PANKAJ Tripathi’s father has sadly passed away at the age of 99 – without knowing about his son’s Bollywood stardom.
The actor’s team released a statement announcing Pandit Banaras Tiwari’s death on Monday as he raced to his family’s side.
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Relatives of the farmer and Hindu priest are en route to the Indian village of Gopalganj in the state of Bihar to pay their respects.
The statement read: “It’s with a heavy heart to confirm that Pankaj Tripathi’s father, Pandit Banaras Tiwari is no more.
“He lived a wholesome life of 99 years. His last rites will be performed today amongst his close family.
“Pankaj Tripathi is currently on his way to his village in Gopalganj.”
Pankaj is said to have been shooting a movie in Uttarakhand when he received the devastating news of his father’s passing.
Tragically, the Hindi cinema star had recently revealed that his father was virtually unaware of his success on the big screen.
He explained that Pandit had dreamed of him becoming a doctor and was keen for his son to bag a professional job in Delhi.
Pankaj previously told the Hindustan Times: “The place where I hail from, people only know two professions: an engineer or a doctor.
“I am the son of a farmer. My village is [situated so much in the] interior that there are still no well-built roads there.”
Despite straying from his father’s plans, the actor said his family supported his aspirations of becoming a Bollywood big shot.
“They didn’t want me to have any unfulfilled dreams, which they would have wanted me to fulfil,” he added.
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The OMG 2 star said his parents’ only concern was if he would be able to earn a living – but he convinced them he could “even get a government job” after attending Delhi’s National School of Drama.
He joked: “They think it will be fine after hearing the government job. So my father said, ‘Yes’.”
Despite encouraging his acting career, Pandit had only seen a handful of his son’s starring roles – and had never stepped foot in a cinema.
Earlier this month, Pankaj told Mashable his dad “does not even know what and how I do in cinema.”
He explained: “To date, he has not seen how a movie theatre looks from the inside.
“He sees my work if someone shows him on their computer or on the television, which was recently installed at my house.”
And the father-of-one has quite a few films under his belt; including appearances in Fukrey, Masaan, Nil Battey Sannata and Mimi.
He has also taken his talents to streaming services, such as Netflix’s 2019 series Sacred Games and Amazon Prime’s Mizrapur.
Pankaj’s latest performance in OMG 2, alongside side Akshay Kumar and Yami Gautam, has received applause across the world.
His co-star Akshay shared a poignant post offering his condolences, saying he was “deeply saddened” by the news of Pandit’s passing.
He wrote: “No one can fulfil the absence of parents. May God give place to his father’s soul at his feet. Om Shanti.”
Panjak lives in Mumbai with his wife Mrdiula and daughter Aashi.
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