Pankaj Kapur

Some Lesser Known Facts About Pankaj Kapur

• Pankaj Kapur grew up in Ludhiana, Punjab.

  

• In childhood, he started developing an interest in acting. He used to mimic his teachers and relatives.

  

• While he was in school and college, he participated in various acting competitions.

  

• He has appeared for the NDA entrance exams twice, but he could not clear it.

• After completing his pre-engineering course, when he expressed his desire to work as an actor to his father.

• His father was very supportive of his decision and advised him to join an acting school to brush up his acting skills.

• He then applied at FTII, Pune and the National School of Drama, New Delhi.

• He got selected at the NSD to pursue an acting course. He passed out of the NSD with a gold medal. He then worked as a professional actor at the NSD Repertory Company.

  

• He has performed in many Hindi theatre plays including Sahabji Biwiji Ghulamji, Wah Bhai Wah, Albert’s Bridge, Panchvan Savaar, Kanak Di Balli, Drishtanth, and Tughlaq.

  

• Pankaj then moved to Mumbai to work in Hindi films. There, he shifted to a rented apartment. He used to spend some days in Delhi and some days in Mumbai.

• In 1982, he appeared in the Hindi film ‘Gandhi’ after which she started getting more offers of Hindi films.

• He used to charge around Rs 25,000 for each episode of the Hindi TV serial ‘Karamchand’ in 1985.

• In 1986, while he was shooting for the Hindi film ‘Agla Mausam’ (shelved), he became friends with the Indian actress Supriya Pathak (seven and a half years younger than her). Gradually, they became good friends and dated for around two years. They got married in 1988. At that time Pankaj was divorced from his first wife Neelima Azeem and Supriya was also divorced.

• He has acted in many Hindi films including ‘Raakh’ (1989), ‘Ek Doctor Ki Maut’ (1990), ‘Maqbool’ (2004), ‘The Blue Umbrella’ (2005), and ‘Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola’ (2013).

• He is known for appearing in various Hindi TV serials like ‘Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne’ (1989), ‘Neem Ka Ped’ (1991), ‘Zabaan Sambhalke’ (Season 1; 1993), ‘Mohandas B.A.L.L.B.’ (1997), and ‘Naya Office Office’ (2006).

  

• In 1994, Pankaj, along with his wife Supriya, started a TV production house named Grass Company.

• Pankaj has worked as a writer in various Hindi films like ‘Sau Jhooth Ek Sach’ (2004; as a dialogue writer), ‘Mausam’ (2011; as a screenplay and dialogue writer), and ‘Happi’ (2019).

  

• In 2019, he penned the novel titled ‘Dopehri.’ He had written the novel in 1992 in four days, however, he released it after almost 25 years.

  

• Pankaj has acted in a few Hindi web series such as ‘JL50’ (2020) and ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’ (2024).

  

• He launched his theatre and film production house named ‘Theatreon.’ He also performed his first written novel ‘Dopehri.’

• He has written the Hindi film ‘Sau Jhooth Ek Sach.’

• Pankaj and his wife Supriya are followers of the Indian spiritual organization Radha Soami.

Maqbool