I threaten him I’ll quit’

Mridula said Pankaj Tripathi often jokes how he can't get angry either at home or work, because 'the wife is everywhere!'

By: Entertainment Desk

Mumbai | Updated: October 26, 2024 03:08 PM IST

4 min read

Pankaj Tripathi opened up on his marriage with wife Mridula. (Photo: Mridula/Instagram)

Actor Pankaj Tripathi had more faith in his wife Mridula than she had in herself when it came to managing the busy actor’s work. Mridula, who quit her teaching job and came on board as Pankaj’s manager, said she wasn’t good at it initially which also led to him losing a few projects at a crucial stage of his career when they needed money to come in.

In the latest episode of Conversations with Atul, Mridula was asked about managing the actor’s work, to which she said one has to be a “tough” manager and the reason being that she knows Pankaj very well, from his temperament to the way he is a person. “No one can handle him better than me. Earlier, he was being managed by an agency, but a few things happened, and he left them. He was the one who persuaded me to take this role of a manager. I had no knowledge about this because I was a teacher. I had no relation with the industry, I had no idea who is a producer, who is a presenter. All of this was new for me!”

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Mridula recalled the actor briefing him about what she would be required to do as a manger, such as doing meetings on his behalf, reading scripts and guiding him in his career. Of course, among all of this, also doing the price negotiations.

“I told him that he might lose a few projects in this process, because I am not good at it, I am not instantly comfortable in such conversations. So, he did lose two-three projects at a time when it was important for him to get offers, to earn money. I felt things were going wrong because of me, but he clearly told me, ‘Ek-do baar gadbad hoga, phir theek ho jayega (you will goof up a few times, then it will be alright). Then I started and I think I manage him decently.”

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Mridula says now the entire industry knows that she is his wife as well as the manager, so some people assume that she will convince him for a script at a certain fee. “So I always ask them upfront, ‘Are you talking to the wife or the manager?’ If I like the script, then of course, we can talk and take things ahead. See, it was a tough thing to do initially and I realised when someone pointed out how I was doing such a noble work of teaching, cut to here, where I had to discuss money, be cruel whenever needed, it is very difficult, but I did it.

“Because he always had that faith in me. Main beech beech mein dhamki bhi deti hu apne pati ko ki kaam chod dugi tumhara (I sometimes threaten him that I will quit being his manager) and he often jokes that he is one man, who can’t get angry either at home or work, because the wife is everywhere!” she concluded.

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