Pankaj Jha, who rose to fame with Jitendra Kumar starrer web series Panchayat, has taken an indirect dig at Bollwood’s critically acclaimed star Pankaj Tripathi. He stated that he doesn’t like the word ‘struggle’ and slammed actors who glamorous the word. The actor also referred to Tripathi’s infamous revelation of stealing the slippers of Manoj Bajpayee during his struggling days. He further said that if someone has chosen to follow their passion then they should enjoy it fully. 

In a chat with Lallantop Cinema, Pankaj said “I don’t like the word ‘struggle’. If you’ve chosen to follow your passion, you should enjoy it, shouldn’t you? And as we’ve seen often in the industry, people like to glamourise their struggles. Some people say they sold potatoes, others say they lived in a tiny house, some say they stole another actor’s slippers. I feel every situation is a learning experience.” 

In several interviews, Pankaj Tripathi mentioned that he had once stolen the slippers of Manoj Bajpayee to keep as a souvenir. At that time, he used to work at a hotel and Manoj once stayed as a guest at the same place.

Jha also shared that he lost the role of Sultan in Gangs of Wasseypur due to undisclosed reasons. He added, “These people have complexes, they have huge egos. They get upset if you don’t greet them, or if you voice your opinions. They get so upset that they refuse to work with you again, and they tell their friends to not work with you either. It’s happened to me. I was going to do Wasseypur, and I got a call from MC (Mukesh Chhabra). I was in Patna, so I returned after a couple of days. By then, he’d got someone else to do the character I was supposed to play… It was the role of Sultan (from Gangs of Wasseypur). I asked him why, but… After that, I didn’t get a call from that production house.”

Also read: Panchayat 3 Trailer: Expect Politics, Rivalry And Laughter With Jitendra Kumar-Raghubir Yadav's Prime Video Series

On the work front, Pankaj Jha will be next seen in Jitendra Kumar starrer Panchayat 3. The web series also features Raghubir Yadav, Neena Gupta, Faisal Malik, Chandan Roy, Sanvikaa, Durgesh Kumar and Sunita Rajwar in pivotal roles. The show is all set to be released on Prime Video on 28th May.