Pankaj Tripathi: Face of the powerless

Mumbai: Pankaj Tripathi is not obsessed with power. What interests him is giving faces to the unknown "colourful" people who are comfortable getting lost in the crowd. "I'm not interested in power. (I'm) Not hungry for it at all," Tripathi says.

The actor had a breakthrough as the menacing butcher Sultan Qureshi in Gangs of Wasseypur and has since broken the mould and chronicled different lives on screen: a gentle teacher, a progressive father and a funny uncle.

"People often give me powerful roles, but the joy of playing a powerless man is unmatched. Everyone is hungry for power. A husband, who is at a low post in an office's hierarchy, comes home and becomes the boss. There's power play even in love, between couples," he adds.

"I feel no one wants to accept powerless people. No one aspires to be that. Why can't we have people who don't want to make an identity and get lost in the crowd? It's an interesting area.

It was this arc, which Tripathi found interesting about his character in the upcoming 'Criminal Justice'.